Princess Royal to visit landmine clearance site in Sri Lanka

The Princess Royal will visit a site in Sri Lanka where a landmine clearance charity is working to make a former civil war frontline safe.

Anne, who is in Sri Lanka on a three-day tour, will learn about the work of the Halo Trust, which is clearing tens of thousands of munitions left by both sides in the conflict.

Sri Lanka’s bloody civil war between armed separatist Tamil Tiger forces and the Sri Lankan army ended in May 2009 after 26 years, with government troops claiming victory in a conflict that left an estimated 100,000 dead.

The princess will tour the Halo Trust’s demining and resettlement site in Muhamalai near Jaffna, the capital of Sri Lanka’s Tamil-majority northern province, and meet residents who have been settled in the area following mine clearance.

She will also go to Jaffna to meet members of Sri Lanka’s Tamil and northern communities and hear how the Jaffna public library is a symbol of northern education and culture.

Anne arrived in Sri Lanka on Wednesday and delivered to Sri Lanka’s president, Ranil Wickremesinghe, a letter from the King, which said the world is facing the challenges of “maintaining peace, prosperity and democracy”.

Charles also said the UK was committed to “building an ever stronger, modern partnership with Sri Lanka”.

The princess tour is the royal family’s first overseas trip of 2024 and marks the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the UK and the Commonwealth country, which gained independence from Britain in 1948.

Anne, who is joined by her husband Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, will also visit the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, in Kandy, central Sri Lanka, the most significant Buddhist Temple in the country.