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Bermuda visit for the Queen

Tony Jones,Press Association
Monday 28 September 2009 08:13 EDT
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The Queen will visit Bermuda to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the island's settlement, Buckingham Palace has confirmed.

The British overseas territory will welcome the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh in November for a three-day tour.

There was speculation that a royal visit to mark the anniversary was in doubt after a diplomatic row blew up between Bermuda and the UK over the arrival of four former Guantanamo Bay detainees on the island.

The deal to allow the men - Chinese Muslim Uighurs - to be transferred to the territory was agreed between America and the Bermudan government without consultation with British officials.

US authorities had concluded the former detainees were not enemy combatants.

The Uighurs are Muslim separatists from China's Xinjiang province who fled to Afghanistan in 2001 to escape oppression and spent seven years detained at Guantanamo Bay after being captured.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said the department had completed a security assessment of the men with the Bermuda Police Service.

She added: "It concludes that the four men do not pose a significant risk to Bermuda, but the police will keep the issue under review."

Bermuda is celebrating the 400th anniversary of its settlement that began when a British ship was wrecked off the island in 1609 and the crew landed on the Atlantic outpost.

Events are expected to be staged to mark the milestone but no details about the itinerary for the royal visit from November 24 to 26 have been released.

The Queen and the Duke last visited Bermuda in 1994 with previous trips in 1976, 1975 and 1953.

After the Bermuda visit the royal couple will travel to Trinidad and Tobago where the Queen will open the 2009 Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting on November 27.

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