Kate Middleton and Prince William attend parade in Jamaica

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The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge returned from their eight-day Caribbean tour last week. The couple visited three Commonwealth realms – Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas. Their trip, which was branded a “charm offensive”, was met with protests from locals.

Kate and William were forced to ditch their first engagement in Belize after residents opposed their visit.

The Duke and Duchess were set to visit Akte ‘il Ha cacao farm in Indian Creek, but the Q’eqchi Maya, who live in the village, held demonstrations against the Cambridges’ visit – claiming they were not consulted on the details.

A Kensington Palace spokeswoman said at the time: “We can confirm that due to sensitive issues involving the community in Indian Creek, the visit has been moved to a different location.”

The Daily Mirror’s royal photographer, Ian Vogler, believes that the visit should not have been ditched; he told Thursday’s episode of Pod Save The Queen that the cancellation was a “bad move”.

He said: “Belize is a very small country – I think it’s got a population of about 400,000. So a big crowd in Belize would be about 22 people and it was in a pretty remote location.

“They should have gone ahead with it.

“I think the whole cancelling that first thing – bad move.

“It set people looking for other rabbit holes to go down.”

The newspaper’s royal editor, Russell Myers agreed with Mr Vogler, saying that it “set the tone” for the remainder of the tour.

He said: “I don’t think they should have cancelled that first engagement in Belize.

“I thought that set the tone.”

Mr Myers did note that the Belizean Government played a role in the visit being cancelled.

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He said: “To be fair to William and Kate, my understanding is they wanted to go.

“And it was again the Belizean Government who said: No, we’re going to change it – it’s not a good look.

Mr Myers added: “If I was their communications secretary or private secretary, I would have said: No, we’ll go. There might be a small protest and we might be able to speak to them – we’ll send a recky.

“What is the worst that could have happened?”

The Cambridges’ subsequent visits to Jamaica and the Bahamas were also hit by protests.

While republican sentiment is not new, it has gained momentum amid worldwide protests against racism and police brutality and following Barbados’s removal of the Queen as head of state.

Upon their arrival in Jamaica, protesters gathered outside the British High Commission in Kingston, the country’s capital.

They denounced the visit and insisted upon a formal acknowledgement of slavery with reparatory justice and calling for Jamaica to drop the Queen as head of state.

At the gathering, one little girl was spotted holding a placard reading: “Kings, Queens and Princesses and Princes belong in fairy tales not in Jamaica!”

Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness made it clear that Jamaica is making moves to become a republic ahead of its 60th anniversary of independence.

Ahead of the Cambridge’s landing in the Bahamas, the Bahamas National Reparations Committee (BNRC) issued a document which stated: We are tired of paying literally with our lives for the maintenance of a paradigm in which we were exploited so others could be exalted. It is time now for reparatory justice. The time is now for reparations.”

It continued: “They and their family of Royals and their Government must acknowledge that their diverse economy was built on the backs of our ancestors. And then, they must pay.”

In an unprecedented statement at the end of their tour, William released a statement about the future governance of Commonwealth nations.

The Duke noted that the tour had brought questions about the past and the future “into even sharper focus”.

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