The visit had been billed as an attempt to promote reconciliation over the atrocities Belgium committed during colonial rule in DR Congo.

The trip had initially been slated for June 2020 to mark the DR Congo's 60th anniversary of independence, but was called off because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The visit was rescheduled for 6 March, but would now take place place at a later date "because of the invasion of Ukraine and the crisis this is generating," Reuters quoted a palace statement as saying.