SOPHIE and Prince Edward, the Countess and Earl of Wessex, have arrived in St Lucia, the first stop on their Caribbean tour, following the cancellation of one leg of the trip at the last minute.

The couple’s trip to three Caribbean countries — St Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Antigua and Barbuda — is part of the Royal Family’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations. Images show Sophie and Prince Edward at Hewanorra International Airport, where they stood in honour of the Eastern Caribbean island nation’s national anthem. The trip follows the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s contentious Caribbean tour last month.

Kate and William’s eight-day trip to Belize, Jamaica, and the Bahamas got off to a rocky start when it was announced two days before their scheduled stop at a cacao farm in the village of Indian Creek that the visit had been cancelled due to villagers’ protests.

According to the travel website Belize Unknown, the Akte ’il Ha cacao farm is “owned and operated by the Moquin family, who are descendants of the ancient Mayas who once cultivated cacao in the region”.

A helicopter carrying the Cambridges was supposed to land on a nearby football field.

Kensington Palace said that “due to sensitive issues involving the community in Indian Creek, the visit has been moved to a different location”.

That was only the beginning of a tour that would highlight the Caribbean’s raging anti-colonial sentiment.

In Jamaica, where politicians have recently called for Jamaica to drop the Queen as head of state and become a republic, as well as for a formal acknowledgement of slavery, the Cambridges were accused of profiting from slaves’ “blood, tears, and sweat.”

There are also hiccups on Edward and Sophie’s tour. The Antigua and Barbuda Reparations Support Commission wrote an open letter criticising the Firm for previous remarks on slavery prior to their trip.

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