Duchess Sophie of the British royal family arrives in Cox's Bazar; to visit Rohingya camp on Tuesday
Sophie Helen Rhys-Jones, a member of the British royal family and the Duchess of Edinburgh, has arrived in Cox's Bazar on a two-day visit. Sophie, the wife of Prince Edward, the younger brother of Britain's King Charles III, will visit the Rohingya refugee camp in Ukhiya on Tuesday.
She arrived in Cox's Bazar by air from Dhaka's Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Monday night (9 November). The member of the British royal family will stay overnight in Cox's Bazar and leave for the Rohingya camp in Ukhiya on Tuesday morning.
During the visit she will see various programmes run for the protection, education, health and livelihoods of Rohingya children, women and adolescent girls.
Visiting the work of different institutions and organisations involved in international humanitarian assistance is one of the main purposes of the trip. In particular, she will see first-hand initiatives for the education of Rohingya children, the safety of women and girls, and support for women and children with disabilities.
Her programme includes a visit to a learning centre run for Rohingya children, where she will learn about the children's education, the learning environment and the opportunities displaced children have to study. She will also visit various humanitarian programmes run by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
She is also scheduled to visit a safety centre for women and adolescent girls, a soap production factory run jointly by IOM and Pulse, a women's multipurpose centre, and a support centre for women and children with disabilities.
Through these institutions, she will gain an understanding of the initiatives taken to ensure skill development, self-reliance, safety and social inclusion for Rohingya women.
The challenges faced by Rohingya women and children who have lived in displacement for a long time — in their daily lives, education, health care, safety and access to humanitarian aid — are expected to receive particular attention during her visit.
According to the itinerary published by the British royal family, the main themes of Sophie's Bangladesh visit are the welfare, safety, empowerment and education of women and girls. Highlighting the long-standing bilateral relationship between Bangladesh and the United Kingdom and various aspects of humanitarian cooperation is also an aim of the visit.
Sophie Helen Rhys-Jones was born on 20 January 1965 in Oxford, United Kingdom. She married Prince Edward on 19 June 1999. On 10 March 2023, King Charles III conferred the title of Duke of Edinburgh on his brother Prince Edward, and Sophie has since been known as the Duchess of Edinburgh.
She previously visited Bangladesh in 2017. This visit runs for three days, from 9 to 11 November, and was arranged at the request of the United Kingdom's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).
