Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, second left, Prince Charles, Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland and Prime Minister Theresa May walk in the Blue Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace as the Queen hosts a dinner during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, in London, Thursday. (Victoria Jones/Pool Photo via AP)
By Lindsay Thompson
LONDON, England -- The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) wrapped up days of high-level intense sessions and agreed that His Royal Highness Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales, 69, succeeds his mother Queen Elizabeth II as head of the Commonwealth of Nations.
During the formal opening ceremony on Thursday, April 19, at Buckingham Palace, the Queen, in her keynote address hinted that Prince Charles should succeed her as head of the 53-member organisation. She said: “It remains a great pleasure and honour to serve you as Head of the Commonwealth and to observe with pride and satisfaction that this is a flourishing network. It is my sincere wish that the Commonwealth will continue to offer stability and continuity for future generations and decide that one day the Prince of Wales will carry on the important work started by my father in 1949.”
On Friday during the final CHOGM Press Conference, the Prime Minister of Britain, the Rt Hon Theresa May made the announcement, but also noted that the decision was reflected in the Leaders’ Statement: “The fifty-three member countries of the Commonwealth met at Windsor Castle today, at the generous invitation of Her Majesty The Queen. As Her Majesty enters her seventh decade as Head of the Commonwealth, we put on record our continuing gratitude for the duty and commitment Her Majesty has shown to all members of the Commonwealth over those decades.
“We recognise the role of the Queen in championing the Commonwealth and its peoples.
“The next Head of the Commonwealth shall be His Royal Highness Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales,” according to the statement.
The Dr the Rt Hon Keith Mitchell, Prime Minister of Grenada, who also addressed the final CHOGM Press Conference, commended the Leaders’ decision to vote Prince Charles as head of the Commonwealth.
The Commonwealth Heads of Government met in Retreat to discuss matters relating to the theme, ‘Towards a Common future’.
The Bahamas delegation was led by Prime Minister, Dr the Hon Hubert Minnis who engaged in high-level dialogues with other Commonwealth leaders, April 16-18.
The Bahamas joined The Commonwealth in 1973.
Out of the 53 member states, 46 leaders attended CHOGM, with the remaining attending were foreign ministers.
PHOTO CAPTION:
THE Commonwealth Heads of Government agreed that His Royal Highness Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, should succeed his mother, Queen Elizabeth II as head of the Commonwealth of Nations. The decision was announced during the closing press conference on Friday, April 20. Prince Charles is pictured at the podium addressing the formal opening of CHOGM on Thursday, April 19. (PHOTOS/CHOGM)
Comments
seamphony 6 years, 8 months ago
i dream of a bahamas when a proud man (or a woman) will rise up and say NO to all this BS. Don't want the queen or her loser son. our people are way too impressed by royal this royal that .
Gotoutintime 6 years, 8 months ago
Don't worry--Neither the Queen nor Charles could give a flying Fu-k about the Bahamas. They so happy they got ride of us in 1973 they still dancing a jig in the Palace!
sheeprunner12 6 years, 8 months ago
Soooooo, does this mean the QE2 will soon retire and hand the Crown to Charlie3????? God, Save the King????????
seamphony 6 years, 8 months ago
better channel that brain power into thinking about 50 other more important issues we have.
seamphony 6 years, 8 months ago
in america, they are getting rid of confederate statues, slave owner statues and even evil doctor statue last week in new york. it turns out he was experimenting on enslaved women (central park in new york)
what are the chances we can erase these imperialistic symbols and traditions from the colonial past that only symbolise how they see us as subjects and look down on the black man for centuries. why can't we have a prime minister that will put an end to this bow and curtsy spectacle.
sheeprunner12 6 years, 8 months ago
The same white people who started slavery, abolished it ........ except in Haiti.
The same President to declared the US Civil War, abolished slavery .... Go figger.
The same people who made us a colony - gave us our Constitution .... SMT
This is a stupid, meaningless debate for sensible Bahamians to engage in in 2018. We (Bahamians) control our fate NOW........... NO EXCUSES.
hrysippus 6 years, 8 months ago
thumbs up, a rare occurrence for me.
Dawes 6 years, 8 months ago
Full agreement. Also you can't change the past, only learn from it. If you erase all evidence of what happened before you will have nothing to learn from.
seamphony 6 years, 8 months ago
by the way we get zero money from them! the british virgin islands, they got destroyed last summer with the hurricane, did they get any money? zero. One dinner at the palace, all of these guys (whom we voted for) fall in line and do as they are told. even the canadians didn't say no. go figure.
Well_mudda_take_sic 6 years, 8 months ago
They need us a whole helluva lot more than we need them......small wonder they are now re-establishing a more formal diplomatic presence in the Bahamas. Oh well, Bahamians will soon be eating a lot more Pakistani and Arabic dishes when they go out to dine...not just Chinese food. Prince Charles and his femme fatale are no doubt shopping for a winter home on Windermere Island in Eleuthera. We will at least have diversity to embrace!
Gotoutintime 6 years, 8 months ago
Britain needs us like they need a hole in the head. We were nothing more than a coconut colony and they look down on us like poor trash!
sheeprunner12 6 years, 8 months ago
Britain is leaving the EU and reverting to her former Empire aka The Commonwealth as her source of geo-political strength .......... GlobalBritain2.0 ........... That will be the job of Charlie3 to execute now.
ashley14 6 years, 8 months ago
I don't believe in Royalty! Kings, Queens, Princes, Princess by birthright. BS, they put their pants on just like we do. It's nonsense. I'm not impressed. I did like Princess Diana. She was a outcast because she cared about human suffering. I think she was sincere person, that they couldn't stand.
sheeprunner12 6 years, 8 months ago
Trump is a King ......... He seems to believe that he answers to no-one .... He respects no-one ........ He spits in the eye of the citizens and law & order ......... Just like the 17th Century Kings of Europe ................ Watsayu?????
Well_mudda_take_sic 6 years, 8 months ago
Just as arrogant Minnis does.
ashley14 6 years, 8 months ago
Trump isn't a King. A arrogant asshole, yeah! I am glad he has balls to stand up for some things. I think most politicians are corrupt. I said what I said about Royalty, because they are put on such high pedestals and they are royalty just by birthright. I just don't believe you should be put in such a position just because of whose your mother and father. That doesn't mean that they don't already have privileges that some don't have because they are so rich from birth. It's just my opinion. I never voice my opinion to offend someone.
realitycheck242 6 years, 8 months ago
Britain may not need us as a country, but she has some citizens who control Bahamas Petroleum company and they hoping to strike oil in the Bahamas so that the continued plundering of our resources can continue, even after 44 years of independence from England. Wake up Bahamians the share holders of BPC will be laughing al the way to the Bank soon, while we worry about the Queen and Prince Charles (see Link) https://www.bpcplc.com/investors/major-…
Aegeaon 6 years, 8 months ago
Well they still need us as a country. Look at our law enforcement and security infrastructure. We can't even go for the kill against 52 gangs, let alone deter drug cartels and terrorists. If we get taken over by criminal organizations, the UK has two choices when that happens, either ignore the threat, lose dozens of British and American citizens and be blamed for it, or send the UK Navy into the Bahamas to lock the waters down and clean up our mess that we created.
So yea. They're not looking to destabilize the country, that will be too risky.
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