The Duchess of Edinburgh is currently on a tour of Peru as part of a nine-day visit to South and Central America, and the first two days of her visit have seen her in Iquitos, a port city that acts as the gateway into the Peruvian Amazon.
Upon arrival in Iquitos, Sophie met with the members of the Indigenous Women’s Rights Defenders and the women leaders of the Awajun, Shipibo-Konibo and Kukama Kukamiria people of Peru. The event, held at the La Mona Café, was a chance to learn more about the role these women play in territorial governance, climate action, and environmental action and preventing environmental crime in Peru.
Following her meeting with the female leaders, the Duchess of Edinburgh walked along the river front in Iquitos—the gateway into the Amazon River from Peru—and posed for pictures with the British Ambassador to Peru.
In the evening, Sophie attended a dinner at the Casa de Fierro restaurant to mark the first year of the United Kingdom’s Biodiverse Landscape Fund programme. The programme supports six biodiversity hotspots around the world, including the Andes Amazon area of Ecuador and Peru, with the “triple challenge of poverty, biodiversity loss, and the climate emergency,” according to the UK government’s website.
Sophie received a gift basket of chocolates and coffee as a welcome gift at the dinner.
Ambassador Gavin Cook posted on his X account: “It is a tremendous honor to welcome to Peru Her Royal Highness, the Duchess of Edinburgh.
“During these days she will learn more about our joint work to tackle climate change and promote the empowerment of women and girls.”
On her second day in Peru, Sophie received a tour of the Iquitos Naval Base and boarded the B.A.P America, the oldest river gunboat in the world, which was built in Liverpool in 1904.
She will also visit the Divino Niño vision centre in her role as a Global Ambassador for the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness to learn more about how they treat glaucoma and pterygium.
