On Royal tours past, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh spent many hours standing on the back of a ceremonial Land Rover, waving to the flag-waving islanders who lined their routes.

       For the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, modern overseas tours are rather different, with much of the glad-handing and waving replaced with engagements that highlight their charities and causes.

       But they could not let their first visit to Jamaica pass by without a nod to the Queen’s many visits during her decades of service.

       After an hour-long commissioning parade at a Jamaica defence force training ground on Thursday, the Duke and Duchess followed in the monarch’s footsteps by taking a ride in a Land Rover first used by Her Majesty in 1962.

       The Duke wore the No 1 tropical dress of the Blues and Royals for the first time, while the Duchess donned a cream Alexander McQueen dress and hat by Philip Treacy for the ceremony.

       They were driven off the parade ground by Sgt Denver Levy, who said he was “very excited” to have the honour but wished the 200m journey was a little longer.

       The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh first used the same vehicle in the Caribbean in 1966 and continued to use it during a series of tours.

       Built in the late 1950s, the Land Rover has only 2,342km on the clock. Its tyres get a fresh lick of white paint for each outing.

       The Duke had earlier inspected the troops and gave a short speech, quoting Bob Marley, before giving out a series of awards.

       As they watched the parade, a commentator speaking over the loudspeaker said: “Ladies and gentleman, if you feel the rhythm in your bones, go ahead and tap your feet.”

       The Duke told the 77 assembled officer cadets, from Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Guyana, St Kitts and Nevis, Suriname and Uganda, that they would graduate into an uncertain world.

       “In your service ahead, you will have to contend with climatic, geological, criminal and wider state and non-state threats to our collective safety, security and prosperity,” he said.

       “Being asked to lead men and women through uncertainty and danger is daunting.”

       He then quoted Bob Marley as he added: “You never know how strong you are, until being strong is your only choice.”

       The Duke said good leadership was hard to define, but easy to recognise in others.

       He said that as he was in the country to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, he would quote his grandmother on the subject.

       In an address to the United Nations General Assembly in 2010, she said: “I know of no single formula for success, but over the years I have observed that some attributes of leadership are universal, and are often about finding ways of encouraging people to combine their efforts, their talents, their insights, their enthusiasm and their inspiration, to work together.”

       The Duke said he considered it “a very good model to follow”.

       He also recalled his own officer training at Sandhurst, adding: “I have stood to attention myself on many parades as you do now, proud of my accomplishments, yet also hoping that the reviewing officer keeps the speech short.

       “This is all the more important today as we bask in the glorious Jamaican sunshine.”

       The Duke and Duchess will later fly to the Bahamas for the third and final leg of their tour.

       There, they will give an affectionate nod to the Duke of Edinburgh, who died last April aged 99, by taking part in a sailing regatta, just as he did there in 1959.

       The couple will also travel to the Abaco Islands, which were devastated by Hurricane Dorian, before visiting Coral Vita - a coral farm that was last year named one of the five ￡1 million winners of the Duke’s inaugural Earthshot Prize.