Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to visit the Caribbean in March
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will visit a number of islands in the Caribbean next month in a bid to “shore up support for the monarchy.”
In an article published by the Daily Mail, William, 39, and Kate, 40, are said to tour the Bahamas, Jamaica, and Belize to convince nations to maintain the 95-year-old Queen as their head of state.
The trip also coincides with the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
This is William and Kate’s first major overseas tour sine the pandemic happened, and they will spend around 12 days in the region, with the issues about the environment as their main focus.
For the Duke of Cambridge, visiting Belize will not be his first time. Sometime in 2000, Prince William trained with the Welsh Guards regiment in the Caribbean nation.
According to the report, representatives for the Cambridge family were seen in Belize and appeared to locals as the royal family’s “advance party” for the tour in March.
“Their people were very secretive and kept saying this had to be kept very quiet, but on a small island like Ambergris Caye it’s impossible to keep anything quiet for very long,” a source on the island told the Mail.
“They were talking about a four-day visit to Belize in March as part of a longer trip to this part of the world. They said William and Kate might visit the Caye and also go to mainland Belize. It’s all anyone here is talking about. We are so excited,” added the source.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s 12-day tour comes after Prince Charles’ visit to Barbados in November for “a ceremony to mark its historic decision to remove the Queen as head of state.”
Aside from Barbados, other Commonwealth countries in the region have run their governments without the Queen as their head of state. This includes Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Dominica.
The Prime Minister of Belize, John Briceno, has also expressed that the nation is not ruling out the option of becoming a republic, adding that his government needs “to find what fits Belize best.”