Kate Middleton and Prince William are going on their first major royal tour since Prince Louis arrived
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1st Jul 2019
Updated 1 July, 2019: Kensington Palace have confirmed that Prince William and Kate Middleton will undertake an official tour to Pakistan in the UK autumn (Australia’s spring) this year.
The palace posted the announcement on Prince William and Kate Middleton’s official Twitter account, @KensingtonRoyal, captioning the post: “The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will undertake an official visit to Pakistan this autumn, at the request of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Further details will be advised in due course.”
Town & Country reports this visit will mark the first official visit from a British royal family member to the country since 2006 when Prince William’s father, Prince Charles, visited with his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall. The Queen and Princess Diana both paid visits to the country, The Queen in 1961 and 1997, and the late Princess Diana in 1991.
25 June, 2019: Following news of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s upcoming royal tour of Africa, it’s been reported that Prince Harry’s brother and sister-in-law, Prince William and Kate Middleton, are also set to embark on a major royal tour, within weeks of the Sussexes trip.
According to the , sources have revealed the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are planning an official royal tour of Asia in the UK autumn (our spring), with the royal couple planning to tour countries within the Commonwealth. The publication reports Kensington Palace has declined to comment at this stage, but an official announcement is expected in the forthcoming weeks.
Royal tours have historically focused on Commonwealth countries, so it would make sense that this tour will follow that tradition. If that is the case, countries that could be on the tour itinerary might include Bangladesh, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore and Sri Lanka.
The reports sources believe Sri Lanka is a highly likely candidate for a royal visit after the Easter Sunday 2019 terrorist attack in the country left nearly 300 people dead.
The publication points out that China has reportedly been ruled out and Brunei is unlikely to be considered due to its “human rights record”.
This royal tour will mark the first major official tour the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will undertake since their third son, Prince Louis, one, was born in April last year. It’s unknown if the children, Princes George and Louis, and Princess Charlotte, will accompany their parents on the slated tour. Princess Charlotte and Prince George accompanied their parents on their 2016 tour of Canada, so there is a precedent, however with Princess Charlotte starting at the same school, Thomas’s Battersea, Prince George attends in September, it may not work with the royal tots’ schedules.
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The timing of the rumoured tour is noteworthy given the recent news that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are to leave Prince Harry and Prince William’s joint charity, the Royal Foundation, to form their own foundation. The two couples also recently split their households from a social media and staff perspective, and the two tours on different continents at almost the same time appears to be another example of how the so-called ‘Fab Four’ are forging their own paths.