Royals Back on Tour! Prince Charles and Camilla Head to Jordan for First Overseas Visit Since Pandemic

The royal couple were originally scheduled to visit Jordan in March 2020, but their trip was postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak

prince charles royal tour
Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall on tour in Jordan. Photo: Jordan Pix/Getty
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Britain's Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, disembark their Royal Air Force aircraft upon their arrival at Queen Alia International Airport
Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. KHALIL MAZRAAWI/AFP via Getty Images

Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall touched down in Jordan on Tuesday for their first overseas tour since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The visit was postponed after being originally scheduled for March 2020.

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Prince of Wales Charles (L2) and Duchess of Cornwall Camilla (L) are welcomed by Jordanian King Abdullah II (R2) and Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan
Prince Charles, Camilla the Duchess of Cornwall, Jordan's King Abdullah II and Jordan's Queen Rania. Royal Hashemite Court/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

The couple was greeted at the Al Husseiniya Palace in Amman by Jordan's King Abdullah II and Queen Rania.

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Britain's Prince Charles (C), the Prince of Wales, and his wife Camilla (C-R), Duchess of Cornwall, visit the baptism site of al-Maghtas
KHALIL MAZRAAWI/afp/AFP via Getty Images

Prince Charles and Camilla's first day included a visit to al-Maghtas on the Jordan river, where Jesus is believed by Christians to have been baptized by John the Baptist.

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Britain's Prince Charles (R), the Prince of Wales, and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, visit the baptism site of al-Maghtas
Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Charles. KHALIL MAZRAAWI/afp/AFP via Getty Images

Prince Charles leaned down to put his hand in the water at the site.

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Britain's Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, visit Elijahâs Hill, near the baptism site along the Jordan River
Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. Peter Nicholls - Pool/Getty Images

Prince Charles and Camilla held hands as they visited Elijahâs Hill near the baptism site.

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Camilla and Queen Rania
Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and Queen Rania. Arthur Edwards-Pool/Getty Images

Queen Rania took the wheel — literally! — to drive Camilla to The Queen Rania Family and Child Centre in a Tesla followed closely by security.

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Prince Charles and Camilla Jordan tour
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Charles and Camilla attended an official dinner with King Abdullah II and Queen Rania at Al Husseiniya Palace.

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Prince Charles and Camilla Duchess of Cornwall walking tour of Umm Qais
Alamy Stock Photo

On Wednesday, the royal couple went on a walking tour of Umm Qais, the site of the ancient city of Gadara and dates back to the 3rd Century BC.

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prince charles royal tour
Jordan Pix/Getty

During the visit, Charles stopped to plant a tree to symbolise the UK-Jordanian partnership and in celebration of the centenary anniversary for the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

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prince charles royal tour
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Camilla visited the Princess Taghreed Secondary Girls School, where she met with Jordanian and Syrian refugee boys and girls. She also met with a group of teen girls during a vocational education class and engaged in a discussion with them on the challenges of COVID-19 on their education, their return to face-to-face learning and their future hopes and ambitions as young women in Jordan.

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Prince Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall
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After leaving Jordan, Charles and Camilla arrived in Egypt for the second leg of their tour on Thursday. They kicked things off at the Presidential Palace, where they met President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and his wife, Entissar Amer.

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Camilla went barefoot for the couple's visit to the Al-Azhar Mosque, one of the oldest mosques in Egypt. There, they met Al-Azhar scholars, who study Islamic studies at British universities before returning to Al-Azhar university.

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prince charles and camilla
Charles and Camilla take in the sights while visiting the pyramids in Giza. Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty

Charles and Camilla take in the sights while visiting the pyramids in Giza.

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Prince Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall
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Talk about a photo op! The couple played tourist for a picture, posing in front of the Sphinx on the outskirts of Cairo.

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Prince Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall
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On the final day of the tour, Camilla — a longtime literacy advocate — spoke with children she met during her visit to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.

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Prince Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall
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Camilla also stopped by the Brooke Veterinary Hospital in Cairo, interacting with various animals such as horses and donkeys during her visit.

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Prince Charles traveled to Beit Al Razaz, where he saw how the Egyptian Heritage Rescue Foundation documents and preserves treasures of Mamluk geometry of Cairo's minbars. He also met young craftspeople from the EHRF and The Jameel School, which is supported by The Prince's Foundation.

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prince charles and camilla
Charles and Camilla sign the guestbook during their visit to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt's northern Mediterranean coastal city of Alexandria. AHMED HASAN/AFP via Getty

Charles and Camilla sign the guestbook during their visit to the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt's northern Mediterranean coastal city of Alexandria.

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prince charles and camilla
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Charles waves as he departs Borg el-Arab Airport in Alexandria, on the last day of their tour.

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