The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s tour dates for their 16-day trip to Australia have been revealed, according to news.com.au .
Prince Harry and his wife Meghan will visit the continent in October. During their trip, they will visit Sydney, Melbourne, Dubbo, and Fraser Island.
The details of their tour have been released by Kensington Palace, indicating that the tour has been planned to coincide with the 2018 installment of the Invictus Games, which take place in Sydney this year. They will also be visiting three other countries in the Pacific.
Their Australian tour will start in Sydney on October 16, but will quickly move on to Dubbo, a small country town in the state of New South Wales, on October 17. Following that, they will head to Melbourne, Victoria, for a day on October 18.
From October 19-21, they will return to Sydney for events relating to the games, with the opening ceremony being held on October 20. The Invictus Games is an “international sporting event for injured and ill veterans,” which was founded by Prince Harry.
Once their duties at the Invictus Games are complete, they will travel to Fraser Island, Queensland, on October 22. There they will bear witness to a finished Queen’s Canopy project. The program seeks to restore rain forest areas across the Commonwealth territories.
The Prince is a Commonwealth youth ambassador, and he and Meghan will probably work in visits to community groups that work with youngsters.
Find out more about The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Autumn Tour ???????? here: https://t.co/7nLKIKrOM3
— The Prince and Princess of Wales (@KensingtonRoyal) September 10, 2018
“The programme across these four Commonwealth countries will focus on youth leadership, environmental and conservation efforts — including the dedication of several new Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy projects — and the recovery and rehabilitation of servicemen and women through the Invictus Games Sydney 2018,” a spokesperson said last night.
The couple will also head to Fiji and Tonga before they return to Sydney for the Games’ closing ceremony on October 27. Following that, they will head to Wellington, New Zealand.
Kensington Palace last night stated that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had been invited to Australia and New Zealand by the countries’ respective governments, and they decided to add Fiji and Tonga to their tour “at the request of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in the UK.”
It is Meghan and Harry’s first major international tour together following their May 19 wedding at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle. Their first overseas trip took place in July when they traveled to Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Hundreds of journalists and photographers from England are also expected to head over to Australia to capture the tour.
Royal aides based in Australia have been planning the couple’s tour for weeks already and have also provided plenty of opportunities within the tour schedule for members of the public to meet Meghan and Harry. Precise details of these opportunities have not been released yet.