An advance team will be arriving in Bermuda this week to finalise the programme for the visit of the Earl of Wessex on Friday.

A press adviser from Buckingham Palace and a UK Police Protection Officer will liase with local officials involved in the visit to go over the programme and conduct a check of suggested locations.

Prince Edward, the third son of Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, will be visiting Bermuda for a day-and-a-half to look at some of the damage the Island sustained in Hurricane Fabian.

He is expected to go to a number of key locations and meet some of the people involved in the recovery effort. Exact details of the visit are likely to be announced by Government House this week.

The Earl is visiting the Island at the end of his tour of the Caribbean where he is attending a Duke of Edinburgh awards conference in Barbados.

Prince Edward has visited Bermuda once before on an official visit, coming in April 1992 as guest of honour at the annual Peppercorn Ceremony in St. George's.