Buckingham Palace has confirmed that, come October, King Charles and Queen Camilla are headed to Oceania—but, instead of their planned four country stop to Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, and Samoa, the couple will just be visiting Australia and Samoa, Hello reports.
The King and Queen will visit Australia at the invitation of the Australian government, and will feature royal engagements in the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales; their state visit to Samoa “will celebrate the strong bilateral relationship between the Pacific Island nation and the U.K.,” Hello writes.
A Palace spokesperson said of the visit—Charles’ first international trip since announcing his cancer diagnosis in February—that “The King’s doctors have advised that a further extension to Their Majesties’ trip should be avoided at this time to prioritize His Majesty’s continued recovery. As with all His Majesty’s recent engagements, his program in both countries will be subject to doctors’ advice, and any necessary modifications on health grounds.”
Hello reports that this visit will be the first trip Down Under by a reigning monarch since 2011, when Queen Elizabeth visited for what would be her final time. Charles and Camilla last visited Australia in 2018, when they represented Her late Majesty at the Commonwealth Games there.
Including travel time, the King and Queen will be away for 10 days—though the trip was originally intended to be closer to three weeks, The Daily Beast reports.
“There has been a lot of debate in the Palace about how much Charles should be doing,” a source told the outlet. “There are plenty of people who think a long haul foreign tour is unwise when you have cancer. But ultimately the decisions are coming from the top, and the problem is he knows that if he doesn’t do a trip to Australia as King now, it will probably never happen.”
The trip is critical for the monarchy’s relationship with Australia, as the country “is a very important country to him,” a friend said. “It’s no secret that there are Republican rumblings Down Under, and he wants to do everything he can to keep the Aussies on board. But it’s clear he wouldn’t be going unless he was on the mend and his doctors thought he could handle it. It’s a hugely encouraging sign.”
When pressed if cutting the New Zealand leg of the royal tour was a sign that the King was still struggling with his health, the friend said “I think that would be a churlish interpretation. He has been very open about having cancer. It is absolutely plain to see that he is doing really well. It’s very sad about New Zealand, but I think it’s just the reality of trying to work while being treated for cancer—you can’t do everything.”
