A Preview of Will and Kate’s Royal Tour of the Caribbean

Plus, a primer and some predictions for their first stop: Belize.

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Hello! Will and Kate kick off their leg of the Platinum Jubilee Tours this weekend. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will visit Belize, Jamaica, and the Bahamas, three Commonwealth realms that recognize the Queen as their head of state. (ICYMI: Here is my primer on the Commonwealth, which is a great starting point for this discussion.)

Below I’ve compiled what we know about the tour so far, as well as a look at their first stop: Belize. As the tour progresses, I’ll send out country snapshots of Jamaica and the Bahamas, too, which will include a look at the country’s history and relationship with the British Royal Family.

Before we dive in: Thank you to everyone who has filled out the SMT Newsletter Survey. And if you haven’t yet, there is still time to weigh in! Your thoughts are so appreciated as I plan for the future.

NOTE: This newsletter has been updated to reflect developing news. Scroll down to read about the engagement the Cambridges cancelled in Belize due to protests.

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A Preview of Will and Kate’s Tour of the Caribbean

When and where are Will and Kate traveling?

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will visit the Caribbean from March 19 to 26, making stops in Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas. This is their first official visit to the Caribbean and first major joint overseas tour trip since the start of the pandemic.

Will and Kate’s trip is one of three back-to-back tours the royal family has planned for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, all of which focus on Commonwealth realms where the Queen is head of state. The Queen’s youngest son, Prince Edward, and his wife, Sophie, will visit Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines in April. Princess Anne, the Queen’s daughter, will then travel to Papua New Guinea before venturing to Australia and New Zealand.

The focus on the Caribbean is a clear attempt to shore up support in the wake of Barbados’ move to remove the Queen as head of state and become a republic last year. (You can read more about that in my Commonwealth newsletter.)

A young Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip visited Bermuda in 1953 as part of the months-long Commonwealth tour. (Photo via Getty Images)

What previous tours have the royal family taken to the Caribbean?

The Queen has made several visits to the Caribbean during her historic 70-year reign. The first came during her months-long 1953 Commonwealth tour when she stopped in Bermuda and then Jamaica. Her Majesty returned to the region in 1966 for a full-scale tour. (The British Film Institute has some old footage from the tour that you can watch here.) She traveled back in the 1970s, twice in the 80s, and again in the 90s. Her last trip was in 2009 on a visit to Trinidad and Tobago and Bermuda. (Tatler has a lovely slideshow of images from the Queen’s tours.)

Charles and Camilla took a tour of the Caribbean in 2019, and Charles returned to Barbados when it became a republic last fall.

Harry has been to the region twice for official royal visits. His 2012 tour, on behalf of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, had a very similar itinerary to the one his brother and sister-in-law are about to undertake. Harry visited Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas, and then traveled to Brazil for his charity, Sentebale, according to the BBC. (During that visit, he raced Usain Bolt; this video via the Telegraph is so fun).

But it was his 2016 trip to Barbados, where he met Rihanna, that stands out in my memory. “Hello, it's very nice to meet you,” the prince said as he shook her hand, according to the BBC. (This Vanity Fair write-up — “Harry! Harry! Is that really the best you could come up with to greet Rihanna!?!” — is hilarious.) The pair then took HIV tests to raise awareness of World AIDS Day.

What will the Cambridges focus on during their trip?

Kensington Palace shared an outline for Will and Kate’s trip, which indicates that the couple will continue their royal work in familiar areas: the environment, mental health, and early childhood education. The effects of the pandemic in the region will be a priority, too.

We can also expect to see them shake a lot of hands. Isn’t that the point of this? To be seen! From Kensington Palace’s announcement of the tour:

“As with previous overseas visits, The Duke and Duchess have asked that this tour allows them to meet as many local people as possible. Over the course of their time in the Caribbean, Their Royal Highnesses will meet a wide variety of groups, including children, young people and families, frontline workers, service personnel, leaders from government, business and the charity sector as well as inspiring conservationists, and the early years workforce.”

Do we know where Will and Kate are going or who they will meet?

Kensington Palace has dropped only a few hints. In Belize, they will visit Maya sites, learn about the Garifuna community, and the country’s commitment to biodiversity. (More below.) Their visit to Jamaica will include “engaging with the Jamaican Defence Force” as well as celebrating the island’s musicians and the legacy of Bob Marley. For the Bahamas, the Cambridges will travel to “a number” of the 30 inhabited islands and experience a Junkanoo parade. (More on the second two stops to come in subsequent newsletters.)

