The Duchess of Cambridge joked that she and Prince William had brought British weather with them to the Bahamas as they arrived at a school in heavy rain on Friday. But the weather was the least of their problems. They spend two days at this Commonwealth Realm at the end of a weekly tour of the Caribbean that turned out to be more than just a little abnormal. So what went wrong? William and Kate would expect some unrest in Jamaica where there is a heated debate over reparations and slavery and about becoming a democracy. But the couple also suffered the humiliation of hearing a speech from the Jamaican Prime Minister in front of the cameras, when he actually said that he wanted Jamaica to lose the queen as head of state. Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online. Proponents of her case have been working to make the actual transcript of this statement available online. There were protests over land rights in Belize on a cocoa farm that the Duke and Duchess were to visit. William and Kate in Land Rover were reminiscent of the Queen and Philip in Land Rover. Credit: PA And they criticized – albeit unfairly in my opinion – after a photo showed William and Kate shaking hands with Jamaicans through a wire fence. Since Raheem Sterling had done the same – and was just a perimeter fence around a football pitch – he showed how the frame can be completely lost on social media (and they took a short walk down the road – without fences). You can see why this Royal Tour was not simple at all. But what is a simple royal tour now? And what position do they have in 2022 when members of the Royal Family, selected according to their birth, travel to former colonies thousands of miles away from home? The truth is that things have changed since the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh toured the Commonwealth nations when the Monarch was still traveling abroad. I remember Prince Harry, more than once, who seemed visibly uncomfortable as he was forced to sit in the VIP chair, the cameras trained on him, as he watched traditional ceremonies and dancing. It may be a moment to ask ourselves what these excursions are for and what benefits they bring to both sides. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited the Che’il chocolate farm in Belize. Credit: PA Do not have any doubt – the schools or projects or charities that have hosted William and Kate have considered it a great honor. They have enjoyed the attention that the visit brings, the support they have given and they would have the royal visitors back in a flash. The family that ran the cocoa farm in Belize – which replaced it with the protest – could not have been happier to host William and Kate and, through them, show the world what they do so well. A Mayan temple deep in the jungle of Belize could well win the world admiration it deserves after the Cambridges were stopped. A school focused on the early years, Kate, who focuses much of her work on developing children aged 0-5, came to learn about their work, share her knowledge and talk to staff. Reef barrier projects in the Bahamas and Belize would provide the same answer to William’s work on these environmental issues. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge see from Caana to Caracol, an ancient Mayan temple. Credit: PA But there were times when the tour seemed like it belonged to a time when most people left a long time ago. “It looks like something from 1800,” an activist in Jamaica told me about William and Kate riding a Land Rover. William should have acknowledged the debate over democracy and told his audience that he and his grandmother, the Queen, would support Jamaica or Belize or the Bahamas (which it does) in whatever decision they decide to take. their constitutional future. In Jamaica, a country that saw the largest number of slaves in Britain’s West Indies, some questioned William’s wisdom in talking about the Windrush generation without acknowledging that it was also a stain on Britain’s recent past. And when the Royal Household staff is almost entirely white (as I have to point out it was the media package that covered this tour and the military staff that flew us everywhere) it gives the impression that this institution has not progressed. From the Black Lives Matter campaign and the pandemic, everyone is rethinking our relationship with the past and how it affects the present. People can forgive the Queen who appeared outdated or who paid homage to the memories of times past. But she is almost 96 years old and brings with her many, many years of accumulated respect and experience. Newspapers will write about a “Tour de Farce”, they might call it a “tour without tones”, but when William and Kate discuss this trip with their staff, they will have to consider why some things went wrong and what they can do differently. Always winking at outdated traditions leaves the Monarchy open to the accusation that the institution is outdated and backward. What is the meaning of royal tours in 2022? The royal aides should find a way to redirect these visits to Commonwealth countries and beyond, so that they can focus on the vast majority in the future rather than the past.
