Royals

Prince Charles delights the crowds in the Solomon Islands with a speech in pidgin English

In pidgin English Prince Charles is referred to as ‘Nambawan pikinini blong misis kwin’.
prince charles solomon islandsGetty Images

The Prince of Wales has wrapped up his Autumn Tour of New Zealand and the Solomon Islands, flying out of Honiara on Monday evening, but not before he delighted the local crowd with a speech in their lingua franca Pijin, an English Creole language.

Following a formal welcoming at the Parliament House, the heir apparent visited the Lawson Tama Stadium where he was treated to cultural dance performances from groups represented different islands from the Solomon Islands and met schoolchildren who had been learning about ocean governance.

There, he also addressed the crowd in an impressive effort at pidgin English, which was met with cheers and applause from the audience.

Prince Charles impressed with his speech in the local English creole language, Pijin. (Image: Getty)

His first visit to the Commonwealth island nation, in a video shared by The Sun‘s royal correspondent Emily Andrews, Charles is seen speaking in Pijin, where he spoke of his mother and father The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh’s high praise for the country after their visit in 1959, as well as Prince William and Kate’s visit in 2012 and the warm welcome his family has always received.

Kwin blong yumi and Duke blong Edinburgh talem mi such gud memories blong taem olgeta visitim [ia] aelan,” the 71-year-old told the crowd.

Which translates to: “Our Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh have told me they have such good memories of their time visiting these islands.”

To which he adds: “Sem wetem pikinini blong mi, Prince William, and wife blong hem taem olgeta kam [long ples ia] seven yia ago.”

Meaning: “And the same goes for my son Prince William and his wife, who came here seven years ago.”

WATCH: Prince Charles speaks pidgin English to the delight of the crowd in the Solomon Islands. Story continues below…

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In pidgin English, Prince Charles is known as ‘Nambawan pikinini blong misis kwin‘, which means ‘The first child of the Queen’ and is one of the 70 facts listed about the future King on his website.

While English is the official language of the Solomon Islands, only one to two per cent of the entire population can fluently speak it, with most people communicating in Pijin (closely related to Papua New Guinea’s Tok Pisin and Vanuatu’s Bislama,) and their local tribal languages.

Prince Charles also spoke about environmental issues in his speech, Metro UK reports, saying he’s sad to see their environment threatened by climate change, global warming and pollution while stressing the importance of preserving natural environments for future generations.

Sapose yufala kipim gud olgeta natural heritage blong yufala, by olgeta pikinini and grandpikinini blong yufala see benefit lo hem.”

Prince Charles’ speech wrapped up his whirlwind two-day tour of the island nation which saw him undertake a series of Investitures, attending a wreath-laying ceremony as well as learning about the initiatives addressing climate change and sustainability.

He also gave a passionate speech to the members of Parliament, speaking of the need to address violence against women and girls.

“In the Solomon Islands, as elsewhere, as long as women face the despicable threat of physical and sexual violence, or discrimination on the basis of their gender, your economy and your society will simply never be able to achieve their full extraordinary potential.”

The message is one his wife the Duchess of Cornwall is passionate about, as well as his daughter-in-law the Duchess of Sussex who made it focus a during her recent visit to South Africa with the Duke of Sussex, at a time when the nation was facing a gender-based violence crisis.

“As someone who has been a longtime advocate for women’s and girls’ rights, I worried about what was happening, and my intention on this tour was to meet with women across South Africa to listen and to learn,” she said during a closing speech at the Johannesburg High Commission.

Prince Charles meets schoolchildren at a State Reception in Honiara. (Image: Getty)

Prince Charles’ visit to the Solomon Islands follows a week-long tour of New Zealand which he undertook with his wife, The Duchess of Cornwall.

During their visit, they undertook engagements in Auckland, the Bay of Islands and the Canterbury region focusing on their interests and passions for the environment, youth opportunity and working to prevent and support those who have lived through domestic violence.

The couple also visited Christchurch, to witness the resilience, strength and compassion of a city that has had to rebuild itself after the devastating earthquakes of 2011 and most recently the shocking and heartbreaking mosque terror attacks of March 15.

Prince Charles and Duchess Camilla at the historic Waitangi Treaty Grounds in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand. (Image: Getty)

Speaking at Cashmere High, a school in Christchurch which had seven people associated with the community killed or injured in the attacks, Prince Charles said: “It seems to me that the only possible remedy of such understandable feelings of despair is hope.

“Hope that love will triumph over hate, that understanding might dispel suspicion, and that the strength of our communities can prevail against all efforts to divide us.

“In this regard, my wife and I have been so greatly heartened by the way that the people of Christchurch, and of New Zealand, have come together in quiet but determined defiance of those who seek to sow such division.”

Adding: “You have held hands to support your neighbours to demonstrate to the world that there is no place for hatred in this society.”

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