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ROYAL APPOINTMENT: Prince Harry will head to Jamaica next month to meet with Usain Bolt

THE WORLD'S fastest man will prepare to entertain royalty when Prince Harry pays a visit to his Racers Track Club base in Jamaica, during his Diamond Jubilee tour of the Caribbean and Central America next month.

Usain Bolt, the triple Olympic champion, has already begun preparations for the London Games later this year, having set the tall target of bettering his performance at the 2008 Beijing Games where he claimed three gold medals - 100m, 200m and 4x400m relays - all in record times.

Still, it is hoped that the sprint king will be able to take the time off to give the prince a few tips.

"We're hoping he (Bolt) will teach him (Harry) how to start," Prince Harry's private secretary Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton told The Daily Mail.

However, perhaps thankfully for the prince, the two are not expected to get in the blocks for a duel to the finish line.

"I don't think they will hare off round the track together, thankfully," the prince's secretary added.

This will not be the sprinter's first encounter with royalty, as he is also a favourite of noted track and field fan, Prince Albert II of Monaco.

INVITATION EXTENDED

The Monarch had expressed the desire to see Bolt run in the Principality and extended an official invitation to the sprinter for the Herculis Diamond League meet last year.

Bolt holds an impressive 9.58-second record in the 100m and 19.19 record in the 200m, both set at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin.

While in Jamaica, the prince will also pay a visit to Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller who, interestingly, has already begun to examine the process of abandoning the Queen as head of state and adopt a republican form of government.

In addition to Jamaica, Harry, 27, will get to tour Belize and The Bahamas - all sovereign realms where the Queen is still head of state - from March 2 to 8.