A series of photos of Prince William and Kate posing with a statue of Bob Marley and shaking hands with children through a wire-mesh fence have drawn ridicule, threatening to further overshadow the royals’ tour of Jamaica, after the couple’s visit sparked protests calling for the UK to pay reparations for slavery.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrived in the country on Tuesday as part of a week-long tour of former British Caribbean colonies that coincides with the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
However, the royal couple have faced public questioning of the British Empire's legacy and are now at the centre of a storm over photographs taken during several pre-arranged activities on the island.
After the Cambridges’ arrival in Jamaica, Prince William joined Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling, Aston Villa’s Leon Bailey and young footballers on the football pitch during a visit to Trenchtown, known as the birthplace of reggae music, in Kingston.
One image showed a beaming Kate touching hands with a crowd of people gathered on the other side of a tall wire fence.
Author Malorie Blackman shared the image of Kate greeting people through the pitch-side fence on Twitter and wrote: “Do Prince William and Kate employ even one person of colour in their PR depts and run the optics of such images below by them first?”
The image prompted claims the tour and its associated publicity were “tone deaf” and an “embarrassing farce”.
“Who thought this was a good photo op?” said one person in a tweet which received tens of thousands of ‘likes’.
However, others pointed out that Sterling also greeted the crowds through the same pitch-side fence.
Later William and Kate took part in a visit to Trench Town Culture Yard Museum, where Bob Marley once lived, in what was described as a “celebration of reggae”.
An image showed William and Kate smiling awkwardly beside a statue of Bob Marley and then playing drums with reggae musicians in the courtyard of the museum.
Carolyn Cooper, professor emerita at the University of West Indies, told The Independent: “Bob Marley’s message was about emancipation, chanting down systems of oppression and contesting the very notions of royalty that William and Kate represent. So… this move means that they simply don’t understand what his legacy is and therefore that celebration (of Bob Marley) is nothing but a charade."
On Twitter, the event at the Bob Marley museum drew claims of “cultural appropriation” with one person writing it was “actually disrespectful. Do they know anything about Bob Marley & what he stood for…”
Their trip comes after Barbados became a republic nearly four months ago by removing the queen as the sovereign head of state, a move Jamaica has begun to consider and other former British colonies may also pursue.
"There are issues here which as you would know are unresolved," Jamaica’s prime minister, Andrew Holness, said during a photo opportunity with the couple.
"But Jamaica is as you would see a country that is very proud ... and we're moving on. And we intend ... to fulfill our true ambition of being an independent, fully developed and prosperous country."
Dozens of people gathered on Tuesday outside the British High Commission in Kingston, singing traditional Rastafarian songs and holding banners with the phrase "seh yuh sorry" – a local patois phrase that urged Britain to apologise.
Jamaican officials have said the government is studying the process of reforming the constitution to become a republic. But experts say the process could take years and would require a referendum.
Barbados was able to become a republic relatively quickly because its constitution only requires a decision by parliament.
Additional reporting by agencies
