Sean Smith - Kim Kardashian

This was Kim’s first visit to the land of her father’s family. Inevitably, there was nothing low key about it, especially as the plan was to feature her journey to the homeland in her long-running reality show, Keeping Up with the Kardashians . The television crew from E! tried to look as inconspicuous as possible – as if carrying around a large boom microphone were the most natural thing in Armenia.

A stills man from the Splash News & Pictures Agency, Brian Prahl, a sort of unofficial official photographer at the court of Queen Kim, travelled with them to record the trip, ensuring that the pictures taken were pin sharp and of the highest quality. Brian did his job well and everyone looked their best.

Wherever she went, the streets were lined with hundreds of people anxious to get a glimpse of her or, most prized of all, a selfie with the most photographed woman in the world. It was like a boisterous royal tour, with Kanye and Kim in the role of Prince William and ‘Princess Kate’. Their little daughter, North, captured hearts with an array of cute expressions, just as the baby Prince George had on his first overseas trip to Australia a year earlier.

Even Kanye broke into the occasional smile, usually when playing with North. He stayed a pace behind his wife, much in the manner of William with Kate, or Prince Philip accompanying the Queen. The men understand that they are not the focus of attention on these occasions.

Kanye did have his moment in the spotlight, however, when he gave an ‘impromptu’ concert for thousands of excited Armenians and was able to display some rock ’n’ roll behaviour by jumping fully clothed into Yerevan’s romantic-sounding Swan Lake. Apparently, he made the decision to go out and sing for the people only that night, although it’s doubtful if his Armenian security detail would have allowed such spontaneity. It proved to be good fun.

He had just started singing ‘Good Life’, when he took everyone by surprise by leaping into the water, which, a little undramatically, only came up to his knees. He managed to get his microphone wet, which brought the song to an abrupt halt. That didn’t bother his audience, who began to jump in and splash around as well. Kim, who, dressed in sweats, was looking about as casual as she ever gets, explained that he wanted to be closer to the fans on the other side of the lake. ‘It was an exciting, crazy night!’ she said. After he had been firmly helped out of the water by guards, Kanye sang another five songs: ‘Stronger’, ‘Jesus Walks’, ‘Power’, ‘Touch the Sky’ and ‘All of the Lights’.

His escapade lightened the mood of what could have been a very sombre few days. Despite the excitement her journey to Armenia generated, there was a serious point to it all. Kim wanted to draw attention to what many – and certainly all of the Kardashians – regard as the first modern genocide.

She had flown in just before the one hundredth anniversary, on 24 April, of the slaughter of more than 1.5 million Christian Armenians by Muslim Ottoman Turks. It preceded the Holocaust in Nazi Germany by a generation, but became a footnote in the history of the twentieth century, scarcely covered in school history lessons. Kim was determined to change that. She blogged, ‘Every year, I honour the memory of the martyrs who were killed during the 1915 Armenian Genocide.’

This didn’t sound like the sort of issue that might concern a woman posting selfies to her Instagram followers or sharing information online about her favourite salad or how to bleach your eyebrows. She explained, ‘So many people have come to me and said, “I had no idea there was a genocide.” There aren’t that many Armenians in this business. We have this spotlight to bring attention to it, so why would we just sit back? I will continue to ask the questions and fight for the genocide to be recognised for what it was.’ There are a few household names from Armenia: Cher, Andre Agassi and the popular French singer Charles Aznavour were three of the best known before the Kardashians became so famous.

Not only is their country a fleeting presence in history lessons, it doesn’t feature largely in geography classes either. The Republic of Armenia is a landlocked, mountainous country wedged between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. Turkey is to the west, Georgia to the north, Azerbaijan to the east and Iran to the south. Since it achieved independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Armenia has relied on tourism to the beautiful country to bolster a struggling economy still reliant on Russian gas. An estimated third of the 3 million-strong population live in poverty.

The premier, Hovik Abrahamyan, welcomed Kim and Khloé with open arms, realising they were putting Armenia on the map for millions of people around the world. The sisters were joined by two previously unheralded Armenian cousins, Kourtni and Kara Kardashian, who hadn’t shared the limelight with their famous American relatives until now.

Prime Minister Abrahamyan praised the Kardashian contribution to the ‘international recognition and condemnation of the Armenian genocide’. Kim, in turn, repeated her pledge to campaign for worldwide acknowledgement of the atrocity.

She apologised for not being able to speak Armenian and said she and her sisters were intent on learning the language, which doesn’t feature in the curriculum of the exclusive private schools of Beverly Hills and Bel Air. Even her father, Robert Kardashian, so proud of his heritage, wasn’t a fluent speaker.

Kim’s efforts to reveal a more serious side to her public image received an unexpected boost when Pope Francis condemned the cruelty of the genocide during a service at St Peter’s in Rome. Many commentators acknowledged that the combination of Kim Kardashian and the Pope was a PR disaster for Turkey.

After the family left Armenia, there was one more important stop to make before they flew home. They travelled to Jerusalem for North to be baptised into the Armenian Apostolic Church. The hour-long ceremony at the Cathedral of St James in the Old City was conducted in both Armenian and English, and ended with North being anointed on the head with holy water.

Kim followed the custom of these occasions by wearing a striped wraparound floor-length dress and flat shoes and covering her head with a white shawl. Kanye looked relaxed and happy in white trousers and sweater. North, in a white christening gown, went to sleep. It had been a long trip for a little girl but, as a reward, she was treated to a day out in Disneyland on her second birthday in June.

The ‘state visit’ to Armenia was a triumph for Kim, although her one disappointment came when President Obama failed to use the ‘g word’ (genocide) in a speech marking the anniversary. He couldn’t risk antagonising Turkey, an important ally in the ongoing fight against terrorism. Kim, who doesn’t blame modern-day Turkish people, observed, ‘It’s very disappointing he hasn’t used it as a president. We thought it would happen this year. I feel like we’re close …’

When she had first arrived in Armenia, Kim made a point of saying that her father and his parents, now all dead, would have been hugely proud of the visit and what she was trying to achieve. Like her, they had been born in the United States. It was the previous generation of Kardashians, Kim’s great-grandparents, who preserved the family line by fleeing Armenia just before the mass slaughter of their countrymen.

In leaving the remote village of Karakale, where the family originated, they were heeding an extraordinary warning made by an illiterate and sickly boy who had visions about the future. Efim Klubnikin predicted, ‘Those who believe in this [prophecy] will go to a far land, while the unbelievers will remain in place. Our people will go on a long journey over the great and deep waters.’