The Duchess in ‘Bubblegum Pink’ for Final Day of the Tour

The Duchess chose a dress by RIXO for today’s engagements in Abaco, a group of several islands and archipelagos. A video as the royals arrived. 

HAPPENING NOW: The Duke and the Duchess of Cambridge have arrived in Abaco. pic.twitter.com/L5ALx76yMQ

— OURnews Bahamas (@OurNewsRev) March 26, 2022

The couple visited Daystar Evangelical Church, which suffered damage during Hurricane Dorian in 2019. Below, the church as it looks today.

They were there to hear first-hand what it was like for those on the island when the hurricane hit. Below, you see them with Pastor Silbert Mills.

From The Daily Mail’s story. 

Pastor Mills pointed to the place where one of the church’s historic buildings had once stood, explaining how it been completely destroyed.

‘But the facility was no match for hurricane Dorian. It was a Category Five monster storm that had waves crashing the roof of this building. The water was very much up to the ceiling in here.

‘It washed everything out and it just destroyed so much history that was here. The building that was here was built in 1952. It was a wooden building built out of Abaco pine, and we kept it here and remodelled it to maintain its historic values, but Dorian swept it off its foundation.’

Here is a photo shot about a week after Hurricane Dorian. 

The church building is still unusable. More from this Millport Weekly News story.

The duchess, wearing a pink Rixo dress, said: “The church is at the heart of the community when events like this happen.”

As they were told about the devastation caused, the duke said: “You must have been terrified.”

You can see the blown-out windows and big chunks of concrete that are missing or damaged.

ITV’s Chris Ship shared a video. 

Look at the damage that still exists from a hurricane in 2019. Proving that the impact on lives and livelihoods is felt long after the event itself #RoyalVisitBahamas pic.twitter.com/0wRrLcmmsd

— Chris Ship (@chrisshipitv) March 26, 2022

The hurricane damaged 75% of homes.

We return to The Daily Mail piece.

PastorMills said some members of the community remained displaced, two-and-a-half years later.

‘It’s been difficult,’ he added. ‘And some people have been traumatised to the extent that they’re still seeing doctors.’

Pastor Mills said they did not have the insurance needed to rebuild and that the focus has been on helping those who had lost their homes.

The couple heard from residents about some of the ways they have coped since the hurricane. 

More than 2000 were killed by the hurricane, 200 of them from Abaco.

There was a short service of remembrance. Rebecca English shared a brief video. 

There was also a short service of remembrance #RoyalVisitBahamas pic.twitter.com/Xe0IInxgKu

— Rebecca English (@RE_DailyMail) March 26, 2022

The Duke and Duchess laid a wreath at a memorial wall. 

A better view of the memorial. 

The Duchess gave this little guy a flower she found. 

The pair then went to a traditional fish fry in Dundas Town. 

The Duchess had a taste and said, “It’s lovely.”

More from this People story. 

The Duchess of Cambridge even stepped behind the counter to make conch salad herself as Jade Adderley, a vendor at the Fish Fry in Dundas Town, Abaco, looked on.

“I’m not as fast as you!” Kate told him.

Another image. 

The Evening Standard reports,

“They were offered conch salad. William said: ‘Ladies first,’ before Kate tried it and said: ‘Delicious’.  Mr Adderley said: ‘She was a good helper. I’d like her to stay and help me at the stall.’

William was offered a Gullywash – coconut juice with condensed milk. He seemed to enjoy it and joked: ‘You guys talk amongst yourself I’m staying here.”

I think the Duchess may be having a taste of the conch salad. 

The Duke and Duchess sharing a laugh.

Taking a selfie with a young man. 

They met local vendors. 

More from The Standard’s piece. 

They moved on to stalls by the beach where vendors were selling handbags and homemade honey.

While talking to stall owner Kimberly Roberts, 49, of Abaco Ceramics, William looked at the honey for sale in jars on the table then pointed to Kate and said: ‘Catherine has bees at home.’

