Coming from Braga, where the institutional celebrations of the 10th of June are taking place, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa is to arrive in London in the middle of the afternoon and immediately have a reception with representatives of the Portuguese communities to mark the Portugal Day.

Why the UK?

Regarding the reasons for choosing the United Kingdom for the external celebrations of the 10th of June, the head of state recently mentioned that the model of commemoration of Portugal Day with emigrant communities "began in Paris, in 2016", in the first year of his tenure, "and has been touring the continents" since then and "it was now time to return to Europe".

According to Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, "it also weighed" in the decision that the United Kingdom is now "a country that is not a European Union" and where "very different communities" of Portuguese emigrants live: "An older community, today less numerous "; and another "very young community", composed of "students, doctoral candidates, professors, researchers, scientists and other professionals".

Portugal Day celebrations last year took place in the Autonomous Region of Madeira, with an intense three-day program, which ended with the military ceremony commemorating the 10th of June in the city of Funchal.

Initially, it was planned to continue in Brussels, with the Portuguese residing in Belgium, coinciding with the end of the Portuguese presidency of the Council of the European Union, but this program abroad was eventually cancelled due to the local health situation.