Duke and Duchess of Cambridge: Official Visit to Pakistan - October 14-18, 2019


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The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited Pakistan's National Cricket Academy on the fourth day of their royal tour to the country. Both Prince William and Catherine got stuck in with some batting and spoke to children participating in the British Council's DOSTI programme in Lahore.

They also met some of Pakistan's cricketing legends and were presented with cricket bats as presents for Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.

 
When William & Kate left the Badshahi mosque they were told by Honorary Consul Fakir Aijaz Uddin, “If there’s one word to describe your visit it is ‘joy.’ You have radiated joy wherever you have been.” William replied: “We are very happy people.”

- Simon Perry
 
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/10/17/...istan-royal-tour-analysis-gbr-intl/index.html


It's a fresh take on soft diplomacy and Prince William is being talked about as an increasingly powerful asset in British diplomatic circles.
They point to his visit to Jerusalem and the West Bank last year when he found himself being dragged into discussions about how to find a route to peace. Unperturbed, the duke listened, asked questions and then moved on, making everyone he met feel heard.
He's not one to avoid sensitive debate like his grandmother but has managed to adopt her ability to hide his personal thoughts. He has strong opinions but knows he will need to keep them to himself as king and anything he reveals now will be remembered.
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“The Duke later came back to see the press pack was fine and joked he had been flying.”

Ben Farmer Twitter


“Fortunately William has taken it in his stride - he just came back down the plane to see if we were ok and joked that he was flying!”

Rebecca English Twitter
 
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited a children's cancer hospital in Lahore, Pakistan. Prince William's mother, Princess Diana, visited the hospital in 1996 and 1997. She was shown around by Dr Aasim Yusuf, the same man who showed William and Kate around the cancer unit today.
 
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Ista said:
Well, that's going to throw a spanner in the works. Cue mad reshuffling of the schedule and logistics.
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With all the security issues and worries, it turns out that the real culprit that would throw the tour into a frenzy is Mother Nature, herself. Go figure. :D
 
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have visited SOS Children’s Village in Pakistan. The private social welfare organisation provides a home and family structure to over 150 young girls and boys who are either orphans or have been abandoned.

The village promotes the development of children into happy, confident and resilient adults. Catherine gave a passionate speech and even spoke some Urdu, the official language of Pakistan.

 
What a lovely speech. She is such a beam of sunshine and great asset for the brf.
 
So far I've seen the focus has been on fashion and recreating Diana's time in Pakistan. What else is being done? Kate's speech was ok on delivery but good on sentiment.
 
Osipi said:
With all the security issues and worries, it turns out that the real culprit that would throw the tour into a frenzy is Mother Nature, herself. Go figure. :D
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I love how William goes back to the press pack after and tells them he was flying! lol



LaRae
 
Madame Verseau said:
So far I've seen the focus has been on fashion and recreating Diana's time in Pakistan. What else is being done? Kate's speech was ok on delivery but good on sentiment.
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I don't understand this comment? What do you mean by what else is being done?

There's been no recreation, and I have frankly seen no focus on what Catherine or William wore above anything we normally see in the UK.
 
The news feeds have been full of what the Cambridges have been doing, in a very packed schedule, with multiple substantive engagements every day. They do need time to sleep, but aside from that this has been a very active tour.
 
It is a diplomatic mission that covered Pakistan culture, girls education, sports, climate changes and meetings with local people (sick children, Mosque, interfaith conversations) and meetings with country's leaders! (Prime MInister, President). The news covered all that - but I guess we all see what we want to see.

I have enjoyed this tour very much!!! and I am inspired by the royals and people of Pakistan. If I get an opportunity to visit pakistan, I will definitely go visit.
 
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I know it is considered respectful diplomacy to local cultures when official visitors wear their hosts’ traditional local clothes.

But when visiting UK or Western Countries, the foreign official visitors and diplomats, do not wear their host countries’ traditional clothes.

For examples, when High Commissioners or Ambassadors from these countries visit the Monarchy on an official event, or to present their credentials, they wear their own countries’ traditional clothes.

By the way, when Queen Elizabeth II visited Pakistan in 1961 and again in 1997, she just wore her own normal clothes, not the Pakistani clothes, and it was okay.

.
 
