What is the significance of Charles and Camilla’s visit to Kenya?

In the run-up to the 60th anniversary of Kenya’s independence, the royal couple are making their first visit to a Commonwealth nation since Charles acceded to the throne in 2022. Sean O’Grady explains the wider context of the trip both for Kenya and for the UK

The royal couple are welcomed by Kenya’s president and his wife at the State House in Nairobi on Tuesday (PA)

Charles and Camilla’s visit to Kenya is their fourth official overseas trip, and a timely reminder of how important international “soft power” is to the UK in the post-imperial, and now post-Brexit, era. The four-day visit includes an act of remembrance for the victims of the colonial administration, as well as a state banquet and events with charities and business. As King and Queen, the couple play a unique role in projecting British influence – and at a time of relative national decline, that matters.

What’s the point of the visit?

To improve relations with an important Commonwealth nation, and a strategically important regional partner in an area that is troubled by active Islamist militants and contains at least one failed state – Kenya’s neighbour Somalia. Periodic terror attacks and refugee movements into Kenya have also added to the instability in the region. The timing of the visit is propitious, as it takes place close to the 60th anniversary of Kenya’s independence or uhuru (freedom), which was declared on 12 December 1963.