BHUTAN – Greeted by a Bhutanese girl and boy with bouquets of flowers, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrived on a windy Thursday morning in Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan for a daylong visit at the invitation of its king and queen. Prince William and his wife, Kate Middleton, stepped from their jet onto the airport tarmac in the picturesque hilltop resort town of Paro and a red-carpet welcome led by Princess Ashi Chimi Yangzom Wangchuck, sister to the Bhutanese king.

A vehicle stood waiting to drive them about 40 minutes to their hotel in the capital of Thimphu. The British royals watched an archery match and met Bhutan’s King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck and Queen Jetsun Pema, who are wildly popular in the nation of 800,000. In the evening, they met the Bhutanese royal couple’s baby, born in February, and dined with Bhutan’s king and queen. Today, the British royal couple will hike to a Buddhist monastery called Tiger’s Nest, perched at an altitude of 3,000 meters, though there will be ponies on standby to help carry them should they tire on the trek…[+]