Next month Prince William and Kate Middleton will spend three weeks exploring Australia and New Zealand, along with their young son Prince George. The family will attend a ceremonial welcome in Wellington and will join in with the ANZAC Day march and service in Canberra.
Prince George will be just eight months old when he makes the journey in early April, echoing Prince William’s first visit with his parents Prince Charles and Princess Diana, when he was aged just nine months. William was last here three years ago offering support following the natural disasters in Victoria and Queensland and the earthquake in Christchurch. This will be Kate’s very first visit to Australia and New Zealand.
The trip will coincide with Easter, and will run from 7 to 25 April 2014. The couple will visit war memorials to commemorate the centenary of the start of World War I, local academies and schools and the Blue Mountains, where families were affected by severe bushfires last year.
New Zealand
The trip will begin on 7 April in Wellington, New Zealand with a welcoming ceremony at Government House. The couple will also attend a war memorial service at Blenheim, meet members of the Whenuapai air force in Auckland and also participate in a yacht race – pitting the couple against each other! This is followed by a visit to the Pacific Aerospace in Waikato by William, whilst Kate visits a local children’s hospice. William and Kate will also attend a Palm Sunday service in Dunedin and then experience a ride onboard the adrenalin-fuelled Shotover Jet in Queenstown. A visit to the Rippa Rugby festival and witnessing Christchurch’s rebuilding is also on the itinerary.
Australia
Onto Australia and the Duke and Duchess will receive an official welcome at the Sydney Opera House on 16 April. There follows a visit to the Blue Mountains, the Royal Easter Show in Sydney and RAAF Amberley in Brisbane. The couple will attend the Easter Sunday church service in Sydney, will take in Uluru (Ayer’s Rock), Adelaide, Canberra before concluding the visit on 25 April with an attendance at the ANZAC Day March and Service at Canberra’s Australian War Memorial.
Image credit, 2: Brian Gratwicke via Wikipedia CC-A-2.0
