It may be the last time she does so: her decision to abandon long-haul travel for Commonwealth summits may mean it is the last time she attends in person.
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Maltese Prime Minister, Dr Joseph Muscat made clear that there remains untapped potential within the Commonwealth and while the forum “is a place where new partnerships are being made and deals being done” he warned that “the Commonwealth needs to be sharper and more purposeful”.
French president Francois Hollande, who Mr Cameron met for talks on Monday in the wake of the terror attacks in Paris that left 130 dead, will attend talks on climate change in Malta ahead of a meeting of world leaders at a summit in Paris on Monday.
Between 1949 and 1951, Elizabeth’s husband Prince Philip was stationed on the island as a Royal Navy officer, and she lived as a military wife, rather than a duty-burdened heir to the throne.
She had difficulty getting out of her plane and then attempted to protect her hair with an umbrella which covered her face.
There was more nostalgia at an evening reception at San Anton palace, where the Queen and the Duke were reunited with some old faces from their past.
The ceremonial welcome was to have been in the capital Valletta, but was switched to the presidential palace due to the weather.
CHOGM Malta 2015 will be opened on Friday morning by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, after which President Mahama and his colleagues will begin discussions on how best “to unify the Commonwealth behind an ambitious policy agenda that bequeaths to our young, a life of liberty, dignity and prosperity”.
Countries most at risk – including low-lying small island states and poor nations in Africa, many of them Commonwealth members – have called for capping warming to 1.5 C, saying anything less would result in catastrophic impacts.
Former UK Prime Minister John Major is also present. The leaders will also elect a new Commonwealth Secretary-General to succeed Kamalesh Sharma who is retiring in 2016.
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“If there is one thing other than taxes and death of which we can be certain, it is that there is never going to be enough public money to implement the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) or Paris agreement”, he said. “But the sense I get is that if it happened now, it would be pretty likely that Charles would become head of the Commonwealth without too much of a bump in the road”.
