Major update about King’s visit to Australia and the Pacific

This year’s royal tour may look a little different to what King Charles hoped, after his doctors advised him to scale back his enthusiasm for his visit Down Under.

This year’s royal tour may look a little different to what King Charles hoped, after his doctors advised him to scale back his enthusiasm for his visit Down Under.

The King, 75, is still undergoing weekly cancer treatments and only returned to public duties in April, however, he plans to visit the Pacific in October on his first tour as monarch.

It’s understood he and Queen Camilla will still visit Australia, although it will be scaled back to just six days, according to a new report from London tabloid The Mirror.

King Charles and Queen Camilla arrive at Ascot on June 21. Picture: Getty Images

The royal couple is also expected to spend three days in Samoa for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, however, they are likely to postpone a planned visit to New Zealand.

“It will be a bitter disappointment on both sides,” an insider said.

“But of course all are aware of the King’s ongoing health and the need for him to pace himself. It’s very much hoped there will be further opportunities in the future.”

Sources say the King has vowed to “make up for lost time” when he is well.

Buckingham Palace is yet to comment on the reports.

The King travelled to France for a D-Day ceremony on June 6. Picture: AFP

The tour will mark the first time a sovereign has visited Australia since Queen Elizabeth II visited in 2011. The late monarch, then aged 85, and her husband Prince Philip, then 90, visited Canberra, Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth as part of a “farewell tour”.

Charles has visited Australia 16 times, making 15 official visits as the Prince of Wales as well as a stint at Geelong Grammar’s Timbertop campus as a student in 1966.

His last visit to Australia was as the Prince of Wales in 2018. Picture: AAP/Getty Images

Three of those visits have been with wife Camilla, including his most recent visit which included the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in 2018.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Harry and Meghan, visited the same year as part of a major tour through Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga.

Originally published as Major update about King’s visit to Australia and the Pacific