Antipodean adventure for new Duke and Duchess
THE Duke and Duchess of Sussex are due to go on a Commonwealth tour of Australia and New Zealand during their first major overseas official visit.
The autumn tour will be their first major trip to be announced since they tied the knot last month.
The Duke and Duchess have been invited to visit Australia and New Zealand by the countries’ governments, while they will also travel to Fiji and Tonga at the request of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Kensington Palace said.
Their trip has been timed to coincide with the fourth Invictus Games, which will be staged in Sydney in October.
This will be the first royal tour for the Duchess of Sussex, who faces a packed daily timetable full of tree planting, engagements, meeting dignitaries and taking part in unveiling ceremonies.
She has, however, been to a royal engagement with her husband before, and attended the Invictus Games opening ceremony last year in Toronto, where she lived when she filmed Suits, her television series. While this time it is inevitable the pair will be side-byside, Meghan was seated a full 18 rows away from her then-boyfriend.
The couple will follow in the footsteps of the Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales, who also chose Australia and New Zealand for their first royal tour as a married couple.
It is likely the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will be away for weeks, as when the Prince and Princess went on their tour, they travelled 23,601 miles and spent 41 days overseas. Similarly, in April 2014, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge went to Australia and New Zealand, and were away for 18 days, covering 23,701 miles.
The Queen visited Fiji and Tonga the year after she was crowned, on a tour alongside Prince Philip.
She was abroad from December 1953 until April the following year, and travelled to Fiji, Tonga, New Zealand and Australia.