Prince Harry's exciting new royal role
Prince Harry has a new official position with the Commonwealth, which has been viewed as a manoeuvre to make the organisation “relevant to a younger generation”.
The 33-year-old will play a principal role at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) which will be held in London from April 16 to 20.
The engaged prince is also expected to take interest in the organisation’s youth-related work and speak at the summit’s Commonwealth Youth Forum.
The Commonwealth is a voluntary association that is made of up 53 independent sovereign states that are mostly former territories of the British empire.
At the Queen’s coronation in 1953, she was proclaimed as Head of the Commonwealth.
At the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, which will be opened by Prince Charles, there are murmurs that Harry may take on an ambassadorial role.
Deputy director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London, Dr Su Onslow, said, “It's a very astute move giving Prince Harry a non-political, global role, drawing on his charisma and energy to help keep the Commonwealth and its headship relevant to a younger generation. This is soft-power diplomacy.”
The news of Harry’s new role follows speculation on whether Prince Charles will take over as head of the organisation when the Queen dies.
Despite the Queen wishing for Prince Charles to succeed her in the organisation, there is no formal process for choosing her successor and it is not a heredity position.
At the most recent CHOGM in Malta two years ago, the Queen said she could not “wish to have been better supported and represented in the Commonwealth than by the Prince of Wales who continues to give so much to it with great distinction.”
Last year, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said the Commonwealth will soon overtake the EU in term of the size of its economy.
He highlighted how important it was to get good trade deals with the Commonwealth and how UK can survive outside the EU.