Prince William and Duchess Kate of Cambridge arrived in Pakistan late Monday for a five-day official visit. The couple landed at the Nur Khan Airbase in Rawalpindi just before 10 pm, according to a video posted on Twitter.
Kate was wearing a traditional shalwar kameez, an ombré turquoise dress and pants by Catherine Walker, plus cream-colored high-heels. They did not take their three children, Prince George, 6, Princess Charlotte, 4, or Prince Louis, 1, with them.
This is the couple’s first visit to Pakistan, made at the request of the British government. Among others, they will meet with Prime Minister Imran Khan and President Arif Alvi.
Details of the visit are being kept under wraps, with security set to be tight for the couple’s first official trip to Pakistan, and the first visit by a British royal since William’s father Charles and his wife Camilla came in 2006.
In addition to Islamabad, they are set to visit Lahore, as well as the mountainous north and the region near the border with Afghanistan in the west, according to British High Commissioner Thomas Drew. “I’ve always been struck by the warmth in Pakistan towards the royal family,” he said in a video published to Twitter late Sunday. The couple’s programme will pay respect to Britain’s historic relationship with Pakistan, once part of colonial India, he said. “But it will focus largely on showcasing Pakistan as it is today, a dynamic, aspirational, and forward-looking nation,” Drew continued.
They are expected to see Pakistan’s efforts to combat climate change and learn about the ‘complex security’ of the region, among other issues, a statement from Kensington Palace said earlier this month. “This is the most complex tour undertaken by (the duke and duchess) to date, given the logistical and security considerations,” according to a Kensington Palace statement issued in advance of the trip. “Pakistan hosts one of Britain’s largest overseas networks, with the British High Commission in Islamabad being one of the United Kingdom’s largest diplomatic missions in the world,” it added.
Last week, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi invoked the memory of Diana, who charmed Pakistanis when she visited in her official capacity in 1991. She also made several private visits in later years to help Khan – then a cricketer-turned-opposition politician married to her friend Jemima – raise money for a cancer hospital in Lahore. “We will always remember late Princess Diana’s visit and her selfless service to humanity, not only in Pakistan but all over world,” Qureshi said.
