London Leaders approve Prince Charles to succeed Queen as Commonwealth head

     London Leaders on Friday approved Prince Charles as the successor to Queen Elizabeth as head of the Commonwealth at a meeting of the group’s heads of government in Windsor. Prince Charles There had been calls for the role to be rotated around the 53 member-states, most of which are former British territories, but in recent days the queen, the British government and other leaders have backed Charles to take on the role. 


The Commonwealth Secretariat, which carries out the organization’s day-to-day work, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Prime Minister Theresa May’s office did not comment on the report.

 The succession issue was due to be discussed at the final day of the meeting, when leaders traveled 20 miles outside London for private meetings at the queen’s Windsor Castle home. The Commonwealth evolved out of the British empire in the mid-20th century, and the queen has been its head since her reign began in 1952. 

Charles had long been expected to take on the role even though it is not strictly hereditary. This week’s Commonwealth summit has seen thousands of delegates from across the globe descend on London, debating issues such as the environment, women’s rights and trade. It ends later on Friday, when May is due to speak. 

Britain has sought to use its hosting of the event as a chance to reinvigorate the loose alliance of countries, which have a combined population of 2.4 billion people, eyeing increased trade and global influence as it prepares to leave the European Union. But the summit has been overshadowed by the embarrassing treatment of Caribbean migrants who came to Britain after World War Two to help rebuild the country, but have been caught up in a tightening of immigration rules.  The next summit is due to be held in Malaysia in 2020. Reports has it that the summit which was originally to be hosted by Vanuatu at the end of 2017 was moved to the UK as Vanuatu was no longer able to host the event due to the damage done by Cyclone Pam to the island nation’s infrastructure.

 The position of Commonwealth Chair-in-Office, held by the government leader of the CHOGM host country, will be transferred at the summit from the Prime Minister of Malta to the Prime Minister of the UK who will hold the post until the 26th CHOGM expected in 2020. The theme of the summit is “Towards a Common Future”. The British hosts have set out four main goals for the summit. These are prosperity: boosting intra-Commonwealth trade and investment security: increasing cooperation across security challenges including global terrorism, organised crime and cyber attacks fairness: promoting democracy.
Source : Vanguard