Here’s just a few articles on Catherine’s diplomatic dressing


Huffington Post: Kate’s Royal Tour Outfits Are Making Pakistani Fans Proud Of Their Culture

Mail Online: Kate is praised for 'channelling eastern elegance' as Pakistan's media are charmed by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge during their visit to the country

CNN: Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge spotlights the country's designers on five-day Pakistan tour

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge today carried out the following engagements in Lahore, Pakistan.

> Their Royal Highnesses this morning attended a Meeting with the Governor of Punjab (Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar) and Sardar Usman Buzdar (Chief Minister of Punjab) at Lahore Airport.

> The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge this afternoon visited the SOS Children’s Village.

> Their Royal Highnesses afterwards visited the National Cricket Academy.

> The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge later visited the Badshahi Mosque.

> Their Royal Highnesses subsequently attended a Meeting with Faith Leaders at the Badshahi Mosque.

> The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge afterwards visited Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre.

- COURT CIRCULAR || 17 OCTOBER 2019
 
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Fijiro said:
I know it is considered respectful diplomacy to local cultures when official visitors wear their hosts’ traditional local clothes.

But when visiting UK or Western Countries, the foreign official visitors and diplomats, do not wear their host countries’ traditional clothes.

For examples, when High Commissioners or Ambassadors from these countries visit the Monarchy on an official event, or to present their credentials, they wear their own countries’ traditional clothes.

By the way, when Queen Elizabeth II visited Pakistan in 1961 and again in 1997, she just wore her own normal clothes, not the Pakistani clothes, and it was okay.

.
Click to expand...


Some visiting heads of state, especially from the Indian subcontinent and the Arabian peninsula , wear traditional clothes at gala events in the UK, but the emperor and empress of Japan for example wore western clothes at state banquets both overseas and at home. I believe the president of South Korea also wore white-tie tailcoat in Denmark. So I don’t think it is a rule that they must always wear traditional clothes.

I think it was a nice diplomatic gesture on William’s part considering Britain’s past colonial history in Pakistan.
 
Fijiro said:
I know it is considered respectful diplomacy to local cultures when official visitors wear their hosts’ traditional local clothes.

But when visiting UK or Western Countries, the foreign official visitors and diplomats, do not wear their host countries’ traditional clothes.

For examples, when High Commissioners or Ambassadors from these countries visit the Monarchy on an official event, or to present their credentials, they wear their own countries’ traditional clothes.

By the way, when Queen Elizabeth II visited Pakistan in 1961 and again in 1997, she just wore her own normal clothes, not the Pakistani clothes, and it was okay.

.
Click to expand...

I think it was a lovely gesture and also, it wouldn't surprise me if they were asked to wear more local dress as another way to showcase Pakistani culture by the Pakistani government.

I wear local dress when I am in Pakistan or other parts of the sub-continent because within that setting, people really appreciate it and it also just helps me to blend in more. I think each tour and such is a case by case basis dependent on the history of the country with the UK and aims of the tour.

This tour has basically been one massive tourist advert for the country--by design. Local dress is part of that and for the most part, Kate has nailed it and William's sherwani was an especially nice touch.
 
Mbruno said:
Some visiting heads of state, especially from the Indian subcontinent and the Arabian peninsula , wear traditional clothes at gala events in the UK, but the emperor and empress of Japan for example wore western clothes at state banquets both overseas and at home. I believe the president of South Korea also wore white-tie tailcoat in Denmark. So I don’t think it is a rule that they must always wear traditional clothes.

I think it was a nice diplomatic gesture on William’s part considering Britain’s past colonial history in Pakistan.
Click to expand...

I think the difference is in what is actually worn day to day in said countries. In Korea, men usually wear western style clothing. While yes, we will see the first lady of Korea in a traditional outfit for a white tie event, that is a special occasion. Men do not walk around in the streets in 'national dress'. It would be shocking to see the President dressed as such. Just as we would not expect the Danish or Swedish royals to attend a state banquet in their traditional dress.

The ones we see dressed in the traditional garb, are those who come from countries where that is for many, every day dress. Or for formal events. Some in their countries may wear western style, but you'd still see people dressed as this walking down the road any day.


Now if Kate went to Sweden and wore an outfit like Victoria wears during national day, that would be costume and not go well.




This day seemed a great day for the tour. They both really enjoyed cricket and their interaction with the kids.



As for Kate and her speech, sorry I dont get the 'heart felt' vibe of it. Or even the connection to the actual visit. It get they have pre-written speeches, but this one just did not fit. Sorry you can't stand there with a speech in hand, reading about how the tour you just finished, impacted you. She had never been there when that speech was written. It lacked sincerity for me. And the constant reading of the speech didn't help for me. Eye contact would have served some help here. And maybe a bit off the script, actually talking about the experience and not in general.
 
