William and Kate’s journey starts badly: Belize villagers stop coming

Following the example of Barbados, which broke away completely from the United Kingdom at the end of last year and proclaimed the republic, there are also voices in Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas to continue completely on their own foot. A good reason for the British Prince William and his wife Kate to take a diplomatic trip.

But not everyone likes that. The official counts of 772 residents of tiny Indian Creek prevented the royal couple from visiting their village. Indian Creek is home to the Maya, one of the oldest indigenous tribes in Central America. They took to the streets to protest against the arrival of William and Kate:

They are angry that a William nature fund has allegedly taken land from them. A link to the colonial past is therefore made on protest signs. Until 1981 Belize was a British colony. The country now has its own government, but officially the head of state is still Queen Elisabeth.

Great Britain correspondent Anne Saenen: “The colonial past is a sensitive point for the Royal Family. That is why it is so striking that this is canceled at the last minute. A trip like this is prepared for months and very carefully planned. You really notice that It’s very sensitive to how carefully they handle this.”

The royal family can therefore not exactly use another scandal. It has been under fire a lot lately. After the whole Meghan and Harry affair, Prince Andrew had to settle an abuse case.

Yet this is different, Saenen thinks: “The British see William and Kate separately from Prince Andrew. They are actually very popular and have hardly any scandals. I don’t think this will do much with confidence in them.”

According to local media, residents of Indian Creek were also angry that William and Kate’s helicopter would land on a soccer field in the village. According to the villagers, they had not been consulted about this.

“So it really seems to be a very local problem,” says Saenen, who does not expect the incident to have much consequences for the rest of the trip. “But it is of course annoying that things already go wrong on the first visit.”

Jamaica important for Brits

Especially now, especially in Jamaica, the royal couple’s second destination, many voices are rising to follow the example of Barbados. Are the British concerned? “I wouldn’t call it that,” says Saenen. “But they don’t want to lose the partnership.”

Many Jamaicans have lived and worked in Great Britain for years. Since 2020, they have also played an important role within the health system, which lost many Eastern European employees because of Brexit.

Correspondent Saenen: “William and Kate want to win over the Jamaicans, without trying to do that very clearly. They have planned a meeting with Usain Bolt. They are sports fanatics and look for the connection through there.”

But, if Jamaica finally decided to break free, the British wouldn’t stop it. “They would be very sorry,” Saenen expects. “But in principle they let the countries in there freely.”