A royal smile to captivate Kenya

Cheering children, historic wrongs righted... and an eight-course feast

- Richard Palmer

CHEERING Kenyans put on a show fit for a King and Queen as they welcomed Charles and Camilla on the first day of their royal tour.

Yesterday's greeting by youngsters at Nairobi's Eastlands Library was just one example of the huge excitement at their visit.

The King and Queen's day was topped off with an eight-course state banquet. Then, Charles tackled colonial Britain's torture and suppression of Mau Mau suspects head-on.

Charles, 74, who has faced calls from activists for a fulsome apology, did not go that far. But he made no bones about disowning the darkest legacy of Empire.

In a speech to 350 guests at Nairobi's State House, including Kenya's President and First Lady, William and, above right, Rachel Ruto, he called the treatment of Kenya's independence fighters from 1952-60 abhorrent and unjustifiable. He recalled his family's visits to Kenya and the fact Prince William proposed to Kate there in 2010.