Big way Kate Middleton will treat royal tours differently to late Queen
Kate, the Princess of Wales, has learnt the lessons of the late Queen when it comes to royal tours, an expert has claimed.
Senior royals are said to be readying themselves for two years of worldwide trips in a "soft democracy" blitz. King Charles, Queen Camilla, Prince William and Kate are reportedly hoping to thaw relations with a number of Commonwealth countries that have been drifting away from the bloc in recent years.
The tour also raises the chance of the Wales’ bringing Prince George, ten, Charlotte, eight, and five-year-old Louis with them. However, Kate is apparently keen to avoid disrupting her three children's lives.
Charlotte Griffiths, the Mail on Sunday's editor-at-large, says that the Princess will cut down her time abroad as much as possible, and avoid going away for six months at a time like Queen Elizabeth II did.
Kate is apparently keen to avoid disrupting her three children's lives (AP)She told Palace Confidential: "Kate will nip out but probably won't stay for any more than three or four days at a time." The royal commentator continued: "She puts her kids first and never wants to disrupt their school term."
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"She wants them to have as normal a life as possible, and not do what Charles had to live through as a little boy which was not seeing his mum for six months at a time because she jetted off. Arguably, the Queen didn't do a very good job at finding that balance between royal tours and family. Charles was deeply affected by being separated from his mum."
Since becoming king Charles hasn’t visited one of the Commonwealth countries, having only made a single state visit to Germany in March. But a palace source told the Mail: “State visits are back in business.”
It was also suggested that senior royals have been left frustrated at the glacial pace of the government in approving said visits. They are decided by the Foreign Office and Royal Visits Committee. After a forced rescheduling of a visit to France earlier this year due to riots, the King and Queen are reportedly looking to reschedule it for September.
Then next year Charles is said to be intending to visit Samoa when it hosts a Commonwealth heads of government meeting. It was previously reported that the King and Queen will also travel to Kenya later this year. Whilst Kenya does not recognise the monarch as head of state it is thought to be an important part of the Commonwealth.
King Charles and Camilla in Brecon, Wales last week (Getty Images)Alongside that, William and Kate are expected to visit Singapore in the autumn - another Commonwealth nation. Historian Ian Lloyd said the trips needed to capitalise on what he claimed was "global interest in the Coronation." He added: "They need to do this soon before that interest wanes – and taking the Waleses’ children would prove to be a PR triumph too."
Recent decades have been marked by the royals watching more and more Commonwealth countries walk away. Whereas the late Queen was once head of state of 31 nations, today there are only 14 with a number planning to walk away.
Just last week, the Australian state of Victoria junked hosting the Commonwealth Games because of mountain costs and a lack of tangible benefits from them. The 2026 games could now face the axe after the costs tripled over the estimated £1.3 billion budget.
Similarly, Jamaica’s prime minister Andrew Holness recently confirmed plans that he wanted to cut colonial ties with the Commonwealth. He admitted that red tape and a lengthy “period of public education and consultation” were slowing down the process to give the crown the boot.
Other nations like Antigua and Barbuda could also break away, with their prime minister Gaston Browne telling the visiting Earl of Wessex last year that Britain should pay reparations for its “atrocities”.
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