Kate Middleton and Prince William’s Caribbean royal tour - in pictures

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have faced a mixed reaction at the start of their “charm offensive” in the Caribbean.

The royal couple were greeted by a guard of honour from the Belize Defence Force as they landed at Belize City’s airport. The prime minister, Johnny Briceño, told the couple: “We’re so happy you’re here.”

However, Sky News reported, William and Kate cancelled a visit to a cacao farm in the village of Indian Creek on Sunday morning after villagers protested over plans for the couple’s helicopter to land on their football pitch. The village is also involved in a dispute relating to ancestral land with Fauna & Flora International, a conservation group of which Prince William is patron.

On day two, the royals danced with locals and sampled chocolate at a different cacao farm. “They were shaking their waists like nobody’s business,” Laura Cacho, a local festival organiser who danced with William, told the BBC.

There is more controversy on the horizon, said The Independent. A protest calling for slavery reparations is due to take place near the British High Commission in the Jamaican capital of Kingston tomorrow morning.

The tour of Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas is marking the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and is the couple’s first major overseas tour in more than two years due to the pandemic.