ZAGREB, May 17, 2019 – Prince Edward, the youngest son of Queen Elizabeth II, arrived in Split on Thursday for a two-day visit aimed at bolstering Croatian-British relations.
Visits by members of the British royal family, including the 55-year-old Edward, are organised at the recommendation of the British Foreign Office to underline the importance of relations with the country being visited. Members of the royal family are considered to be ambassadors of the United Kingdom.
Edward, Elizabeth’s third son and youngest child, is the protector and supporter of numerous institutions and charities, most of which support young people. He supports several art organisations and also represents and supports the British armed forces.
Upon landing at Split airport, the prince, the 11th in line for the British throne, headed for Diocletian’s Palace, a symbol of ties between the UK and Croatia which the great Scottish architect Robert Adam visited in 1757, writing a book about it and finding an inspiration in its architecture for his neoclassic work. The original copy of which is stored in the Split City Museum.
Prince Edward visited the British HMS Duncan destroyer in Split’s port on Thursday, where, joined by representatives of the Croatian armed forces, NATO ambassadors and Croatian Culture Minister Nina Obuljen Koržinek, he marked the tenth anniversary of Croatia’s NATO membership and NATO’s 70th anniversary.
The HMS Duncan, tied in Split for several days, has a 280-strong crew, a displacement of 8,000 tons and can sail at 30 knots.
This year the UK will participate in NATO’s Immediate Response exercise in Croatia, while at the end of the summer, the armies of the two countries will hold the sixth joint exercise Sava Star.
On Friday, Edward will visit the Mestrovic Gallery and the 1st Secondary School which has been collaborating with Aston College in Dover for 25 years. He will then open an office of the British ICE Marine Design company and meet with professor Miroslav Radman, who works on research projects with the University of Cambridge.
This is Prince Edward’s first official visit to Croatia. Prince Charles visited several times, Princess Anne visited in 2009 and Queen Elizabeth II did so in 1972.
More news about relations between Croatia and Great Britain can be found in the Politics section.
