William and Kate visited Australia in 2014 with Prince George
(Picture: PA Wire)The Prince and Princess of Wales could tour Australia next year as part of a Commonwealth charm offensive by the royal family.
It is reported that William and Kate are considering taking the trip during school holidays next Easter so they can take their three children, George, Charlotte and Louis, with them. Buckingham Palace is said to be considering plans for royal family members to travel as widely as possible in the Commonwealth following the Queen’s death and King Charles’s ascension to the throne.
William and Kate toured Australia in 2014 with a baby Prince George. They were due to return there in 2020 but the visit was cancelled due to the Covid pandemic. Details of the revised trip are expected to be discussed with the new Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese when he arrives in London for the Queen’s state funeral.
Other Commonwealth leaders are also likely to be approached as details for the major charm offensive are firmed up.
Countries where Charles is now King in addition to the UK — and which could receive a royal visit — include The Bahamas, Canada, New Zealand, Jamaica and Saint Lucia.
The prospect of planning a coronation means a planned trip that the new King and Queen Consort had been due to take next month to a Commonwealth country is now not likely to go ahead.
But it is understood the King is keen to visit Australia as early as he can, with visits to other parts of the Commonwealth also in the early stages of planning.
Royal insiders insist the visits will not be an attempt to repeat the epic half-year-long tour of the Commonwealth carried out by the late Queen and Prince Philip in 1953 shortly after she came to the throne, when the couple visited 13 countries in six months.
