By Smita Prakash

Port of Spain, Nov.27 (ANI): Now, who told French Presdent NicholasSarkozy to come here without his glamorous wife, Carla Bruni. In fact,most heads of government have arrived in this balmy Caribbean townwithout their spouses.

Fifty-three heads of state and no glamour. No spousal events to cover,unless you want to report on Prince Phillip who is in Tobago watchingthe re-enactment of a traditional wedding.

So, all the interest is focussed is Queen Elizabeth II and heroutfits. Yesterday, when she arrived here, she was dressed in a greensilk dress which had a chiffon sheath on it. A green hat complementedthe well cut outfit.

Today, at the inaugural, she was dressed in a beige silk dress with amatching hat.

A bit heavy on the lace and embroidery element, the dress wasappropriate nonetheless, as it was a morning event.

At the inaugural of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, theQueen gave a call for its leaders to “continue the pursuit of peace,liberty and progress, which means as much today as it did in 1949.”

It was her grandfather, George V, who started this grouping, andtoday, she is no longer head of the Caribbean republic. But of the 53countries in the Commonwealth, 15 still have her as their monarch.

Just today, people in the islands of St.Vincent and Grenadines votedto say that they want Queen Elizabeth to continue to be their head ofstate. A referendum vote saw more than 56 percent of the populationrejecting the move to replace the Queen with a President

Here in Trinidad, the Queen’s visit is being feted with great fanfare.This is her third visit since 1966. There are welcome banners up forher as also Queen Elizabeth dolls being sold in the souvenir shops.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is not scheduled to meet her as he ismeeting with his British counterpart, Gordon Brown. But she (TheQueen) will have several meetings with other heads of state orgovernment.

In today’s inaugural address, she urged the 53-member body of mostlyformer British colonies to take a united stand on climate change aheadof a major United Nations summit in Copenhagen next month sincemajority of the people most affected by, and least able to withstand,changing global temperatures, live in Commonwealth nations. (ANI)