 
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Yep, it was a nice visit and the Queen and the UK were very well represented.

But what I have seen, was mostly a very "traditional" Pakistan... and some charity stuff with children.

Hmm, if the aim of the visit was to represent the Queen and the UK in Pakistan to foster the bilateral relations, then it was a success.

But the picture of Pakistan shown during this visit was pretty... hmmm... "traditional" like in opposite to "modern".

I looked for, what they were planning:
https://www.royal.uk/duke-and-duchess-cambridge-visit-pakistan

And yep, all objectives fullfilled! So, in toto, it was a very successfull journey in my humble opinion.
 
The video from the plane looks terrifying. Glad everyone is okay.

According to the DM article posted above (and royal reporters on Twitter), the Cambridges had to cancel today’s engagement due to the flight delay.

Meanwhile royal aides and diplomats hurriedly re-arranged the couple's schedule, reluctantly cancelling an important visit to a Pakistani military post on the Afghan border and a helicopter flight over the famous Khyber pass, which hadn't been been revealed in advance for security reasons.
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They now plan to visit an Army canine center and then fly home.

Countessmeout said:
As for Kate and her speech, sorry I dont get the 'heart felt' vibe of it. Or even the connection to the actual visit. It get they have pre-written speeches, but this one just did not fit. Sorry you can't stand there with a speech in hand, reading about how the tour you just finished, impacted you. She had never been there when that speech was written. It lacked sincerity for me. And the constant reading of the speech didn't help for me. Eye contact would have served some help here. And maybe a bit off the script, actually talking about the experience and not in general.
Click to expand...

The speech seemed heartfelt to me.

Just because a speech is pre-written, doesn’t mean things can’t be added to it. Her comment about the tour was only maybe two sentences long, so it could have easily been added after she and William finished the tour. The bulk of the speech was about the organization and the excellent work they are doing, so I’m not sure how the speech didn’t fit/didn’t have a connection to the visit.

As for the no eye contact, that seems to be a habit with members of the BRF. Most of them read their speeches straight from a paper and only occasionally look up.
 
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It's a great shame that their schedule had to change as it would have been interesting to see images of the Khyber Pass from the above.

Other than that, the tour has been a colourful and fascinating one and for me has highlighted the beauty and culture of that region.
 
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were forced to change their schedule on the penultimate day of their Pakistan tour after their plane got caught in a thunderstorm on their way back to Islambad after spending the day in Lahore, on Thursday.

The couple stayed at the Pearl Continental Hotel overnight following two aborted landings by the RAF Voyager pilot. British High Commission officials were quick to find the couple a hotel room, along with their entourage, security team and around fifty journalists - almost 100 rooms in total.

Following the frightening experience, Prince William and Kate privately thanked their RAF pilots and praised royal aides and British High Commission officials for immediately coming up with an emergency backup plan. William, 37, also personally insisted that journalists travelling on the royal tour, who were also on the flight, came with them to the hotel.
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Read more: Prince William and Kate personally made sure 100 passengers were accommodated after turbulent Lahore flight
 
Aside from the unfortunate and unavoidable cancellation of the the visit to West Pakistan and the helicopter flight over the Khyber Pass, this has been an exceptionally well planned and executed royal tour. The engagements were well chosen and offered some fantastic opportunities for William and Catherine to highlight causes and initiatives that are in their areas of special interest, and to present themselves as polished representatives of both the
Queen and UK interests. I thought Kate's speech showed huge improvement over her early efforts--you can tell how much work she's put into doing better at something that is obviously not one of her special talents. I really respect that.

There were so many very special moments: Catherine wearing primarily Pakistani or Pakistani inspired dress, the arrival by tuk-tuk and William emerging from the tuk-tuk in a sherwani, the tea party and visit to the pediatric cancer ward, the visit to the mosque to highlight interfaith efforts, the visit to Chitral, the trip to to the glacier and meeting the villagers who had been affected by flooding, the dancing and the hats.

I was also impressed by William insisting that the press be taken care of due to the unexpected detour back to Lahore--it was considerate on a human level, but also a good longer term investment in goodwill which shows that William (or someone) is thinking ahead.

Overall, an excellent tour. I usually begin to lose interest after about day 2 or 3 of a tour, and this one kept my interest for the entire trip.
 
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