Buckingham Palace has officially announced that King Charles III will embark on his first multi-stop Caribbean tour as Britain’s head of state in October 2026, a journey that will see him visit three Commonwealth nations ahead of the 2026 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). The 9-day trip, running from October 27 to November 4, 2026, will include joint travel with Queen Camilla, and touches on key diplomatic milestones and long-standing royal ties to the region.
According to the palace’s official statement, the royal couple will kick off their tour with an official visit to The Bahamas, marking King Charles’ first trip to the Caribbean nation since he ascended to the British throne following Queen Elizabeth II’s death in 2022. For The Bahamas, King Charles remains the ceremonial head of state, making the stop a significant moment for bilateral and Commonwealth relations.
After wrapping up their time in The Bahamas, the pair will travel to Antigua and Barbuda to attend the 2026 CHOGM, which is scheduled to take place in the country from November 1 to 4. Following the summit, King Charles will carry out a formal state visit to Guyana, extended at the invitation of Guyana’s president and at the formal request of the United Kingdom government. This state visit will coincide with the 60th anniversary of formal bilateral diplomatic relations between the UK and Guyana, a milestone that underscores the long-standing ties between the two nations.
Buckingham Palace noted that the entire autumn tour is designed to celebrate the diverse communities, vibrant cultures, and unique natural environments that make up the 56-nation Commonwealth family.
The upcoming visit to The Bahamas fulfills a promise King Charles made back in 2024, when he was forced to cancel plans to attend the Caribbean nation’s 50th independence anniversary celebrations due to ongoing cancer treatment. At the time, he expressed his sincere regret to Bahamian Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis and shared his firm commitment to visit the country at the earliest opportunity.
This new visit will be King Charles’ first time in The Bahamas as monarch, but it is not his first connection to the nation’s key historical moments. His last visit to The Bahamas came in 1973, when he was still the Prince of Wales, and he represented the late Queen Elizabeth II at the country’s official independence ceremonies. Queen Elizabeth II, for her part, maintained deep ties to The Bahamas over her 70-year reign, completing five official visits to the nation over the decades. Her final trip to The Bahamas came in 1994, when she also attended the CHOGM hosted by the country that year.