THERoyal protocol effectively prohibits public displays of affection, but during their recent, highly criticized visit to the Caribbean on the occasion of Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee, William, 39, and Kate, 40, walked out of their hotel hand-in-hand without caring about being seen. And when they noticed who was making the video, they continued walking smiling, their hands still delicately intertwined.
William and Kate, TikTok phenomenon
Within minutes, the video – shot by the American Jimmy Rex – went viral, viewed over a million times on TikTok. The images are accompanied by the words: “This couple had 35 bodyguards in the Bahamas!” But the episode could not fail to arouse a certain a stir among British royal watchers.
Cambridge departing Jamaica, March 2022 (WireImage)
William and Kate are convinced: the monarchy must change
Hand in hand? An intimate gesture that hardly suits an heir to the throne and his future queen, they would say at court. But it certainly fits the new Royal style that the Cambridge have already begun to promote, determined to modernize the monarchical institution as much as possible and as soon as possible. Starting with the name: wherever they go, they want to be called William and Catherine, and not by their titles. And this is to avoid the problems faced precisely in the Caribbean.
The Cambridge increasingly in step with the times
The trip proved less popular with the natives, with growing protests over the Royal Family’s colonial past. And he pushed Prince William to ask the court for a reform of the official visits by the Windsors, from now on conducted without excessive pomp and in the name of dialogue, also accepting the inevitable – and somewhat humiliating – transformation into a republic of Commonwealth countries that no longer want Queen Elizabeth as head of state.
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