Prince William and Kate braved a torrential downpour before dropping in on a school in the Bahamas.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited Sybil Strachan Primary School in Nassau, where they met pupils and staff - on the final leg of their Caribbean tour.
Children from across the Bahamian islands dialled in to meet Their Royal Highnesses during an assembly at the school on Friday morning.
Schools in the Bahamas were closed for nearly two years as a result of Covid-19.
William and Kate were snapped carrying umbrellas as heavy rain lashed over them upon their arrival.
William quipped: "We seem to have brought the weather with us."
It comes after William sparked outrage on the turbulent tour over accusations he echoed Britain's colonist past.
Dressed in a white military uniform, he was driven in an open-topped Land Rover as he and wife Kate looked on during a military parade in Jamaica earlier this week.
William had previously tried to ease tensions by expressing his “profound sorrow” for Britain’s involvement in slavery.
A campaigner behind protests against the royal visit to the island called the Land Rover photos: “Absolutely awful.”
Kate told the youngsters on Friday: "The pandemic has taken you away from your classrooms and your friends and learning from home has had its challenges.
"That is why it is so wonderful that after nearly two years away, you have recently returned to school and been reunited with your teachers and friends again."
The Duchess added: "One of the hardest things that so many of us found about the pandemic was being separated from the people we love.
"We have rediscovered how important our families are, and just how important our friends are.
"I always think it is the simple things in life that bring the most joy: playing together, chatting to your friends at school, eating meals together, listening to each other's stories.
"These are the things that bring us together and give meaning to our lives."
Kate later told the assembly: "The connections, the relationships and friendships that you make during school are so special.
"So please look after them, cherish them and take time for them.
"And be kind, understanding and loving to yourself and others."
The Duchess added: "We are so thrilled to be here in the Bahamas, a country that made us feel at home as soon as we set foot on its soil.
"If you are a child growing up in this country today it feels to me like you are very blessed indeed.
"The spectacular natural environment of the Bahamas is just one of those blessings - I only wish we were able to visit all of your 700 islands during our stay!"
She said: "Our three children, George, Charlotte and Louis, all love being by the sea, so I hope they will be able to experience your clear waters and beautiful beaches before too long.
"However, as much as you have these natural wonders to enjoy, I know that the last few years have not been easy for many of you."
The Duchess of Cambridge, who has carried out pioneering work on early learning and development, praised the children's parents and teachers: "We all owe them a debt of gratitude - our future society depends on it.
"So a big thank you to them for all they do.
"You have a wonderful proverb in your country - 'When the moon is not full the stars shine more brightly'.
"I see all of you as the stars of this country, and I hope these difficult experiences have given you the motivation, empathy and compassion to become fully engaged citizens of tomorrow, who will continue to make the Bahamas the vibrant, life-affirming and soul-enriching place it is today."
The couple were also due to take to the waters off the islands to join a regatta in honour of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee and were expected to race against each other.
They also spent time with key workers and frontline staff in an informal gathering in the Garden of Remembrance, also in the capital, to hear about their experiences of the pandemic.
Tonight they will attend a dinner hosted by the Governor General Sir Cornelius Smith featuring community leaders and local heroes and the duke will give a speech.
They arrived in the Bahamas from Jamaica where they had been greeted by ecstatic crowds in Bob Marley's former Kingston neighbourhood.
However, the trip has faced strong criticism from campaigners seeking reparations from the monarchy for its role in the slave trade.
The Bahamas National Reparations Committee (BNRC) has voiced its concerns about the royal visit, issuing a strongly worded document a few days ago.
The organisation claimed the monarchy "looted and pillaged our land and our people for centuries, leaving us struggling with under development, left to pick up the pieces".
William and Kate's final event in the birthplace of Reggae music was being guests of honour at a passing out parade for new officers in Kingston, which was a throwback to royal tours of the 1950s with the couple standing in the back of a Land Rover as they were driven from the parade ground.
The Duke of Cambridge addressed the issue of slavery during a speech in Jamaica denouncing it as "abhorrent" and saying "it should never have happened".
William also expressed his "profound sorrow" at the forced transportation of millions of people from Africa to the Caribbean and North America - a trade which British monarchs either supported or profited from during the 17th and 18th centuries.
Speaking during his visit to Jamaica with Kate, he echoed the words of his father the Prince of Wales and described the slave trade as an "appalling atrocity" that "stains our history" and he went on to acknowledge Jamaica's "pain".
The future king did not say sorry, just as his father Charles had not apologised during his trip to witness Barbados become a republic in November.
