His Majesty The King attended the closing of a Wilton Park dialogue in Georgetown, Guyana, to celebrate the organisation’s 80th anniversary and meet delegates taking part in a high-level dialogue on sustainable urbanisation across the Commonwealth.
The event marked eight decades since Wilton Park was established in 1946, tasked with bringing people together to address some of the world’s most pressing foreign policy and security challenges. During the visit, The King viewed an exhibition of original photography commissioned to celebrate Wilton Park’s history and continuing contribution to international dialogue.
The engagement was the culmination of a Wilton Park dialogue convened in partnership with the Commonwealth Sustainable Cities Initiative (CSCI), bringing together senior government representatives, city leaders, investors and Commonwealth stakeholders for two days in Guyana immediately ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) 2026 in Antigua and Barbuda. The dialogue was a strategic contribution to CHOGM’s theme, ‘Accelerating Partnerships and Investment for a Prosperous Commonwealth.’ It explored how sustainable urbanisation can provide prosperity, resilience, inclusion and sustainable development across member states. This dialogue is the latest in a series of Wilton Park strategic discussions focused on how Commonwealth countries, and the public and private sector can be brought together to implement real world change.
Guyana’s standing as a global leader in forest conservation made it a natural host for this major international gathering. One of the most forested countries on Earth, Guyana has maintained one of the world’s lowest deforestation rates while pursuing a low-carbon development model, including through its work on forest carbon markets and climate finance. The country’s approach to balancing economic development with environmental protection offered a fitting backdrop to a dialogue on building sustainable, resilient cities for the future.
The visit held particular significance for His Majesty, a long-standing champion of environmental action and sustainable development. He delivered a speech on faith and environmentalism at Wilton Park’s 50th anniversary celebrations and has spoken consistently throughout his reign on the urgency of climate action and the stewardship of the natural world. Wilton Park has played an important role in supporting climate diplomacy for over 50 years, holding its first conference on climate change in 1972.
