Photo: Britain’s Prince Charles, takes a drink with Chief Sine Mao Tirsupe, in Vanuatu in 2018. Photograph: Reuters. Retrieved from theguardian.com
Excerpt from theguardian.com
The coronation of King Charles III will take place thousands of kilometres from the Pacific, but in some pockets of the region the significance of the ceremony that will unfold in Westminster Abbey on Saturday runs deep.
The small island nation of Vanuatu is home to a group of villagers in Tanna who hold particularly close ties with the royal family.
They believe Prince Philip was born on Tanna and left before the second world war to seek his fortune. He travelled to the UK where he met, wooed and wed the most powerful woman in the world. Folklore says that his spirit lives on in Tanna.
When Prince Philip died in 2021, Chief Lalu, from west Tanna told the Guardian that Prince Charles was also considered one of their own. “Prince Philip’s family is Tanna’s family,” he said.
News that Charles is to be crowned king has been met with happiness in Tanna. The islanders are expecting the British high commissioner Nicolette Brent to join in their celebrations, sip kava in a special yellow coconut shell and watch ceremonial dances. Pigs will be slaughtered in honour of the new king.
