He may not have proposed to his wife HRH the Duchess of Cornwall in one of the Royal Cabins in Africa, like his sons Princes William and Harry did in Kenya and Botswana, respectively. What The Prince of Wales and his wife the Duchess of Cornwall did on their recent trip was to show their intimate love for Africa and to the rest of the Commonwealth. They demonstrated that they were fit, ready, prepared and able to be the next leaders of the Commonwealth. 

Whereas HRH the Prince of Wales returned to Ghana on November 2, 41 years after he last visited in 1977, this was the first time his wife, The Duchess, had visited Ghana.   

It was a momentous comeback not just in glamour, but in everything that exemplifies the strong link between Ghana and the UK.

The fact that the Royal couple chose November, the month of Prince Charles’ birth to undertake this trip to Africa, to Ghana, could have meant nothing, or everything. One thing is definite though, the UK is not known for haphazard foreign policy. This trip was very deliberate. 

In mid-October 2018 a successful UK-Ghana Investment Summit was held in Accra. At this summit, UK businesses were provided with a plethora of incentives, specifically £1bn worth of investment opportunities if those businesses were to expand their businesses by creating jobs in Ghana. 

In the first week of November 2018, (2-5 November) the heir apparent to the Queen, Prince Charles and his wife the Duchess of Cornwall, in their majesty, underlined decades of a great relationship with the Royal Visit to Ghana. 

Scott Furssedonn-Wood, Prince Charles’ deputy private secretary, in announcing the visit of the Their Royal Highnesses said the visit was at the request of the British government. 

“Their Royal Highnesses’ visit will celebrate the UK’s historic ties with these three Commonwealth nations, Gambia, Ghana and Nigeria, and also our dynamic contemporary partnerships with each of them in areas ranging from business to the arts, defence co-operation to medical research,” Scott added. 

That was a testimony of the British government’s new commitment to strengthening relationships with old allies. 

Prince Charles has always been a champion of charity and a patron of many charitable organisations. When he returned to Ghana, the discussion was on issues close to his heart - environment, business, youth entrepreneurship, literacy, education, good governance, trade, business, culture, safe and clean environment all of which are ideals of the Commonwealth. 

For Camilla, the next Queen of the United Kingdom, nothing was more gratifying than being able to promote literacy, creative writing and critical thinking across the Commonwealth. These objectives were achieved through the Commonwealth Big Lunch hosted by the British High Commission and the Royal Commonwealth Society and the launch of the oldest writing competition in the world, The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition. In its 135 year history, the essay competition had always been launched from Buckingham Palace.

For the first time ever, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and Vice- Patron of The Royal Commonwealth Society, had all eyes on Ghana, as she, with the help of the First Lady of Ghana, launched the Queen’s Essay Competition in Accra at the Ghana International School.

In his Keynote address, award-winning actor turned Commonwealth Representative, John Apea spoke of the honour of having The Duchess of Cornwall and the First Lady of Ghana, under one roof, to promote literacy. 

Mr. Apea told the press at the sidelines of big launch said: As you saw today, everyone really loves The Duchess and what she stands for - you could see the excitement on the children’s faces as they saw her and waved their flags. A few were actually in tears as they filmed on their phones. We all really love the Duchess”.