Royals celebrate jubilee with trip to West Indies

THE EARL and Countess of Wessex will visit the West Indies later this month to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, Buckingham Palace announced.

Edward and Sophie’s two-week tour will take them to a number of Commonwealth states including St Lucia, Barbados, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada.

Their visit – the first of the Diamond Jubilee overseas trips by members of the Royal Family – will also include Trinidad and Tobago, Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda.

It will start in St Lucia on 21 February, where they will join Independence Day 50th anniversary celebrations, attend a parade and watch a youth performance.

During the tour, the couple will also visit the Barbados parliament, where they will receive a joint address by both Houses.In addition, they will go to the Princess Elizabeth Centre in Trinidad and Tobago, which was built with funds given to the Queen as a wedding present, and visit Montserrat, where they will see the island’s ongoing recovery from the devastating effects of the volcanic eruption.

Their tour is scheduled to end on 7 March.