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Prince Charles, Camilla Arrive in Bahrain, Meet Its King

by Associated Press

   MANAMA --

   Britain's Prince Charles and his wife Camilla arrived Tuesday in the
   tiny island nation of Bahrain and met with its king and crown prince as
   part of their three-nation Gulf tour.
   An honor guard and Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa
   greeted the royal pair at Sakhir Air Base. From there, they saw
   Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa at a nearby palace.
   But while British and Bahraini flags flew along their route at sunset,
   nearby police vehicles with windows covered in chicken wire betrayed
   the low-level unrest that has been gripping the island for years.
   Activists have criticized Bahrain's rulers for a recent crackdown on
   dissent at a level unseen since the 2011 Arab Spring. Activists have
   been forced into exile, while others have been stripped of their
   citizenship. The country's largest Shi'ite opposition group has been
   shut down by the Sunni-led government.
   The royal couple did not address Prince Harry's condemnation of the
   media on Tuesday for subjecting his girlfriend Meghan Markle to "a wave
   of abuse and harassment" in a highly unusual letter from a British
   royal.
   Prince Charles and Camilla already have visited Oman and the United
   Arab Emirates on their three-nation tour of the Gulf. While in the UAE
   on Tuesday, the two visited Dubai's International Humanitarian City,
   while Prince Charles saw Dubai's site for hosting the coming 2020 World
   Expo, or world's fair.
   The couple's week-long trip ends Friday.