From left, the flags of Belize, Jamaica, and the Bahamas.

Any clues on what Kate will wear?

No official news on the fashion front yet! But my best guess is that we will see Kate wear the colors of the countries’ flags during the visit and perhaps honor their national symbols, too. (It’s always fun to spot the more subtle moments when depicted in, say, jewelry.)

Here’s what to watch for:

• Belize’s flag is predominantly a deep shade of royal blue with red and green accents; its national flower is the deep purple black orchid and its national bird is the keel billed toucan.

• Jamaica’s flag is green, yellow, and black; its national flower is the light purple lignum vitae and its national bird is the hummingbird.

• The Bahamas’ flag is turquoise, yellow, and black; its national flower is the yellow elder and its national bird is the flamingo.

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Will and Kate arrive in Belize on Saturday, March 19 for the start of their royal tour. (Photo via Getty Images)

Country snapshot: Belize

• Belize is a country of 8,867 square miles (roughly the size of New Jersey) on the eastern coast of Central America.

• The country is home to about 405,000 residents (a little bit less than Tulsa, Oklahoma), according to UN Data.

• Belize considers itself both part of the Caribbean and Central America, according to the BBC, “cultivating relations with Latin America and the United States, although there is a lingering conflict with neighbouring Guatemala, which has made claim to part of Belize's territory in the past.”

• It is the only country in Central America that has English as its official language; Spanish, Creole, and Mayan are also spoken.

• The GDP is $1.4 billion, which comes largely from tourism, according to a 2020 report from the U.S. State Department: “The country’s economic and fiscal outlook remains troubled, particularly with the global health and accompanying economic crisis… tourism has been a strong source of growth but was the first sector to collapse with [the] onset of COVID-19.”

• Its main exports are sugar, bananas, and citrus.

• Juan Antonio Briceño (known as Johnny) was elected the country’s fifth prime minister in November 2020.

• A slight aside but! I did not realize that President Joe Biden nominated former Olympic figure skater Michelle Kwan as the U.S. ambassador to Belize in December 2021. “Ms. Kwan, 41, joined Mr. Biden’s campaign team in 2019, long after making a transition from athletics to the political arena,” according to the New York Times. “She was named the country’s first public diplomacy envoy in 2006 and spent a decade traveling on behalf of the State Department to meet with children around the world.”

• Also an aside! Simone Biles holds dual citizenship in Belize through her mother, Nellie Cayetano Biles, according to CNN. The gymnastics superstar has called the country “my second home.”

Belizean History and Its Relationship with the United Kingdom

• Belize was first settled by the Maya around 1500 B.C.E., according to the Belize Tourism Board: “As shown in archeological records, they established a number of settlements here. These include Caracol, Lamanai and Lubaantun.”

• European contact began in the early 1500s with Christopher Columbus sailing along the gulf of Honduras. The CIA World Factbook says both the English and the Spanish laid claim to the land through the 17th and 18th centuries.

• In 1840, Belize became a “Colony of British Honduras” and a crown colony in 1862, according to the Belize Tourism Board.

• Its path to independence, which it officially gained in 1981, was complicated by on-going disputes with neighboring Guatemala. First, the colony became a self-governing territory; then, in 1973, it changed its name to Belize. On the conflict, from a 1981 story in the Washington Post:

“Next-door Guatemala claims it inherited Belize from Spain and successive military governments in Guatemala City have threatened to invade when Britain withdraws…Although pressure from Washington over the past year appears to have tempered Guatemalan nationalist passion, 1,600 British troops costing close to $40 million a year will remain here ‘for an appropriate period,’ possibly until a final treaty with Guatemala is signed.”

• Belize is now a constitutional monarchy, which means Queen Elizabeth II is its head of state, a symbolic and ceremonial role.

Queen Elizabeth II on a trip to Belize in 1985. Note the blue of her dress, it matches the country's flag. (Photo via Getty Images)

Previous Royal Visits to Belize

The royal family seems to make its way to Belize every decade or so. Princess Margaret, the Queen’s sister, visited Belize in 1958. The Queen has been there twice, in 1985 and 1994. Her late husband, Prince Philip, visited by himself in 1975 and 1988. Prince Harry made the most recent visit, in 2012, marking his grandmother’s Diamond Jubilee.

