The Royal Trip Prince Charles And Camilla Parker Bowles Will Finally Take After A Two-Year Delay
The royal family has been plagued with bad luck throughout the pandemic. The Duke of Cambridge, Prince William, came down with COVID-19 early in the pandemic. Both Prince Charles and Camilla have previously tested positive for COVID-19, with Charles getting it twice, and the Duchess contracting it just in February of this year. Queen Elizabeth then came down with the virus soon after her daughter-in-law. None of that, however, prevented the royals from grabbing their passports (they have passports like the rest of us, right?) and going international.
In November 2021, both the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall jetted off to Jordan and Egypt for their first royal tour since the start of the pandemic. That trip was definitely one for the history books, with Queen Rania of Jordan actually driving Camilla around the Jordanian capital of Amman in nothing less than a Tesla for a scheduled royal appearance at The Queen Rania Family and Child Centre. The moment was pretty wild; especially considering that just a few weeks earlier, Queen Rania's son, Crown Prince Hussein, tested positive for COVID-19. Perhaps normal physical-distancing rules just don't apply to royalty? Lorde had it right when she sang, "And we'll never be royals ... that kinda luxe just ain't for us." Indeed, Lorde.
But, of course, with great luxe comes great responsibility. Teslas and COVID-19 diagnoses aside, Camilla and hubby Charles will soon embark on a royal trip shelved by the pandemic many moons ago.
Prince Charles and Camilla are headed to Rwanda
When the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 an official pandemic in 2020, it messed with all of our travel plans as the airline industry essentially shut down. Even the royal family wasn't immune to global, large-scale stay-at-home orders. Heir to the throne, Prince Charles, and his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall were forced to miss their planned trip to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Kigali, Rwanda that year, which was inevitably canceled due to the pandemic. Now, the royals have announced that, after a two-year delay, they will be present for this year's Kigali summit.
In a press release posted to the Prince of Wales' official website, the statement read in part, "As the world works to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, and in this Jubilee year, it is more important than ever that the countries of the Commonwealth come together ... my wife and I are delighted to be attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Kigali, Rwanda, in June."
The CHOGM is a summit that, under normal circumstances, occurs every two years. However, the pandemic forced its shutdown in 2020 and the rescheduled time in 2021. Now, the meeting will go ahead as planned from June 20-22, 2022. The last successful CHOGM took place in 2018.