Change of plans.
Prince William and his wife Kate Milddleton have canceled a scheduled visit to a village in Belize after residents protested the royal trip.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrived in the country, formerly British Honduras, on Saturday, March 19, to kick off an eight-day royal Caribbean tour, and were due to visit Akte ‘il Ha cacao farm in the indigenous Maya village of Indian Creek on Sunday morning. But the night before, the event was canceled after a few dozen residents of Indian Creek, an indigenous Maya village, staged a protest, Reuters reported.
"We can confirm that due to sensitive issues involving the community in Indian Creek, the visit has been moved to a different location," Kensington Palace announced on Saturday, March 19. "Further details will be provided in due course."
For years, the villagers have been engaged in a land dispute with Flora and Fauna International (FFI), a conservation group of which William as a patron. The protest also comes amid growing scrutiny of the British Empire's colonial ties to the region, Reuters reported.
The Belize government also released a statement saying that Indian Creek was one of several sites that was considered.
"Due to issues in the village, the government of Belize activated its contingency planning and another venue has been selected to showcase Maya family entrepreneurship in the cacao industry," it read.
According to multiple reports, the villagers gathered in protest on March 18 claiming they had not consulted about the royal engagement and took issue with the couple landing their helicopter on a local football field. Kensington Palace has not responded to the claims.
"We, the villagers, consider that we have suffered the legacy of colonialism," local youth leader Dionisio Shol told The Times of London, "and we are directly still being impacted by that."
William and Kate's Caribbean tour also includes stops in Jamaica and the Bahamas to mark Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee.