Prince Harry is currently on a 14-day tour of the Caribbean, to celebrate The Queen’s 90th birthday. Some of the highlights of his trip so far include releasing baby turtles into the ocean, playing cricket with legends, and staying aboard a Navy ship.
On behalf of his grandmother, Harry’s itinerary included the Commonwealth Realms of Antigua & Barbuda, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada and Barbados, as well as visiting Guyana on behalf of the Foreign Office.
Scroll to the right for more images
The tour began on 20th November, shortly after the release of his statement regarding new girlfriend Meghan Markle, and his concerns about the media following and reporting on her. It will conclude on 4th December in Guyana, before flying back to London.
Youth empowerment, sport for social development and conservation are the areas being focussed on for Prince Harry’s trip, as well as local issues. Each day will be a new country following Antigua: St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada.
Following his ceremonial arrival in Antigua, on the second day, Harry contributed to The Queen’s Canopy by unveiling a dedication to the project at Victoria Park Botanical Gardens. His brother and sister-in-law, William and Kate, unveiled the first dedication on their recent trip to Canada.
At a youth sports festival, Harry got to play cricket with legends of the sport: Sir Andy Roberts, Sir Vivian Richards and Sir Curtly Ambrose all fielded as Harry took to the fold to bat.
He also had a go at tennis and volleyball with the local children.
Prior to the trip, Kensington Palace said the Prince ‘holds special memories of his last visit to the Caribbean’ in 2012 for the diamond Jubilee, ‘and of the warmth, friendliness and sense of fun that comes so naturally to this region’.
Over in St Kitts on 23rd November, Harry joined in with a performance for him – by joining in the drumming! The former army Captain was enjoying the show and is never one to shy away from getting involved.
Perhaps the most adorable part of the visit has been assisting in the release of baby turtles to the sea. In the glorious sunshine on Lovers Beach in Nevis, helping The Nevis Turtle Group conservation initiative, which is dedicated to developing a Sea Turtle Conservation Programme.
Prince Harry releases nested turtles out into the wild at Lovers Beach in Nevis ? #RoyalVisitStKitts pic.twitter.com/nS7s04doap
— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) November 23, 2016
Sailing on RFA Wave Knight to St Lucia, one of the Princes important tasks of the visit was handing out honours, something we don’t believe him to have done before. This is a job usually reserved for The Queen, Prince Charles, Princess Anne and more recently, Prince William.
After meeting the Prime Minister and the Governor-General, Prince Harry presented honours on behalf of The Queen #RoyalVisitStLucia pic.twitter.com/wd5sYpfHva
— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) November 25, 2016
Once more Harry donned his cricket whites well, a yellow t-shirt) for cricket, this time captaining a team against the Prime Minister of St Lucia! The Prince’s team won to the crowd’s delight.
Then the 32-year-old learnt about local care from a charitable organisation, Child Development, showing off his great skills with children, no doubt honed since the arrival of his nephew and niece, Prince George and Princess Charlotte.
Meeting Tye, aged 7, and finding out more about the great work of the Child Development and Guidance Centre in St Lucia #RoyalVisitStLucia pic.twitter.com/x1sGqPkpxU
— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) November 25, 2016
In Soufriere on the island, Harry also tried drinking from a coconut before ending his day boarding the Royal Navy ship which is to host him for a number of nights on the rest of his tour.
In St Vincent, Harry visited the Kingstown’s Botanic Gardens to see the national bird, the Vincey Parrot. Reporters say that trainers were trying to get the bird to say Meghan’s name for the Prince, but without success.
However, the ship would not start on Saturday evening, and engineers had to rush to try to fix the problem.
A spokesman for Kensington Palace said: “Today, day eight of the tour, was a designated travel day. The journey from St Vincent to Grenada was due to take six hours and the tour party planned to stop along the way for lunch.
“Due to a technical problem, RFA Wave Knight was unable to leave St Vincent as planned. Prince Harry and the tour party remain in the country and went to a nearby island for a private afternoon.
“Contingency plans are in place and there is no current expectation the second half of the tour will be impacted by the technical problem.”
We don’t believe it has affected the itinerary too much, but do not know if the problem has been fixed.
Kensington Palace compiled a video of the first week of the visit. Look out for an update on the remainder of his tour next week.
? What a first week it’s been on Prince Harry’s visit to the Caribbean, on behalf of The Queen!
See you tomorrow for #RoyalVisitGrenada… pic.twitter.com/MtKoXEUGC2
— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) November 27, 2016
