King Charles and Camilla to make first official trip since end of royal mourning
King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort, are set to hold their first joint public engagements since the period of royal mourning for Queen Elizabeth II ended.
The King and his wife will visit Dumferline in Fife on Monday (3 October) to mark the former town becoming a city.
They will be welcomed to the new city, which won its status as part of the late monarch’s platinum jubilee celebrations, by local community groups including a pipe band and schoolchildren.
It comes after the Prince and Princess of Wales carried out their first official visit to the nation last week since receiving their new titles.
Charles and Camilla will attend an official council meeting at the City Chambers, where the King will formally mark the conferral of city status on Dumferline and make a short speech.
They will later visit Dumferline Abbey to mark its 950th anniversary and will also meet with representatives from Historic Scotland to learn about the history of the local area and conservation of the site.
Dumferline is one of eight places that won city status earlier this year, including Colchester, Doncaster and Milton Keynes in England, Bangor in Northern Ireland and Wrexham in Wales.
Charles and Camilla will also host a reception at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh to celebrate South Asian communities in Britain.
They will meet between 200 and 300 guests of British Indian, Pakistani, Bangladesh, Sri Lankan, Nepalese, Bhutanese and Maldivian heritage from across the UK.
Contributions from many of these communities to areas including the NHS, arts, media, education, business, and the Armed Forces will be recognised during the event.
The King will also hold an investiture ceremony for a small group of local people, marking his first such ceremony as the new monarch.
Last week, it emerged that Prince William had no plans to stage an investiture ceremony to formally mark receiving his new title.
It marks a departure from his father’s own lavish ceremony, which was staged at Caernarfon Castle in July 1969 when he was officially invested with the title Prince of Wales by the Queen.
Additional reporting by PA
