A deeply political visit to the Caribbean for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

The royals will arrive in the region just four months after Barbados removed the Queen – William’s grandmother – as head of state, writes David Harding

The visit is also the first by the couple to the Caribbean since the explosion of global Black Lives Matter protests (PA)

Empires – despite the efforts of some, as we are seeing right now – fade into history.

This weekend, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge head to the Caribbean for a seven-day trip to Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas. It promises to be the usual mix of cheesy photoshoots and solemn handshakes, and will include a celebration of “the seminal legacy of Bob Marley”. But it will also be a deeply political trip.

The royals are visiting the Caribbean at an especially sensitive time. They will arrive in the region just four months after Barbados removed the Queen – William’s grandmother – as head of state. And now Jamaica is being urged to follow suit.

The country’s prime minister, Andrew Holness, has said it is time for his country to follow Barbados, and just last month daily newspaper The Gleaner called for a referendum on “Jamaica’s transition to a republic”.

In a thundering editorial, The Gleaner said it was “deeply uncomfortable” having the British monarch as Jamaica’s head of state. It said: “The patriarch of a dysfunctional family in the United Kingdom that defined Jamaica’s long colonial experience is not ... an appropriate symbol.”

The visit is also the first by the couple to the Caribbean since the explosion of the global Black Lives Matter protests two years ago in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. Those protests gave renewed vigour to the call for reparations from the UK for its central role in the Atlantic slave trade. Jamaica has already made it clear that it is seeking compensation.

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And as The Gleaner’s words also hint, there are some in the Caribbean who are uncomfortable about the royal family for modern reasons – perhaps related to Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and her racism claims – as well as for historical ones.

It will be a sensitive visit for the Cambridges. They are always at pains to present themselves as the contemporary faces of the family, but that desire is fatally undermined by the fact that they represent an institution that is deeply old-fashioned, which should be consigned to the past.

History may record this visit as the last to Jamaica by representatives of the royal family while a British monarch is head of state.

Yours,

David Harding

International editor