And spent time meeting residents as well as those visiting the islands. 

The Duchess and some schoolgirls. 

A different angle. 

Another view. 

Meeting a very young one. 

One more image of the Duchess.

This looked like an engagement the duo enjoyed. 

After saying goodbye to Abaco, the couple traveled to Grand Bahama. 

FREEPORT: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have arrived in Grand Bahama. First stop, the Grand Bahama Children’s Home. #theroyalvisitbahamas pic.twitter.com/tCmnxor7Xv

— OURnews Bahamas (@OurNewsRev) March 26, 2022

 We now take a look at what Kate wore for the day’s early engagements. 

She was in the Izzy Dress ($290, now sold out) by RIXO, a popular UK brand.

The dress is one of the brand’s hand-painted prints in a pattern called pink marble zebra. It is made with FSC-certified viscose (Forest Stewardship Council “ensures that products come from responsibly managed forests that provide environmental, social and economic benefits) and features puffed sleeves with elastic at the cuff, a button front bodice, pleated skirt, and hidden side zipper. Thank you to Emily and Bojana for their speedy ID of the dress.   

RIXO was founded by friends and former fashion buyers Henrietta Rix and Orlagh McCloskey. The company describes its mission this way: “to offer irresistibly cool, obscurely beautiful clothing for work and pleasure, at a price point designed not to intimidate.”

The Duchess carried another Emmy London clutch, the Natasha ($370), this one in ‘cupcake pink.’

The bag is lined in suede, has an interior zip pocket, and fastens with a secure magnetic popper. It also comes with a suede and metal chain so it can be carried as a crossbody. Thank you to Middleton Maven for this ID. 

The Duches brought back her Castañer Carina 80 Suede Wedge Espadrilles ($189).

The style features a braided raffia wedge heel, almond toe, rubber sole, and ankle ties. It is available at Farfetch ($189) and at Net-a-Porter in a similar color ($190). 

We saw the return of the Maya earrings by Nadia Irena. (I have not yet heard back if this item will be restocked or not.)

And what appears to be a new style of sunglasses, the Henrietta Light Tortoise Green Lenses ($256) by Finlay.

Thank you to Lauren for this ID.  

UPDATE: Following are images from the final two engagements for the tour. 

The royals visited Grand Bahamas Children’s Home.

The home is located in Freeport. 

It was founded by the local community in 1977 and had since cared for more than 900 vulnerable children who are not able to live with their families. 

The Duchess making funny faces. 

The home is currently caring for about thirty children ages one to seventeen.  

The Duke and Duchess met children and then spoke with staff to hear how they have been coping with the pandemic.

Their final engagement of the tour was at Coral Vita, one of the winners of the Earthshot Prize.

Coral Vita is described as “A project run by two best friends who are growing coral in the Bahamas, designed to restore the world’s dying coral reefs. Using special tanks, they have developed a way to grow coral up to 50 times faster than they normally take in nature” per the BBC. 

I believe Prince William was going to personally plant some of the coral.  I will update with more photos when they are available.

VIDEOS: 

Here is roughly 1:30 coverage of the Abaco engagements. 

ABACO: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited the Daystar Church, dedicated a new memorial for Hurricane Dorian victims, sampled Bahamian cuisine from the Fish Fry, and greeted the dozens of visitors and Bahamians lined along the streets before heading to Grand Bahama. pic.twitter.com/3aQ8KnmR3W

— Eyewitness News Bahamas (@ewnewsbahamas) March 26, 2022

And the Duchess chatting with a vendor. 

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge speak with Latoya Ferguson in Dundas Town, Abaco. Ferguson is showing off her friend’s line of bags, Tip Sea Cavas. VIDEO: Berthony McDermott pic.twitter.com/3PJkQEkMzZ

— Nassau Guardian (@GuardianNassau) March 26, 2022