This will be a return to Belize for Prince William. According to People magazine, he “trained with the Welsh Guards regiment there in 2000.”

What is the future of the relationship between Belize and the British Royal Family?

Prime Minister John Briceño has hinted that it could be time to reconsider the relationship between his country and the crown, much like Barbados did last fall.

“And who knоwѕ what is going to happen in the future, because I think that it is high time for us to start to look at the type of government, the system we have,” he said last July 2021, according to BreakingBelizeNews.com. “Do we want to go to a republican system; or find a hybrid between a parliamentary system and a republican system? We need to know what fits Belize best.”

What do we know about Will and Kate’s plans in the country?

The most specific detail Kensington Palace shared ahead of time is that the Cambridges will “celebrate the Garifuna community.” CNN has a helpful explainer on the Garifuna:

“The Garifuna are descendants of Carib Indians and West Africans who escaped Spanish slave ships wrecked off the coast of St. Vincent in 1635. In 1763, when the British invaded, the Garifuna were exiled to Roatán in 1798. From there, they migrated to mainland Honduras, and continued along the coast — to Guatemala, Nicaragua and arriving in Belize by dugout canoe in 1802. According to the Belize National Garifuna Council, there are an estimated 500,000 Garifuna worldwide, including large populations in the United States. About 15,000 remain in Belize, primarily in Dangriga, Hopkins, Seine Bight, Punta Gorda and Barranco.”

The New York Times has a fantastic video from 2012 called, “Being Garifuna,” that I highly recommend. Reuters wrote in 2020 about the fallout from the decline in tourism due to COVID and what that meant for the Garifuna community.

The Cambridges will also be visiting historic Maya sites, although there have not been any hints as to which ones. The reference by Kensington Palace to “exploring the country’s biodiversity” was similarly vague. But I am excited to see where they venture! Belize boasts an array of “distinctive ecosystems,” as detailed by the Belize Tourism Board:

“On the coast, there is a swampy coastal plain with mangrove swamps. In the south and interior there are hills and low mountains. Most of our land is undeveloped and is forested with hardwoods. It is a part of the Mesoamerican biodiversity hotspot and it has many jungles, wildlife reserves, a large variety of different species of flora and fauna and the largest cave system in Central America.”

Belize is home to the largest barrier reef in the Northern Hemisphere and the second largest in the world. The Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System was named a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage Site in 1996.

My only fashion-specific prediction: I think we could see Kate carry a bag from Twig & Pearl, a line of waste-free, small-batch leather accessories by Belizean designer Rebecca Stirm. As I said earlier, I think it’s likely she will take inspiration from the country’s flag colors (blue, red, green) and/or its national flower (black orchid) or bird (the keel billed toucan).

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UPDATE 3/18: On the eve of the Cambridges’ arrival in Belize, news broke that the couple had cancelled their first engagement due to protests. A visit to Akte’il farm in the Maya Village of Indian Creek has been scrapped in part because of William’s role as patron of Flora and Fauna International. The wildlife conservation organization “owns an adjoining and contested property,” reports the Times of London. Local officials also cited a lack of communication about the visit, including plans to land a helicopter on a village football field.

“Wе dоn’t want them to land on our land, that’ѕ thе mеѕѕаgе wе wаnt tо ѕеnd,” Сhаіrmаn of Indian Creek Village Ѕеbаѕtіаn Ѕhоl said, according to BreakingNewsBelize.com. “Тhеу соuld lаnd аnуwhеrе but nоt оn оur lаnd.”

The report also had new details on other engagements for the Cambridges, including stops in the coastal village of Hopkins for a Garifuna Cultural Festival and a visit to the British Army Training and Support Unit Belize (BATSUB) Jungle Training Base, which the local news site says are “still on.”

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But mostly: Let the tour begin! It has been a minute since we have seen a tour of this scale and I am excited to watch it unfold. The Cambridges are scheduled to arrive in Belize on Saturday before traveling to Jamaica on Tuesday and then onto the Bahamas.

What are you hoping to see from Will and Kate? Any predictions on what the duchess will wear? Please hit “Join the Discussion” and leave a comment on my Bulletin page. You can also send me an email at Hello@SoManyThoughts.com.

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