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Much was made about the heavy security detail for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s Pakistan trip before they even left Great Britain. What I gathered, at the time, was that security concerns were a main factor in what kinds of events Will and Kate did in Pakistan – there were no walkabouts, very little interacting with the Pakistani public at large, and only a handful of photo-ops where Will and Kate were in the open air, and even then, I’m sure security had the open space on lockdown. But… this is not what I expected. During their big reception in Islamabad, security apparently blocked Pakistani government ministers from meeting Will and Kate. Like, that’s a private event. Everyone there had been vetted and cleared by security. And those ministers still couldn’t get their photo-op with Will & Kate. Hm.

Prince William and Kate Middleton’s royal tour of Pakistan is delighting their fans – but it appears one event didn’t go down well with officials from the host country. Six Pakistani government ministers walked out of a reception because they weren’t allowed to meet the couple, it is claimed. The officials were said to be “annoyed” by “very stupid” security arrangements, so they decided to leave Monday night’s event hosted by Thomas Drew, the British High Commissioner to Pakistan, in the capital Islamabad.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrived at the reception, held at the hilltop Pakistan Monument, in a colourful auto rickshaw, with Kate, 37, wearing a glittering green dress and William dressed in a traditional sherwani suit. Jonny Dymond, the BBC’s royal correspondent, tweeted: “Six Pakistani ministers walked out of the #RoyalVisitPakistan British High Commission reception on Monday night @bbcurdu reports. They were reportedly annoyed at their place in the gathering. Commission response to follow.”

He later wrote: “The Commission has replied. It says the Duke and Duchess ‘were delighted to meet a range of people from across Pakistani society’.”

A report by BBC Urdu said half a dozen ministers and close advisers left the event because they were not allowed to meet the duke and duchess. The report claimed the officials were not allowed to go near the royal couple due to “rigid security arrangements”. An adviser to Prime Minister Imran Khan told BBC Urdu that the “very stupid” security measures were made by British officials. Refusing to allow cabinet ministers to meet the royals was “disgraceful,” the unnamed adviser added. The adviser said Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry would make a complaint to British authorities.

[From The Daily Mirror]

It’s more than likely that the Cambridges had no idea the lengths their security people had gone to, and they probably didn’t know that certain government ministers were not on the “must shake hands with” list. And that’s all this was – it’s an opportunity for all of those smaller political players to get a photo-op or a handshake from the British royals. That’s bare-bones soft diplomacy. But, as I said, it’s more than possible that William and Kate didn’t know that they were inadvertently “snubbing” some ministers. Still, if that was the case… the British High Commission could have done a better job organizing the meet-and-greet so no one stormed out in a hissy.

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Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Getty.