02/05/2026
"On May 1, 2026, King Charles III stepped onto the whitewashed stone steps of St. Peter's Church in the historic town of St. George's, Bermuda, and in doing so he crossed a threshold that connects over four centuries of living history in one single, breathtaking moment. This extraordinary church, founded by the Virginia Company in 1612 and officially known as Their Majesties Chappell after a royal designation granted by the late Queen Elizabeth II during her Diamond Jubilee year in 2012, holds the remarkable distinction of being the oldest Anglican church in continuous use outside the British Isles and the oldest continuously active Protestant church in the entire New World. The original structure was built of cedar beams and palmetto leaves, the first parliament of Bermuda met within its walls in 1620, making it the site of one of the oldest parliaments on earth, and a 500-year-old baptismal font brought from England still stands inside today, older than the island's own settlement. Charles, making his very first visit to a British Overseas Territory as reigning monarch, paused on those famous front steps to greet a line of joyful schoolchildren, each one waving and beaming with a warmth that no protocol can manufacture. One crowd member called out simply, 'Thank you for coming,' and another shouted 'Get home safe,' and in those four unscripted words lay everything beautiful about the relationship between a monarch and the people he serves. The Royal Bermuda Regiment had already played the national anthem and then, in a moment of pure, joyful surprise, struck up Bob Marley and the Wailers' beloved song Jamming, setting the entire gathering alive with music and laughter and colour. It was a beginning that felt less like a state engagement and more like a homecoming, personal, real, and full of the kind of love that no amount of ceremony can ever truly replace."
