Baby Archie will be accompanying his parents Prince Harry and Meghan on his first royal tour later this year – but turns out he won’t be able to stay for the whole trip.
After weeks of speculation that a royal tour was imminent for the Sussexes, it was finally confirmed this week that Harry and Meghan would be travelling to South Africa later this year.
The pair announced the exciting news of their upcoming trip with a post on Instagram, which mentioned this will be their first trip as a family – thus confirming that little Archie will indeed be joining mum and dad!
Harry and Meghan’s firstborn will only be four or five months old when he embarks on his first royal tour in autumn this year, which is younger than Prince George was when he joined William and Kate on his first tour at eight-months-old.
However, turns out little Archie won’t be staying for the whole trip. While he will be travelling with Harry and Meghan to South Africa, he will be coming back home to the UK with Meghan while Harry carries on with his official royal duties in Angola and Malawi.
The official statement read: ‘The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will undertake an official visit to South Africa this Autumn at the request of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
‘In addition, The Duke of Sussex will visit Angola and Malawi at the request of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
‘His Royal Highness will also undertake a working visit o Botswana while in the region.
While the statement did not provide an official answer as to why Archie and Meghan won’t be able to stay with Harry for the whole trip, it is thought that it could be due to the risk of malaria in the two countries.
Another reason could be a more extensive trip could be too tiring for both Meghan and Archie, given he will still be very young at the time of the trip.
However, we will still get to Harry and Meghan’s little one on tour - how exciting!
