DUSHANBE, October 24, 2008, Asia-Plus — His Royal Highness The Duke of York, the second son of the British Queen Elizabeth II, is visiting Tajikistan for the second time in just over two years on October 26-27, press release issued by the UK Embassy said.
On this occasion he will be accompanied by his younger daughter, 18-year-old Princess Eugenie of York. The Duke of York’s first visit to Tajikistan was in July 2006.
On this occasion His Royal Highness will be in Tajikistan for just 24 hours as part of a tour taking in Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and China. The main working day of his visit will be Monday October 27 when The Duke of York will meet President Rahmon and visit the British Embassy.
The Duke of York and Princess Eugenie will then go to Varzob district where they will see examples of the way in which the British Government worked with the Tajik people during the last difficult winter. At that time the British Department for International Development (DFID) gave a total of £3 million for emergency aid, much of it channeled through international NGOs. In Varzob this assistance was implemented by CARE International. Their Royal Highnesses will visit the Varzob Maternity Centre which received a generator under the emergency program and then go on to School no 5 in Takob village which received coal-burning stoves at the same time.
“This return visit is an excellent opportunity to show The Duke of York the ways in which Britain and Tajikistan are working together, including in times of national crisis such as last winter,” said Mr. Graeme Loten, the British Ambassador. “We hope that by taking His Royal Highness to Varzob we will be able to show him both the challenges of the task that a developing economy like Tajikistan’s faces, but also the enormous potential of a region where the road communications have improved so much and which could develop an important tourism sector.”
In the evening of October 27, The Duke of York will attend a reception to meet members of the British community and some successful young Tajiks before leaving for the airport and flying on to his next stop at Bishkek.
HRH The Duke of York visited Tajikistan for the first time in July 2006. The main focus of that visit was to open the building of the British Embassy in Dushanbe. He also held a meeting with HE President Rahmon and attended a special reception to mark the 80th birthday of HM Queen Elizabeth in the Ambassador’s residence. On the second day of his stay in Tajikistan HRH visited Jomi and Qurghon Teppa, saw an exhibition of the work of several NGOs, visited a mosque and opened the premises of an English language center in Qurghon Teppa, SWORDE-Teppa.
HRH The Duke of York is the second son of HM The Queen and the younger brother of HRH The Prince of Wales. He is presently fourth in line to the throne (after The Prince of Wales and his two sons, Prince William and Prince Harry). He has two daughters, HRH Princess Beatrice and HRH Princess Eugenie. Princess Eugenie, herself sixth in line to the throne, will be accompanying her father on this visit to Tajikistan. She is 18 years old and has just graduated from school.
