This week, Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh will visit Malta to mark the celebration of Malta’s 60 years of independence, the first members of the Royal Family to visit since 2018.
The links between Malta and the UK run deep. This visit will celebrate those links, marking our shared past, and our collaboration today and into the future.
The Royal Family and Malta have a special history; it was here that The Duke’s parents, Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, called home between 1949 and 1951. Their Royal Highnesses will visit that home – Villa Guardamangia – to learn about Heritage Malta’s plans, and collaboration with the UK, for its restoration and transformation into a museum. They will also attend an ecumenical service at the Anglican Pro-Cathedral, an institution The Duke’s father was patron of.
Their Royal Highnesses visit will celebrate the historic relationship between the UK and Malta and will mark the 60th anniversary of Malta’s Independence, celebrated on September 21. In the National Library, they will see first-hand the Royal Decree, authorising the former Duke of Edinburgh to open the Maltese parliament under the new Independence Constitution, as well as the celebratory newspaper articles of the day.
I have been honoured to serve in Malta for the past four years, during which time I have been struck by the depth of feeling, warmth and respect our two peoples continue to hold for one another.
That is clear in our diplomatic engagement on global affairs, where the UK and Malta so often find ourselves in agreement whether that be at the UN or in the OSCE, where Malta is currently Chair in Office.
It is true of our medical cooperation, where many Maltese professionals have been trained or certain patients are treated in the UK. It is true also in day-to-day life; I regularly hear the personal stories of people whose links with the UK, familial or personal, go back years. It is even true of which football teams we support.
Malta was, to Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the ‘isle of Happy Memories’- Katherine Ward
The UK and Malta are also partners for the future. The theme for this year’s UK National Day is ‘Youth in Action’. Throughout their time here, our visitors will meet many inspiring young Maltese, working for a better future. They will hear about UK-Malta university collaboration in medicine with Queen Mary University London in Gozo, and on journalism with British universities, the University of Malta and the Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation.
HRH The Duke will inaugurate the new offices of the Duke of Edinburgh International Awards Malta where he will meet the award participants. Their Royal Highnesses will meet representatives of the scouts, the Sea Cadets, the EkoSkola programme, the King’s Trust International, Nature Trust and more… At all times it will be the young people who tell their stories.
At its heart the relationship between our two island peoples is about just that, people. Malta was, to Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the “isle of Happy Memories”. Many British and Maltese citizens share that sense of special connection.
The visit of Their Royal Highnesses this week is designed to celebrate these people, and the unique links between them, whether they are our forefathers or our children, as we look ahead to the next chapter of UK-Malta relations.
Katherine Ward, LVO OBE, is the British High Commissioner to Malta.