Elizabeth II has been to Belize twice during her reign, in 1985 and 1994. The itineraries were familiar to those arranged for Prince William and Kate’s upcoming Caribbean tour: a visit to a Mayan site, meeting with the Defence Force, music and dancing. Although the Queen has only visited twice, there have been several royal appearances in Belize since 1952: Princess Margaret in 1958 (at a time when relations with neighbouring Guatemala were fraught); three solo visits by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh; Prince Michael of Kent to mark independence in 1981; Princess Anne in 2001; and, most recently, Prince Harry in 2012 to mark the Diamond Jubilee. Harry was, according to The Reporter, a ‘great hit’.

In 1985, the Queen received a ‘tumultuous’ welcome. Certainly, the press was charmed, although the republican-leaning Amandala delighted in reporting how she was served gibnut (a rodent), now forever known as ‘royal rat’. When Elizabeth II arrived in Belize a decade later, press coverage was calmer, ‘mostly’ rapturous, but the Belizeans perceived to be generally warm and affectionate. Then, as now, the 1994 tour was clearly a charm offensive. The official line from the former British High Commissioner, David Mackilligin, was that links with the Crown had been successfully ‘reinvigorated’ and that there were mutual benefits all round, with Belize’s morale ‘boosted’. Indeed, Mackilligin was ‘surprised’, he said, by the ‘very small amounts’ of republican sentiment expressed during the visit. In total, the 1994 trip was estimated to cost the Belize government BZ$200,000 dollars (£65,000). We don’t know, yet, how much the Platinum jubilee tours will cost, or who will ultimately foot the bill. Jamaica has agreed to pay for security personnel only.