DIPLOMATIC EXCELLENCE As part of Bahrain This Month’s special ‘UK in Bahrain’ feature to celebrate the coronation of HM King Charles III, we sat down with the British Ambassador to Bahrain, His Excellency Roderick Drummond, to discuss this historic event and the state of his current ambassadorial term which will end later this year. What are your priorities as the British Ambassador to Bahrain? I believe that I have three significant baskets in which I gather my goals. The first is prosperity; working together on shared relations between Britain and Bahrain. The others are shared security between the two nations and looking after British nationals and the community here. We have a very diverse collaboration with Bahrain and things really are in a very positive space at the moment. How do you see the current state of relations between the United Kingdom and Bahrain, and what steps are being taken to enhance these relations further? We have had some very good high level visits recently, such as the visit of the UK Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly, for the Manama Dialogue, with more planned in the next couple of months. Chief of these is His Majesty King Hamad attending the coronation of HM King Charles III in early May, for which we’ll also be holding a big celebration here in Bahrain. So, it's going to be a really positive last few months for me in the Kingdom. King Charles III has visited Bahrain on a number of occasions and has a strong personal relationship with the Kingdom’s top leadership. How do you think this familiarity can contribute to the relationship between the two Kingdoms, which stretches back 209 years? It's absolutely at the heart of it. I'm very privileged to be part of some of the exchanges between the royal families. There’s a real deep friendship between both sides and shared interests in so many different fields, whether that's sporting or charitable work or environmental consciousness. There's a lot of private discussion and collaboration, which I think is very positive and forward-looking. It is interwoven with our 209-year relationship, and it helps make it warmer and stronger. Do you have a message for our readers on the occasion of the historic coronation of King Charles III? The transfer of office has happened already, automatically upon the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. However, the symbolism of a coronation is important in the life of any nation because it then enables the monarch to show the values and the causes that are www.bahrainthismonth.com 8 May 2023 UK in Bahrain
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