Charles and Camilla tour Cuba’s Old Havana

The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall were mobbed by the public and the press as they went on a walkabout in Old Havana during their historic tour of Cuba.

Royal protection officers and Cuban security had their hands full keeping back the crowds from Charles and Camilla as they explored the Unesco World Heritage Site.

Camilla carried a parasol to ward off the searing sun but Charles managed to keep cool in a shirt, tie and suit during their guided tour.

The old town has retained many of its 18th-century colonial Spanish buildings, with their verandas, brightly-coloured frontages and internal courtyards, with several renovated in recent years.

Stray dogs wandered across the royal couple’s path and, like Cuba’s citizens who benefit from their country’s renowned healthcare system, they have been vaccinated, and their claws clipped.

The couple stopped by a group of elderly street musicians and, as a huge media scrum tried to capture the moment, Charles put a note in their collection hat.

Camilla wandered over to a group of American tourists who questioned her about the Duchess of Sussex’s pregnancy.

Mimi Ricketts, 50, said: “I said ‘Are you excited about the new baby about to arrive in your family?’ and she said yes she was.”

Mindy Whittle also got the chance to meet royalty and said after her encounter: “I love her (Camilla’s) dress. We shook hands – do I have to pay extra for that?”

The couple began their tour in Arms Square, close to the site where the Spanish established the city on November 16, 1519.

They briefly visited the El Templete – small temple – a building from 1828, and as they left, the crowds swarmed around them.

The prince and duchess have made history by becoming the first members of the royal family to officially visit Cuba.

Charles and Camilla’s groundbreaking trip is likely to usher in a new chapter in the relationship between the UK and the Communist state once ruled by Fidel Castro.

The prince passed up the offer to try some churros, a sweet deep-fried street food made from batter, during the walkabout.

Carlos Leuva, speaking through an interpreter, said he knew who the prince was and thought he was a “great personality” and “looked like he had a great sense of humour”.

He added: “I offered him some churros but he said he had already had some breakfast.”

As the duchess made her way through the crowd, shaking hands with a line of people, she met a living statue of Cuban hero, the essayist and poet Jose Marti.

The man stood stock still in a suit painted bronze – and then moved to present her with a rose and kiss her hand.

After meeting a group of female entrepreneurs running a bicycle repair business, she was accosted by an Australian tourist, Frank Buckley, 68, who addressed her breezily: “Good to see you! How are you enjoying it?”

He said afterwards: “She said she had not been here long. She looked to me a little bit puffed. But she had no trouble walking up to me and shaking my hand.”