Last week’s terror attacks in Paris and subsequent threats made by Islamic State against Western countries have not deterred the Queen from pushing ahead with her upcoming state visit to Malta next week.
A Palace spokesperson told The Malta Independent that "Her Majesty's State Visit to Malta and attendance at CHOGM will proceed as planned." This paper asked whether the visit would go ahead and whether any parts of QE II’s programme had been changed due to security concerns.
The Queen will be visiting Malta along with her husband, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, as well as Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales and his spouse Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall.
Details of the visit were made public last month, with the highlights of the visit being the official welcome in St George’s Square, a reception hosted by the Queen and the grand opening of the CHOGM meeting.
The Queen will also be hosting a reception at San Anton Gardens and the Royal Family will attend the CHOGM traditional dinner at the COrinthia Hotel in Attard on Friday 27 November.
On Saturday she and Prince Philip will also be visiting Heritage Mata and will be transferred by boat across Grand Harbour before attending their last activity at the Marsa Racecourse.
The visit will also include a separate programme for Prince Philip, Prince Charles and Duchess of Cornwall. This will be the Prince’s fourth visit to Malta.
This will be Elizabeth’s seventh visit to Malta, having already visited as Queen in 1954, 1967, 1992, 2005 and 2007. She had already spent time in Malta as a princess with the Duke of Edinburgh in the early 1950s. At the time the Duke was serving as an officer in the Royal Navy.
The Prince of Wales’ first visit was as a child in 1954 and the most recent Royal visit was by Prince William in September 2014 to mark 50 years of Malta's independence.
The UK is expected to once again provide tight security for the event, following a request by the Maltese government. Britain has already provided security via HMS Bulwark and HMS Somerset as well as Merlin helicopters and Typhoon fighter jets during last week’s Valletta Summit on Migration.
A press release issued yesterday by the British High Commission said focus now switches to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting due to start next week.
It is assumed that the UK could deploy a larger number of assets this time round seeing that four members of the Royal Family as well as Prime Minister David Cameron will be in Malta for CHOGM.
Following last week’s attacks in Paris, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat reiterated that there was no known threat against Malta but the country would remain cautious. Dr Muscat also said he would have no problem in cancelling CHOGM should such a threat surface, insisting that the Maltese people came first.