The Princess of Wales has been heckled during a royal walkabout on a visit to Northern Ireland with Prince William.

Kate Middleton was greeting well-wishers in an impromptu meet outside Carrickfergus Castle in north Belfast on Thursday (local time) when she was challenged by a woman who suggested she was not in her own country.

Ahead of the encounter, the royal couple had been shaking hands and speaking with the smiling crowd.

“Nice to meet you, but it would be better if it was when you were in your own country,” the woman said, as she shook Kate’s hand and recorded the incident on her phone.

The princess kept smiling, and swiftly moved on to speak to others in the crowd.

“Ireland belongs to the Irish,” the woman added as Kate moved away.

Prince William did not appear to notice the encounter, which took place in what is a predominantly nationalist area of Belfast, according to The Telegraph.

Northern Ireland and England, Scotland and Wales make up the United Kingdom. However, there has been centuries of controversy and bloodshed since England first occupied Ireland in the 1600s.

William and Kate were given the titles Baron and Baroness Carrickfergus by the late Queen at their wedding in 2011.

The Prince and Princess of Wales, who were on a surprise one-day visit to Northern Ireland, met well-wishers for more than half an hour on Belfast’s Antrim Road after visiting a suicide prevention charity.

In happier events, they also joined volunteers in packing care packages for children helped by the charity and were challenged to a cocktail race – won by William.

It was the couple’s first visit to Northern Ireland and Carrickfergus Castle since they became the Prince and Princess of Wales following the Queen’s death a month ago.

Earlier this year, the royal couple were subject to backlash on their eight-day Caribbean tour of Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas.

They were accused of being “tone deaf” after they were seen shaking hands with crowds pinned behind a wire mesh fence in Kingston.