Duchess Sophie will make a major trip in the Balkans next week, Buckingham Palace has announced. The Duchess of Edinburgh will visit Bosnia and Herzegovina for three days between July 10 and July 12.
Sophie’s visit to the Balkan country will mark the 30th Anniversary of the Srebrenica Genocide. The massacre in July 1995, during the time of the Bosnian war, resulted in the deaths of more than 8,000 people – Bosniak Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica.
It was the largest mass murder in Europe since the end of World War 2.
On Thursday, July 10, Sophie will make a visit to Sarajevo’s Old Town, where she will hear from a local female peacebuilder, learning more about the impact of the conflict on women and the role they play in reconciliation.
The Duchess will attend a meeting with the Missing Persons Institute of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which works across ethnic divides to find missing persons from the 1990s war, and she will have a discussion with survivors of conflict-related sexual violence.
Sophie has long worked to raise awareness about women in conflict around the world.
She will meet religious leaders who play a unique role in promoting peace and reconciliation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as meeting UK military personnel serving with NATO in the region.
The royal will also meet with the Commander of NATO and the Commander of EUFOR Operation ALTHEA, which maintains a Safe and Secure Environment in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
On Friday, July 11, Sophie will attend the official Commemoration at the Srebrenica Memorial Centre, where she will read a message from King Charles, before laying a flower in remembrance at the nearby cemetery for genocide victims.
She will also meet some of the mothers of Srebrenica who lost relatives, including sons, husbands and fathers, in the genocide.
This will be the first time Sophie visits Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the last royal who visited the country being Princess Anne in 2015, to mark the 20th Anniversary of the Srebrenica Genocide.
In March 2021, the Duchess appeared via video in a meeting with Survivor Champions from the country, as part of the UK’s Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative.