Football fans in Jamaica were spotted on Tuesday meeting with Premier League stars Raheem Sterling and Leon Bailey.
Manchester City striker Sterling, born in Kingston, has accepted a personal invitation from the Duke of Cambridge to attend an event in the country.
Along with Aston Villa striker Bailey, he spoke to fans awaiting the arrival of William and Kate during their visit to Trench Town, the birthplace of reggae music.
The couple are set to join some young football players and visit the Trench City Cultural Court Museum, where Bob Marley once lived.
They are scheduled to be in Jamaica Tuesday through Thursday after landing at Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston this morning.
The couple will travel to the Bahamas after visiting the country, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary, having already visited Belize as part of their Caribbean tour.
Sterling talks to children during a visit to Trench Town, the birthplace of reggae music, on the fourth day of the Royal Caribbean Platinum Anniversary Tour.
Manchester City striker Raheem Sterling, born in Kingston, has accepted a personal invitation from the Duke of Cambridge to attend an event in the country.
Leon Bailey was also spotted ahead of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s visit to meet young footballers at Trench Town in Kingston, Jamaica on the fourth day of their tour.
William and Kate will celebrate the culture and history of the island, where in recent years politicians have called for Jamaica to abandon the queen as head of state and become a republic, as well as officially recognize slavery.
Anti-colonial sentiment is rising across the Caribbean amid the Black Lives Matter movement, which has inspired many around the world to campaign for equality.
Protesters gathered outside the British High Commission in the Jamaican capital, Kingston. One little girl was holding a banner that read: “Kings, queens, princesses and princes belong to fairy tales, not Jamaica!”
A royal source said the Duke was aware of the protests and should have acknowledged the slavery issue in a speech Wednesday night during a dinner hosted by the Governor General of Jamaica.
Opal Adisa, a Jamaican human rights advocate who helped organize the demonstration, also called for an apology, stating: “Kate and William are beneficiaries, so they are essentially complicit because they can benefit from exactly our ancestors and we don’t we use our ancestors.
“The luxury and lifestyle they had and continue to live, traveling around the world for free and at no cost, is the result of my great-great-great-grandparents, their blood, tears and sweat.”
The Advocates Network coalition of Jamaican politicians, business leaders, doctors and musicians has written an open letter detailing 60 reasons why the monarchy should compensate Jamaica to mark the country’s 60th anniversary of independence.
Ms Adisa said an apology would be “the first step towards healing and reconciliation.”
The couple are set to join the youth footballers and visit Trench Town, a cultural courtyard museum where Bob Marley used to live.
Sterling of Manchester City (center) with young players in Trench Town, Kingston.
Premier League star Sterling watches as he talks to people waiting for William and Kate to arrive in Trench Town.
She added: “You know, we have nothing personally against Kate and Prince William, and even the Queen, for that matter, but we are just saying that you did wrong, and it is high time you admitted it. what you did wrong, and when you do, fix it.”
In contrast to the angry scenes, the couple posted videos on social media of themselves diving among the sharks in Belize waters at a private invitation from the Belizean government to see the conservation work on the world’s second-largest barrier reef.
The footage was released hours before the couple arrived in Jamaica, where opposition leader Mark Golding is reportedly intent on telling the royal family that many Jamaicans want an apology from the monarchy for its role in transporting people from Africa to the Caribbean.
As they exited the Voyager ministerial plane, the couple received an official but warm welcome in Jamaica, but the windy weather kept the Duchess clutching at her flowing dress in case it was blown away by a gust of wind.
As the duke received the salute from the guard of honor formed by the Jamaican Defense Force, the duchess stood nearby under the tent in the wind, holding onto the hem of her yellow maxi dress from Roxanne.
She laughed along with the dignitary standing next to her as she struggled with the conditions ahead of their trip to Trench Town, the area of Kingston where reggae great Bob Marley grew up.
Sterling plays football before the arrival of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
Children can be seen in Trench Town, the birthplace of reggae music, on the fourth day of the Royal Tour.
The royal couple have become the object of protests in Belize. the first stop of their Caribbean tour as opposition to the royal chocolate farm tour forces the event to be canceled and hastily organized elsewhere.
Mr. Golding was invited to a royal function in his constituency of St. Andrew South and to the Governors General’s Dinner, where William will give his speech.
He told The Gleaner, the national Jamaican newspaper, “I hope that during the events I will be attending I will have the opportunity to speak to them and politely and respectfully bring to their attention that this is an opinion held by many Jamaicans.” .
The leader of the People’s National Party added: “And I think it would be good for both the royal family and Jamaica to see this as a means to start moving forward towards a new future.”
The Prince of Wales addressed the “horrifying atrocities of slavery” as something that “tarnished our history forever” last November when he attended a ceremony marking Barbados’ historic transition to a republic.
The British royal family had been transporting and selling people for centuries for profit, and Elizabeth I became involved in the lucrative trades of John Hawkins, one of the first British slave traders in the 16th century.
When his first adventure proved successful and his ships returned with goods, she supported his future expeditions by providing ships to transport people.
Links between royalty and slavery continued under Charles II, who encouraged the expansion of the slave trade.
He granted a charter to a group of people, the Royal Adventurers, who later became the Royal African Company, and the monarch and the Duke of York invested their private funds in this enterprise.