In pictures: Caribbean royal tours through the ages

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have kicked off their tour of the Caribbean, their first official visit to the region and overseas trip in two years.

Already the pair have scaled Mayan ruins and helped out at a chocolate farm in Belize, and will soon head to Jamaica and the Bahamas on the week-long whistlestop tour. Unlike most British visitors to the Caribbean, they’ll unlikely have a moment to hit the beach with an itinerary packed with receptions and regattas, though thankfully there will be time for a traditional fish fry in Grand Bahama.

Following Barbados’ removal of the Queen as head of state last November and other Commonwealth nations such as Jamaica thought to be mulling over a similar move, the Platinum Jubilee year tour has particular significance, though visits to the Caribbean have long been an important part of the Royal family’s calendar. And in an unofficial capacity, the family are historically firm fans of the region, with Princess Margaret famously building a holiday home on Mustique.

Here, we look back on the most memorable Caribbean tours taken by the Royal family, from the Queen’s first-ever trip to Prince Harry’s more informal jaunts to Jamaica.

1953: Jamaica and Bermuda

The Queen’s first Caribbean visit took place in her coronation year, when she and Prince Philip visited Bermuda and Jamaica as part of their six-month-long tour of the Commonwealth. Clearly, not suffering from the constraints of airline baggage allowance the young monarch, then only 27, was said to take 12 tonnes of luggage on the trip.

They began with a night in Bermuda (pictured below) before moving on to Jamaica), where on arrival they immediately drove for eight hours across the country, the roads flanked by excited locals for much of the journey. However, there was said to be a quick pit stop at Silver Sands Beach Club so the Queen could swim in the sea.

Another image captures the pair riding in an open-top Land Rover through Sabina Park cricket ground in Kingston. In a neat parallel, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will travel in the same vehicle when they travel to Jamaica in the coming days.

1966: Barbados, Grenada, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, St Vincent, St Lucia, St Kitts and Nevis, Dominica, Montserrat, Antigua, Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, Turks and Caicos, the Bahamas and Jamaica

It was more than a decade before the Queen returned to the Caribbean, but her February 1966 tour was much more extensive, taking in 15 nations and lasting a month. Royal Yacht Britannia was used to ferry the monarch between the chain of islands, all of which (with the exception of Jamaica) she had not visited before. Below, she is seen walking along a jetty in Tortola, after arriving in the British Virgin Islands.

To celebrate the trip, a documentary was released, which followed the couple as they attended engagements and captured the excited crowds greeting them along the way. Below, the Queen and Prince Philip wave from their car shortly after arriving in Nassau in the Bahamas.

1977: The Bahamas, the British Virgin Islands, Antigua and Barbados

The Queen made two trips to the region in the Seventies, first in 1975 before returning two years later to mark her Silver Jubilee. On the latter and better-documented trip she visited four nations, before meeting up with her younger sister Princess Margaret on the glamorous island of Mustique. Below, the Princess is pictured in front of her holiday home in 1985.

Back in 1977, vivid colour images show the monarch inspecting a mango as she tours a market in the British Virgin Islands.

In another image from the British Virgin Islands, she walks with an umbrella to shield herself from the blazing Caribbean sun.

1985: Belize, Bahamas, St Kitts, Antigua, Dominica, St Lucia, St Vincent, Barbados, Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago

The 1980s saw another bumper-size month-long trip to the Caribbean for the monarch. On this occasion she visited Belize, where the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are currently touring, though her itinerary was less forest hikes and more crowd-waving, as seen below.

She also visited the tropical island of Grenada, where she was greeted by a little rain, unsurprising given she visited in the generally wetter month of October.

1994: Anguilla, Dominica, Guyana, Belize, Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Bermuda, Bahamas

For her multi-stop 1994 trip, the Queen once again made use of Royal Yacht Britannia to sail her around the sun-dappled region. Key moments included a guard of honour upon the quayside in the Bahamian capital Nassau, and a display by Ashanti dancers in Montego Bay, Jamaica (pictured below).

2012: Jamaica, Belize and the Bahamas

Other members of the Royal family had increasingly started touring the region by the start of the 21st century. Prince Harry has made multiple trips to the Caribbean on behalf of the Queen, one of the most memorable being in 2012, when he raced Usain Bolt at a running track in Kingston.

2019: St Lucia, Barbados, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Kitts and Nevis, Grenada, Cuba, and the Cayman Islands

Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, embarked on a Caribbean tour in 2019, with a packed itinerary of 50 engagements across 10 islands. The most notable stop was Cuba, which had not been visited officially by a member of the Royal family since it came under communist rule in 1959. As well as inspect classic cars, they learnt how to make mojitos, the island's signature cocktail.

A very well travelled man, Prince Charles had previously visited every country on the tour and will undoubtedly tick off any he's missed in the coming years.