{"id":563798,"date":"2026-05-03T09:52:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T09:52:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/563798\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T09:52:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T09:52:07","slug":"king-charles-bids-farewell-to-bermuda-after-launching-uk-space-agency-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/563798\/","title":{"rendered":"King Charles bids farewell to Bermuda after launching UK Space Agency project"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"cp_picture__img\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/PA-84484750.jpg\"\/>Play Brightcove video<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">With four days spent at the heart of US politics, finishing in Bermuda looked like an inspired decision for the King, but debate in the overseas territory continues over whether to cut ties with its former colonial master, ITV News Royal Editor Chris Ship reports<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">The King bid farewell to Bermuda after a busy few days celebrating the island, the people and its culture, following his four-day trip to the US.  Charles spent his final day on the Overseas British Territory officially launching Project Nova, an ambitious UK Space Agency (UKSA) initiative to track space debris, and opened the new Great Bay Coast Guard Station.<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">The King declared \u201cthe force is with us\u201d as he gave the seal of approval to the new world leading observatory. <\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">Subscribe free to<a class=\"qNUzV q7LZa\" href=\"https:\/\/itvnews.substack.com\/\" data-testid=\"fecp-link-anchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> our weekly newsletter <\/a>for exclusive and original coverage from ITV News. Direct to your inbox every Friday morning. <\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">The first phase in Project Nova, which cost \u00a340 million, is to establish three telescopes on the north west coast of Bermuda, about 620 miles off the US coast, which will be able to spot asteroids or rogue satellites heading towards Earth. <\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">Charles told the Astra Carta team working with UKSA he had completed a garden with the design based on the revolution of the planets, before he unveiled a plaque to launch the project. <\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">He said: \u201cI\u2019ve just done a garden based on the planetary movements, because if you trace them it\u2019s amazing how they all form the most beautiful patterns.<\/p>\n<p>Charles boards a plane at LF Wade International Airport at the end of his two-day Bermuda visit Credit: PA<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">\u201cIt\u2019s so interconnected really, in all forms. So as they say, the force is with us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">Charles also visited the new Great Bay Coast Guard station before his visited ended, and saw the operations room where staff can monitor CCTV images of the coast line and track vessels.<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">He presented an Operational Service Medal to members of the military during the visit. <\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">The King arrived in Bermuda on Friday, kicking off his visit with a ceremony at the territory\u2019s former capital St George\u2019s, where a 21-gun salute heralded his arrival at the aptly named King\u2019s Square. <\/p>\n<p>Charles presented an Operational Service Medal to members of the military during his visit to Great Bay Coast Guard Station Credit: PA<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">He was received by the Commanding Officer of the Royal Bermuda Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Duncan Simons, with the moment watched by hundreds of school children and islanders.<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">Many of the islanders had come prepared for the royal visit, with one little boy, Theo Godfrey, aged four, dressed like a guardsman in a red tunic and imitation bearskin hat. <\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">His mother purchased the outfit from the official Buckingham Palace shop two years ago and joked: &#8220;He\u2019s worn it ever since!\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">Charles stood on a dais as the royal salute was given by the troops and remained motionless as the national anthem was played by a regimental band.<\/p>\n<p>Charles arrived in Bermuda on Thursday, after visiting the US Credit: PA<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">Parade Commander, Major Kenji Bean, then invited the King to inspect the guard of honour and he walked with Charles as he strode past the troops.<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">Charles then went to meet the crowds, shaking hands with well-wishers as the military band played Bob Marley and the Wailers song Jamming.<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">Later, he watched the release of an Atlantic seabird after being ringed and joked, \u201cit\u2019s bound to land on my head\u201d.Charles then travelled to Trunk island, one of the many rocky outcrops around Bermuda, to chat to children being taught about conservation and wildlife through practical education, known as living classrooms, led by the Bermuda Zoological Society (BZS).<\/p>\n<p>Charles met members of Bermuda youth organisations on the waterfront of The Camber Credit: PA<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">The King planted a cedar tree, a native species that has been mostly lost from the island and which provided hurricane protection and other benefits.<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">He was also joined by a group of children as they watched three land hermit crabs being released and scuttling into the undergrowth after being moved from a development site that threatened them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">As well as being on land, the King joined Bermuda&#8217;s coastguard in a boat trip, where he learned about their work combatting illegal fishing and smuggling. <\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">He also travelled to the National Museum of Bermuda, where he viewed a display at the 1850 Ordnance House which traced darker moments in the island\u2019s history, with a cabinet dedicated to trade, slavery and conquest.<\/p>\n<p>Members of the National Gombey Dance Troupe met and performed for Charles during the visit Credit: PA<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">It included a drawn image of shackled men sitting in a slave ship and several examples of neck irons.<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">There, he watched a performance of the island\u2019s Gombey dance tradition, an expression of culture that had been restricted during slavery to just a few times a year. <\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">Irwin Trott, spokesman for the Bermudan Gombey dance troops, said after meeting the King: \u201cI told him that it\u2019s a combination of cultures, African, Caribbean, West Indian, Native American and, of course, Great Britain.<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">\u201cGombey is a premise from the Atlantic Slave Trade when they were brought over by the colonisers and shipped to New England and the Caribbean islands.<\/p>\n<p>Theo Godfrey, four, dressed as a guard as he waited for King Charles Credit: PA<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">&#8220;Even though they were stripped of their identity, names were taken, their language was taken, deep in their heart they maintained their culture, and so it still flourished throughout the Caribbean. <\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">\u201cIt was prohibited, so they were only permitted to perform on Christmas and New Year\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">Charles later spoke during a reception in the garden of Government House in Hamilton, where he met Bermudian football player Clyde Best and received a toast from Governor of Bermuda, Andrew Murdoch. <\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">He told guests: \u201cI am told to my amazement it is also the first time in Bermuda\u2019s 400-year history that the islands have received a reigning King. I am terribly sorry it has taken so long!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He observed students releasing hermit crabs at the Palmetto Forest during a visit to Trunk Island&#8217;s Living Classroom Credit: PA<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">The King&#8217;s arrival in Bermuda on Thursday evening came after a four-day state visit to America, where he helped put the UK-US special relationship on a firmer footing.The monarchy\u2019s soft power diplomacy is seen as its strongest weapon in support of the UK\u2019s overseas interests and it appears his host President Donald Trump was won over.A parting gift came from the US leader who lifted tariffs on Scottish whisky after an intervention by the Queen and King.<\/p>\n<p class=\"A8Lwr BVYCX\">This is the Talking Royals &#8211; our weekly podcast about the Royal Family, with ITV News Royal Editor <a class=\"qNUzV q7LZa\" data-testid=\"next-link-anchor\" href=\"https:\/\/www.itv.com\/news\/meet-the-team\/chris-ship\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Chris Ship<\/a> and Producer Lizzie Robinson. <\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Play Brightcove video With four days spent at the heart of US politics, finishing in Bermuda looked like&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":563799,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[90,416,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-563798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-science","tag-space","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=563798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563798\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/563799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=563798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=563798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=563798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}