Royal visit on Nov 3-4

By LESLIE OMARO
PRINCE Charles and his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, are expected to visit the country for two days – Nov 3-4.
But the government has yet to confirm the dates of the royal visit.
Overseas media yesterday quoted Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard that the royal couple would visit for five days from Nov 5 after spending two days in PNG.
An advance party of six men and a woman from Buckingham Palace arrived in Port
Moresby yesterday afternoon.
The advance party members are Clive Alderton (Private secretary for foreign and commonwealth affairs to the royal couple), Joy Camm (assistant private secretary designate to the royal couple), Simon Martin (deputy private secretary designate), Patrick Harrison  (press secretary), Andy Tibble (tour logistics manager), Joshua Puls (research) and Supt Tim Nash (snr personal protection).
The group was met by chief protocol officer Jimmy Ovia, senior protocol officer Barbara Mimino and former high commissioner to London, Jean Kekedo.
Prince Charles, next in line to the British throne, will be accompanied by wife Camilla to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee.
Prince Charles will be representing the Queen on the visit.
He was her representative when the country gained independence on Sept 16, 1975.
The visit by Prince Charles signifies the standing PNG has with the British crown.
Group leader Alderton was tight-lipped about details of the royal visit but assured Papua New Guineans that Prince Charles and his wife were looking forward to meeting many people.
“We won’t be going into details of the visit but we will go back and talk to the royal highnesses about our visit here,” Alderton said.
“It’s very much a people’s jubilee so the royal couple would like to connect with many people.”
Alderton said apart from the visit to Port Moresby, the royal couple would be travelling outside the capital city but he did not specify where they would visit.
Ovia said there was a draft programme on the royal visit but nothing had been confirmed yet.