Prince William is making history.
On June 24, the Duke of Cambridge kicked off a five-day tour in the Middle East, where he will become the first British royal to pay an official visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories.
He was greeted by Crown Prince Al-Hussein bin Abdullah II — the son of King Abdullah II and Queen Rania — at the Marka military airport in Amman as he launched his tour in Jordan on Sunday.
Together, the future monarchs visited the TechWorks Fabrication Lab known a "Fablab," an initiative of the Crown Prince Foundation, which, according to the Kensington Palace Twitter feed, "works to empower young entrepreneurs in Jordan." There, they met with young men and women including students from Al-Hussein Technical University, "which works with industry experts and businesses to deliver a STEM-based curriculum," the Foundation explained.
Afterward, they attended a reception to celebrate the 92nd birthday of William's grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II.
"The welcome that The Crown Prince showed me today is one that I will always remember, and which I hope to be able to reciprocate one day in the UK," William said in a statement.
According to Kensington Palace, during his five-day visit, Prince William "is looking forward to building a real and enduring relationship with the people of the region."
On June 25, CNN reports, William's every move will be closely watched when he heads to Israel, which just celebrated the 70th anniversary of its founding.
There, he's scheduled to visit Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, and meet with both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin.
He will then meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah in the West Bank on June 26.
CNN reports that William is also expected to visit Jerusalem's Old City, the Mount of Olives and the Church of St. Mary Magdalene in the Garden of Gethsemane. That's where his great-grandmother Princess Alice of Battenberg — the mother of his grandfather, Prince Philip (and a great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria) — is buried.
On a lighter note, William — who is the president of the Football Association in Britain — did not get to watch the England vs. Panama World Cup soccer match on June 24, as he was on a Royal Air Force plane to Jordan during most of the game. ITV reports that after the pilot offered to keep him posted on the score, he joked to the crew, "On pain of death, please don't tell me," as he'd promised to watch the match later that night with his host, Jordan's crown prince.
And that's just what he did!
William, Kensington Palace tweeted, "sat down with the Crown Prince of Jordan to watch a rerun after dinner at the Beit Al Urdun Palace. Congratulations @England!"