The royal family tour of the Caribbean was little short of calamitous

It is clear the monarchy needs to be recast into something more suited to today’s complex world, writes David Harding

Added to their woes were some disastrous PR photocalls (Getty)

Not since English cricketers in the 1980s have official tours of the Caribbean by Brits gone so badly.

Following on from the disastrous visit of the Cambridges to Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas in March, where William and Kate were confronted with calls for Britain to make slavery reparations and end the outdated role of the royal family as the head of state in several countries, then Edward and Sophie Wessex were given the same messages in St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Antigua and Barbuda last week.

Added to this were some disastrous PR photocalls and a political scandal on the British Virgin Islands, which is morphing in part to anger over the UK’s colonial role.