PRINCE Harry and Meghan Markle should not make the same mistakes that Prince William and Princess Kate did on their Caribbean tour, a royal expert has claimed.

Harry, 39, is set to make a transatlantic trip to the UK next week for an Invictus Games event without Meghan.

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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will be visiting Nigeria in the coming weeksCredit: AFP

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William and Kate arriving in Jamaica in 2022Credit: �Karwai Tang

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The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on their tour of the CaribbeanCredit: PA
The Duke and Duchess will then jet off together to Nigeria for the next stop on the Invictus Games tour.

The couple will take part in “cultural activities” after they were invited by the west African country’s chief of defence staff.

In Harry and Meghan’s first trip to the country as a couple, they will meet service members and their families, according to Nigerian media.

Now, ITV News’ royal correspondent Chris Ship has told The Sun’s new royals show that Harry and Meghan should learn from William and Kate’s experiences while on a tour of the Caribbean.

Unfortunately timed photos of Will and Kate shaking hands with Jamaican children through wire fences saw criticism aimed at the royals back in 2022.

It wasn’t William and Kate’s intention but you don’t want that accusation that there was these white former colonial masters seeing people in the colonies

Chris ShipITV News’ Royal Correspondent

And the optics of visiting a country where Britain has a colonial past should be carefully managed, the royal expert said.

Chris told The Sun’s Royal Exclusive Show: “If I was in Harry and Meghan’s office and I was planning this tour, I would be looking at what William and Kate did in the Caribbean and not do any of it.

“I would try and do it a bit differently.

“It wasn’t William and Kate’s intention but you don’t want that accusation that there was these white former colonial masters seeing people in the colonies.

“That’s something they want to avoid for a whole host of reasons.

“If I was planning the tour I would think very carefully about the optics of it.”

And Chris believes that Will and Kate were unfairly criticised due to the unfortunate timing of the picture.

Chris added: “It was just a moment where William ran over to say to some kids.

“It wasn’t because someone put a fence up to keep the royals and the Jamaican kids segregated from the locals.

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“Ten seconds later they were doing handshakes in the street it was just a particular moment.

“That picture misrepresented the tour but was part of the problem when it comes to optics.”

The reality was that the scruffy fencing surrounding the pitch has been there for decades as a safety feature.

As Chris was keen to recall, the crowds were shouting “we love you” to Will and Kate.

He also noted how Raheem Sterling, who is of Jamaican descent, was on the same side of the fence as the royals.

However, photos of the England football ace doing exactly the same did not attract anywhere near the level of negative attention.

William and Kate were also accused of evoking images of the colonial past when the Prince of Wales – in his military tropical uniform – rode on top of a Land Rover with his wife.

Meghan, who is partly of Nigerian descent, could help make the visit to the African nation a “successful tour”.

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Chris added: “I think Nigerians will be doing everything they can to make this a successful tour and put Nigeria on the map.

“But we must remember that as much as Meghan in this country is a bit of Marmite character, people love her or people really don’t love her, she is likely to be seen very very differently in Africa.

“So I would have thought actually that she will get huge numbers of crowds coming out to see her because she’s a figure on the global stage and she’s coming to their country.

“They will want to put on a red carpet, almost as red as the one they might put on for a King or a Queen.”

It comes as Mr Ship told our exclusive show that Meghan is terrified of being booed at St Paul’s for the second time.

He said: “The difficulty is you remember last time they went to St Paul’s Cathedral, which was for the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, they got booed.

“We heard the boos for them. We should be clear there was also people cheering for them, but there were definitely boos at St Paul’s Cathedral.

“So going back there I can see why Meghan may not wish to accompany Harry there.”

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William and Kate’s whistle-stop trip to the Caribbean was one of The Firm’s trickiest toursCredit: Reuters

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William and Kate visit Shortwood Teacher’s college in Kingston, JamaicaCredit: Paul Edwards The Sun

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The Prince and Princess of Wales played football with Raheem Sterling and Leon BaileyCredit