At Faleolo International Airport, where a crimson carpet had been set out despite strong gusts and last-minute vacuuming, Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa welcomed King and Queen Camilla.
As the couple disembarked and met local officials, the Royal Samoan Police Band started playing.
The King and Queen said on social media that they “couldn’t wait” to visit Samoa and feel the “warmth” of the nation’s long-standing customs after wrapping up their six-day trip to Australia on Tuesday.
A few lines in Samoan that roughly translated to “looking forward to meeting the Samoan people” were inserted in the tweet.
“One Resilient Common Future” is the topic of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) being held in Samoa, a small nation in the center South Pacific Ocean that is composed of an archipelago of nine islands.
The ceremony, which Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer will also attend, will be formally opened by the King in his capacity as head of the Commonwealth.
During the most recent CHOGM hosted by Rwanda in 2022, Charles served as Queen Elizabeth II’s stand-in. Foreign Secretary David Lammy will accompany Charles in Samoa.
