Why King Charles is visiting Kenya

King Charles is planning a trip to Kenya later this year in order to strengthen the UK’s ties with the Commonwealth. However, the trip could be an emotional one for the British monarch.

It was in Kenya where his late mother Queen Elizabeth learned she had ascended to the throne after the death of her father King George VI in 1952, with an insider saying it would be a “poignant” trip for the King.

The source told the Mail on Sunday: “It will be a poignant moment. Inevitably it will be a reminder of his young mother at the start of her reign. Now, he is at the start of his, but he has the advantage of experience, too.

“It will also be an important marker for his reign that will underline how importantly he views the Commonwealth.

“His Majesty wants to bring people together. He knows the relationship will change between the Royal Family and the realms and other Commonwealth countries, but is keen to preserve and protect the common values.”

Kenya is a significant country for the monarchy, as the then-Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip travelled to the country in February 1952 to start a world tour on behalf of King George VI.

But in the early hours of February 6 Elizabeth was informed her father had died and she was now Queen, while she was at the Treetops Hotel in Aberdare National Park.

Charles himself has visited Kenya four times, the first time on safari with his sister Princess Anne in 1971, with other trips in 1977, 1978 and 1987.

Close to the Treetops Hotel there is even a clearing named the Prince Charles Campsite, said to be the place where he first grew a beard while on safari.

Even though it is a member of the Commonwealth Kenya does not recognise the King as its Head of State.

Charles’s key priorities as monarch will be preserving the connections between the “family of countries” that meant so much to his mother.

In June last year Charles travelled to Rwanda to represent the Queen at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, where he said: “We meet and talk as equals. Each member’s Constitutional arrangement as Republic or Monarchy is purely a matter for each member country to decide.”

Next year he is due to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Samoa, and visit Australia and New Zealand.