The Earl of Wessex offered to lead the wreath-laying ceremony to commemorate those killed on the Causeway by Hurricane Fabian, The Royal Gazette has learned.

Prince Edward flies into Bermuda today for a whistle-stop tour of the Island to survey damage caused by last month's hurricane with this afternoon's ceremony at Grotto Bay clearly his most important engagement.

And it is understood that it was the Earl, the Queen's third son, himself who brought up the idea of a ceremony, having told aides he was keen to “do something special” on his visit here.

As well as this afternoon's ceremony, which will be attended by a number of family members of the four victims from the Causeway incident, the Earl will also be meeting with Mayor of St. George's Henry Hayward after arriving by private jet from the Caribbean at lunch-time.

He is expected to go on a walkabout around the World Heritage Site to survey the damage with a trip to St. George's Preparatory School on the agenda.

After laying a wreath in the water in memory of those who were lost, he will head on to Government House to present medals to a number of recipients named in recent honours and awards lists.

Tomorrow there will be the traditional tree-planting ceremony at Government House before the Earl, who last visited Bermuda officially in 1992, travels to Barr's Bay Park to meet young sailors competing in the Junior Gold Cup events at the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club.

This will be followed by lunch with Premier Alex Scott and guests at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute before moving on to Smith's to see damage at Spittal Pond Nature Reserve and the John Smith's Bay area.

The official visit ends with a stop at Summerhaven to meet residents and plant another tree before he flies out on the British Airways flight in the evening.

The Earl, the third son of Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, is visiting the Island at the end of his tour of the Caribbean where he attended a Duke of Edinburgh awards conference in Barbados. He is travelling with a private secretary, a Buckingham Palace press secretary and a UK Police protection officer.