King Charles ‘is planning Royal Family’s biggest ever global tour to kick off his reign’: Monarch ‘will visit Australia, New Zealand and the Caribbean in two-year blitz to shore up support for the Crown’ in echo of the Queen’s 1953 Commonwealth tour
- The King and Queen Consort are planning the Royal Family’s biggest-ever world tour over the next two years
- King Charles will visit dozens of countries, including Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa
- The royal couple will reportedly also visit France and Germany to help build relations in the post-Brexit era
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King Charles III will set off on the Royal Family’s biggest world tour in history to mark the start of his reign.
The King will visit Australia, New Zealand and several Commonwealth countries in the Caribbean.
The monarch is reported to be planning various domestic and foreign trips by himself, leaving Queen Consort Camilla to attend to her personal projects at home.
A two year-long tour of the globe will introduce the new King to the world and ‘extend a hand of friendship and support’, according to royal sources.
King Charles could visit as many nations as Queen Elizabeth did in the 1970s, when she travelled to 52 Commonwealth countries and 21 others to mark her Silver Jubilee.
Buckingham Palace is said to be considering trips to Australia and Canada ‘as soon as possible’. The King is also enthusiastic to visit at least a dozen other nations where he is the monarch.
The King and Queen Consort (pictured in Waitangi, New Zealand in 2019) will embark on the royals’ biggest-ever tour
Charles, then Prince of Wales, takes part in traditional Mexican clog dancing in Campeche in November 2014
The royal couple attend a reception in the small Caribbean nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis in 2019
Charles and Camilla arrive at Staubles Bay in Trinidad and Tobago as part of a royal tour of the Caribbean in March 2008
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip visit Addis Ababa in Ethiopia in 1965. The Queen made hundreds of royal trips during her historic reign
The King has toured dozens of Commonwealth countries over the years, including with Princess Diana in Australia in 1983
Diana, Princess of Wales and Charles stand in front of Ayers Rock, central Australia during their tour in 1983
William and Catherine, the Prince and Princess of Wales, will take a more senior role in the new monarchy. Pictured: The couple in Jamaica earlier this year
He has already visited 45 of the 56 Commonwealth countries while Prince of Wales – many on several occasions.
The King is reported to be ‘acutely aware’ that many of the Caribbean countries will be contemplating becoming republics during his visits.
Charles and Camilla could make their first state visit to South Africa as early as next month as preparations are made for their arrival.
A royal insider said: ‘The King and his family are keen to hit the ground running in these crucial first few months and years of his reign,’ according to The Mirror.
‘He certainly wants to carry on the long-held mantra from his late mother of being seen to be believed, and is very keen to get out and meet as many people as possible.’
The Foreign Office is also said to be planning to send the royal couple to European nations such as France and Germany to help build relations in the post-Brexit era.
The King and Queen Consort were originally planned to visit France next month, but this has been delayed until 2023.
Government officials in New South Wales this week revealed plans for a ‘much-anticipated’ royal tour in 2024 to coincide with the 200th anniversary of democracy in Australia, although sources suggest Prince William and Kate had also previously discussed plans for a tour Down Under in spring 2023.
King Charles and Queen Consort Camilla will visit dozens of countries, both inside and outside the Commonwealth, over the next two years
The royal couple pictured next to the Great Sphinx of Giza in Egypt during their tour of the Middle East in 2021
Charles and Camilla take part in celebrations in the village of Artiya, India in 2006 on another royal visit
The Prince and Princess of Wales are also said to be preparing to take on a greater support role as the Royal Family adjusts to life without the Queen.
William and Kate will visit the United States in the coming weeks to take part in the William’s Earthshot Prize environmental scheme.