Anna visits Sri Lanka during her first royal foreign tour in 2024
The Royal Princess is on an official visit to Sri Lanka, marking the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the UK and the South Asian island.
King's sister Anne, accompanied by her husband Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Lawrence, is undertaking the three-day royal trip at the request of the Foreign Office. This tour marks the first overseas visit by the royal family in 2024. The King and Queen are expected to visit Canada in May and Australia, New Zealand, and Samoa in October, as reported by ca.news.yahoo.com.
The 73-year-old princess has earned the nickname the "right hand of the king" due to her brother's support and her reputation as one of the hardest-working members of the royal family in Charles's streamlined monarchy.
In 2023, there was no major joint official foreign tour by the Prince and Princess of Wales, but reports suggest that the couple is planning to travel to Italy for an official visit this spring.
Anne's itinerary includes meetings with local communities and religious groups in the capital Colombo, the city of Kandy in central Sri Lanka, and Jaffna in the northern tip of the country from January 10-12. During her visit, the Princess also planned to meet with Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe.
The Princess last visited Sri Lanka almost 30 years ago, in 1995, as a patron of Save the Children to observe the projects supported by the charity. The King and Queen, then Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall, were in Sri Lanka in 2013 for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).
Charles made individual trips in 2005 following the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami and in 1998 to mark the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the UK and the Republic.