The visit was carefully designed to be “non-political”, and the Duke of Cambridge appeared to successfully negotiate the diplomatic minefield that is Israel and Palestine during his four-day tour.



He was welcomed as a “prince and a pilgrim” by the Israeli president, Reuven Rivlin, and given the red-carpet treatment in Ramallah by the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas.



William’s time was scrupulously divided between sensitive sites in Jerusalem, which are holy to Judaism, Islam and Christianity. He paid tribute to Holocaust victims at the Yad Vashem memorial, visited a school and clinic at a Palestinian refugee camp, met crowds on the beaches and promenades of Tel Aviv, and engaged with young tech entrepreneurs.



The prince will have been well prepared. Sir David Manning, a former British ambassador to Israel and the US, is now a foreign affairs adviser on the Kensington Palace team. His knowledge and advice will have been key in how this visit was planned, and how it played out.



Even when Rivlin sprang on the prince a request to convey a “message of peace” to Abbas, William did not appear fazed, expressing his own hopes for peace in the tumultuous region.



“Until we meet again, Prince Charming,” the British embassy tweeted in Hebrew as William’s plane taxied from Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport headed for London, indicating the trip had been judged a success. With coverage in both Israeli and Palestinian media, it would appear to be mission accomplished.



The duke meets the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas. Photograph: Alaa Badarneh/Sipa/Rex

It was the biggest diplomatic test the 36-year-old has yet faced on an official overseas tour at the request of the British government. An official visit by a member of the royal family has long been sought by Israeli politicians, who have chafed at what has been regarded as a long-running snub.

Prince Charles’s attendance at Shimon Peres’s funeral in 2016, and the funeral of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995, did not include diplomatic meetings and were not considered official royal visits.



The Foreign Office view for decades had been that such a visit was contingent on progress in the peace process, which means William’s visit was being seen by Israelis – not least the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu – as a significant moment.



With the peace process not so much moribund these days as in reverse gear, it has been painted as a rebuke to the warnings delivered to Israel, even in the David Cameron era, that it faced increasing diplomatic isolation.



While the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the state of Israel has widely been cited as the opportunity for the visit, some commentators have said the timing could be down to the relationship between Israel and the UK becoming warmer under Theresa May than her predecessor, Cameron.



Another speculative reason offered is that Brexit is driving the need to find new partnerships. However, even before the EU referendum, Britain was pursuing increased trade ties with Israel, not least in the tech industry, which is seen as a key area of UK trade interest.

Philip Hall, Britain’s consul general in Jerusalem, told journalists at the start of the visit: “We know this is not a time when we can celebrate progress in the Middle East peace process, but we believe that engagement is just as important in challenging times as it is in good times. We know some of the politics are difficult, but this is not a political visit.”

William visits the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Photograph: Reuters

The tour also leads to the question: why William, and not his father? One reason could be that Charles has been the most regular senior royal to visit Arab nations in the Middle East on official tours. Another may simply be that it is the right time for the second in line to the throne to extend his knowledge and experience.



Carefully calibrated as it was, the visit did not escape criticism. Some Israeli politicians were angered that the itinerary referred to the Old City of Jerusalem as being part of “the Occupied Palestinian Territories”.



In Ramallah, some commentators perceived a semantic slip when William told Abbas that he was “very glad that our two countries work so closely together”. Reports said western governments usually did not refer to Palestine as a country or state, instead supporting the Palestinian demand for sovereignty in the future.