Prince William and Kate Middleton to visit Belgium's smallest city

British Crown Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton will be guests of honour on 7 June in Mesen, West Flanders. Mesen is Belgium's smallest city, with 1,000 inhabitants. The couple will be in Belgium to commemorate the 1917 Battle of Messines, an offensive conducted by the British Second Army, confirms Mesen mayor Sandy Evrard.

"We would have liked to have kept it secret for a little longer,” the mayor says of William and Kate's visit. “But it is true that Mesen can expect a visit from royalty this summer."

On 7 June, the Battle of Messines will be commemorated, a milestone in the history of the First World War when British troops secretly planted a series of underground explosives that detonated under the German lines and devastated the front.