WILLS, KATE AND CHILDREN ‘TO TOUR OZ NEXT YEAR’
TALKS are under way to send the Prince and Princess of Wales – and their family – on an official tour Down Under next year, Australia’s prime minister has confirmed.
Anthony Albanese said that a royal visit is on the cards for William and Kate – and it is hoped that they will bring their children George, Charlotte and Louis, probably during the school holidays.
Discussions on when the new King will make his first official visit to Australia as head of state have not begun. Mr Albanese told ITV: ‘There have been some preliminary discussions about the now Prince and Princess of Wales visiting Australia. And of course
‘Always welcome in Australia’
the royal family have always been welcome visitors here in Australia and they would be again.’
The last time William and Kate visited Australia was in 2014. They took along nine-month-old Prince George, whose popularity was such that he was dubbed the ‘republican slayer’.
Asked if that status made him ‘nervous’ to extend the invitation to the couple’s children, Mr Albanese said the young royals were more than welcome. ‘I think I would hope that if they visit, they bring their children with them,’ he added. Mr Albanese, who will meet the King this weekend ahead of Monday’s funeral, has not ruled out holding a referendum on the republic if he is re-elected. But he said it was ‘inappropriate’ to discuss it while commemorating the Queen.
The prince and princess had planned to visit Australia in the wake of the country’s devastating January 2020 bushfires but had to cancel due to the pandemic.