Prince Harry will join celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of Barbados’s independence at a concert extravaganza headlined by Rihanna.

The Barbados-born pop star will perform for thousands along with other talent from the Caribbean nation which Harry will visit as part of a 15-day tour of the Caribbean on behalf of the Queen.

It is likely that he will meet Rihanna and the other performers at the event billed as the Golden Anniversary Spectacular Mega Concert on November 30 – Barbados’s independence day.

The Prince’s extensive trip begins on November 20 and will take him to Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Grenada, Guyana, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, and St Vincent and the Grenadines.

His island tour will mark the 50th anniversary of independence for Barbados, the 50th anniversary of independence for Guyana, and the 35th anniversary of independence for Antigua and Barbuda.

At a press briefing for the trip, Harry’s communications secretary, Jason Knauf, was asked how concerned royal officials were that the statement Knauf recently released, confirming that the Prince was dating US actress Meghan Markle, would overshadow the tour.

He replied: “Not concerned at all. As you can see it’s a very busy, full and varied programme”, adding that it was something “Prince Harry himself has been preparing hard for, so we’re really looking forward to it”.

For part of the trip Harry will travel and stay on a Royal Fleet Auxiliary Wave Knight vessel already in the region on counter-narcotics duty and on stand-by for disaster relief.

He will spend six nights on the ship, which has a permanent crew of around 90 and is also a tanker used to refuel other Royal Navy vessels. A similar ship was used to accommodate the Countess of Wessex when she toured the Caribbean in 2012.

An entourage of 10 will join the Prince during his trip and some will stay on the RFA Wave Knight.

Members of team include his private secretary Ed Lane Fox, adviser Sir David Manning, Knauf and a communications team of three, two programme co-ordinators, a visit support officer and an orderly.