The worrying step underlines the intense security arrangements being made for the most high-risk Royal tour in years. A senior source close to the Royals said that while advance security checks were normal, the involvement of the armed police team was an acknowledgement that Pakistan has dangers to the Cambridge’s. The source said: “There are simply so many people and so many opportunities for things to go wrong.”

There is particular concern at the potential threat posed by extremists hiding in the huge crowds greeting the couple.

Taliban and ISIS suicide bombers have previously managed to evade tight security and kill or maim political leaders in Pakistan, including its former prime minister Benazir Bhutto who was murdered by a suicide bomber in 2007.

Destinations during the tour are being kept a closely guarded secret but they are likely to include areas that the Foreign Office advises British citizens not to visit on safety grounds.

The ring of steel around the Duke and Duchess is similar to the one imposed when the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall visited Pakistan in 2006.

On that tour, an anti-western backlash against the killing of 80 suspected Islamic militants forced the cancellation of a planned visit to the northern city of Peshawar.

The Daily Mail stated that the Royal couple will be protected by personnel operating from the British Embassy.

The trained officers will check routes, venues and airfields at locations due to be visited by the Duke and Duchess.

Destinations during the tour are being kept a closely guarded secret but they are likely to include areas that the Foreign Office advises British citizens not to visit on safety grounds.

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Last month fears for the safety of Kate and Prince William may force the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) to cancel their official visit to Pakistan.

Kensington Palace announced in late June the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge would head to Pakistan this autumn “at the request of the FCO”.

This trip would mark Kate and William’s first-ever visit to Pakistan and their first tour together in 18 months, after the Duchess took a maternity leave to give birth and take care of Prince Louis, their youngest child.

Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams said: “Clearly the situation arising from India’s recent revoking of the special status of the disputed region of Kashmir, which is administered by India, will be monitored closely by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

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“They will evaluate how events proceed.”

New Delhi has revoked Article 370 earlier this month.

This is the piece of legislation in the Indian Constitution granting special status to Kashmir, a region highly contested by India and Pakistan.

The move took away the significant autonomy Kashmir had enjoyed for seven decades.

The region had its own constitution.

It also had its own flag, but now its independence has been taken away to be turned into a satellite province of Delhi.

The order, issued on August 5, came from the Indian governing party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which promised earlier this year during an electoral campaign to revoke the privileged status of the region.

Ahead of the announcement of this move people living in the Indian side of Kashmir saw their communication with the rest of the country cut off, as India pulled the plug on telephone networks and the internet.

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