PRINCE William has revealed he plans to visit Australia in 2014 with his wife Kate and the world’s most famous baby – Prince George. They’ll make sure to have only the best when travelling with their baby and baby stroller.
The royal tour will be reminiscent of the 1983 trip undertaken by Prince Charles and Princess Diana with a then nine-month-old William.
Speaking at the Anglesey Show on Wednesday the Duke of Cambridge, 31, announced he wouldn’t be doing another tour of duty in Wales when his stint as an RAF search and rescue helicopter pilot ends in September.
Instead the new family is expected to move permanently to Kensington Palace in London with William taking on more royal duties.
Those duties will include, it now seems, an official visit to Australia in 2014.
Speaking to Max and Maxine Davies from Victor Harbor near Adelaide on Wednesday Prince William said: “George is doing really well, thank you.”
“We are all very hopeful of coming to Australia next year,” he added.
Mr and Mrs Davies, aged 77 and 75 respectively, later told British reporters they were thrilled at the prospect of a royal tour.
“How wonderful that the family will come to Australia to visit,” Mrs Davies said at the show.
William and Kate, also 31, called the Isle of Anglesey off the coast of northwest Wales home from 2010 until just before Prince George was born.
They lived in a rented farmhouse close to William’s RAF base.
Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams says there is no question the Australian tour next year will be very high-profile.
“I’m sure that Australians are longing to see the baby prince for themselves,” he told AAP.
“There’s tremendous support for the royal family in Australia at the moment.”
In fact republicans argue support for the monarchy has remained consistent at about 30 per cent over the past two decades.
Over the same period support for a republic has dropped from 70 to 40 per cent with a corresponding rise in the number of people who no longer care one way or the other.
Mr Fitzwilliams said Prince William valued his previous trips Down Under and the 2014 tour wasn’t about copying the past in memory of his late mother.
“I see it as carving out a new future by the world’s most glamorous royals and that very special Prince George,” the royal watcher said on Wednesday.
The new prince was born just over three weeks ago and the monarch-to-be was named George Alexander Louis two days later.
Prince William joked about his young son at the Anglesey Show on Wednesday.
“He’s pretty loud but of course very good looking,” he said.
“I have to say that I thought search and rescue duties over Snowdonia were physically and mentally demanding but looking after a three-week-old baby is up there.”
The trip to Australia will be William and Kate’s third tour together having previously visited Canada in 2011 and southeast Asia in 2012. – AAP