One of the most curious parts of Kensington Palace’s January announcement about the Princess of Wales’s “planned abdominal surgery” was that the palace had not been acting as if they knew Kate would be out of commission and in the wind for months. In late December 2023, KP rushed to announce a planned tour of Italy for Prince William and Kate, a tour which was being loosely scheduled for March 2024. There were things on Kate’s schedule in the first months of the year, events which probably should have been canceled if Kate’s surgery had been planned, right? But the Italy tour was one of the biggest question marks. Why did they announce it? Why the rush to announce it? Well, long story short, the Italy trip has been taken away from Slumlord Willy and his wife. Now King Charles and Camilla plan to go to Italy next year.
The King and Queen will visit Italy for their first major tour of 2025, as Charles sets his sights on “making up for lost time”. The royal duo are planning a trip to Rome and hope to schedule an audience with the Pope at the Vatican. They will be travelling on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, representing the UK with a schedule designed to further the relationship between the two countries in a post-Brexit world.
Buckingham Palace last week announced following the royals’ successful tour of Australia and Samoa that the King is set to return to a “full programme” next year. Despite his ongoing cancer treatment, the monarch has been given the green light by royal doctors to start planning for the future, which has given him a huge boost.
Palace sources said the King will embark on a high-profile tour in the spring as well as a major royal tour in the autumn. All options would be subject to sign off by doctors at the time but palace officials say Charles is excited about the future plans. The tour could include a meeting between the King and Pope Francis, who at 87 has been head of the Catholic Church since 2013.
A royal source said: “The King is raring to go and incredibly positive about making plans for the future. Although in the early stages, a visit to Italy would provide a fantastic opportunity for the King and Queen to represent the UK and take in some of the incredible sites of one of our closest neighbours.” Another royal insider said the monarch was “keen to make up for lost time” given his ailments this year.
I would imagine that Italy would be the spring tour, then Charles probably hopes to go to (just my guess) Canada in Autumn 2025. The whole thing is so curious, Charles’s insistence on traveling even though he still has cancer, meanwhile Kate told everyone she was cancer-free in September and yet there’s zero expectation for Kate to even do a video-conference from home with a charity. Anyway, I saw that the Kate fans were mad that the Italy tour was taken away from Keen & Slumlord. I hope Kate fans understand that none of these people travel well – Will and Kate’s tours are clownshows and Charles and Camilla simply don’t have the charisma or juice.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.