Royal red carpet for Prince in Jordan as he starts historic Middle East trip
PRINCE William touched down in Jordan yesterday without Kate at his side to kick off his most important foreign trip so far.
The five-day tour will include the first visit to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories by a member of the Royal Family on official business.
The Duchess of Cambridge is staying home following the birth of Prince Louis in April.
But William had a reassuring start to his solo adventure.
He stepped down from the RAF Voyager shortly after 4pm to a warm welcome from his opposite number, Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah II.
The red carpet was rolled out and dozens of soldiers stood to attention in front of a Union Flag marking a visit which Kensington
Palace hopes will “build relationships which will last decades”.
Sandhurst-trained Hussein,
23, a second lieutenant in the Jordanian army, could be seen laughing and joking with William throughout the day. The heir to Jordan’s throne took Aston Villa fan William to the Fablab tech centre, where he started a laser cutter which made the Midlands club’s crest on a wooden shield. William, 36, chuckled: “Very impressive.” Later, at an
Queen and Prince Philip in 1984 embassy party in Amman to mark the Queen’s official birthday, William praised his welcome, adding: “Ties between our Royal Families stretch back generations.”
He told how the Queen and Prince Philip shared “fond memories” of their State visit to Jordan in 1984 and also how his wife Kate and her family “remembers very fondly the years she spent here when her father worked for British Airways”.
Today William will see Jerash, the site of a Roman city where Kate was pictured as a child, aged four, with her father and sister.
He will then visit a military base backed by Britain and, this evening, will fly to Israel.
The visit comes amid rising tensions after dozens of Palestinians were killed during protests.
Despite this, William will meet Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tomorrow and Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday.