Queen is the toast of Trinidad

The Dancing Queen was on display at the pristine Chogm tent village on the Port of Spain waterfront.

The signs of affection for the elderly Queen Elizabeth are evident in Trinidad and Tobago, host of the Commonwealth summit, in the welcome banners - and even in the Carnival dolls.

Kelvin Steeple, one of Port of Spain's young costume designers, has fashioned a new doll of the Queen as she might have looked a few years younger, in feathers, diamantes and a glittering white costume dancing the night away to the rhythms of calypso or a steel band at the annual "Carnival" festival in February.

The Dancing Queen is on display at the pristine Chogm tent village on the Port of Spain waterfront, where delegates can shop free under heavy security, away from the risky realities of the city's back streets.

Steeple makes real costumes, not just for dolls. He has made one of Michelle Obama as well and says he will be conducting a workshop on his craft at the White House next year.

Crime is a real worry here. The death penalty was reintroduced in 1999 in a response to the growing crime rate.

For ease of organisation and security, large numbers of Government officials and the media are staying aboard the two large cruise liners berthed at the port and a large part of the town will go into heavy lock-down tomorrow.

Most of its present day inhabitants are descendants of west African slaves, or the Indian labourers that came after slavery was abolished.

It's hot and humid in Port of Spain, a sprawling city between a mountain range and the sea. Trinidad was named by Christopher Columbus for the Spanish in 1498.

The British took it in 1797 which is why they belong to the Commonwealth, drive on the left hand side of the road and love cricket. Brian Lara is from Trinidad. Downtown has a very flash netball stadium as well.

Prime Minister John Key arrived yesterday about four hours late, an hour after the Queen, aged 83, and Prince Philip, aged 88, arrived from a visit to the British territory of Bermuda.

While she is opening the Chogm meeting today - as she always does - Prince Philip will be on the other smaller island watching a re-enactment of a traditional Tobagoan wedding.

Queen Elizabeth is no longer the head of the state of the Caribbean republic. But of the 53 countries in the Commonwealth, 15 still have her as their monarch, including New Zealand.

Mr Key will have his own audience with her this morning before proposing the toast to her before all the leaders at a dinner hosted by her.

It is a job that normally falls the newest leader, which is the president of South Africa, Jacob Zuma. Quite whose idea it was to ask Mr Key and not Mr Zuma is not clear.

Mr Key has met her three times before, on the first trip after he became Prime Minister a year ago, and again in the Rugby World Cup promotional giant rugby ball when it was parked at the foot of the Tower of London, and once when he was head of currency trading at Merrill Lynch.