Doting parents Kate and William plan entire Aussie tour around the needs of little Prince George
DOTING royal parents William and Kate have organised their Australian tour to allow them to bath and put baby Prince George to bed almost every night.
DOTING royal parents William and Kate have organised their Australian tour to allow them to bath and put baby Prince George to bed almost every night.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have arranged the entire three-week tour of Australia and New Zealand around the needs of their nine-month-old son.
British royal correspondent Katie Nicholl, author of Kate The Future Queen, said: “There is enormous interest in this tour because it is the world’s first real chance to get a good look at Prince George.”
But while his parents will be busy shaking hands, Prince George will be safely tucked up with his new Spanish “super nanny” inside Admiralty House in Kirribilli.
“They will need to baby proof the lower shelves because he is at the age that he is into everything,” said Tresillian Wollstonecraft centre manager Marie Clifford.
Australian child care experts have written to Admiralty House providing their contact details in case Kate has trouble settling Prince George into his new surroundings.
Ms Clifford backed the Cambridge’s decision to bring their son on the tour.
“This is the peak time for attachment for a baby and they really do not want to be separated from the important people in their lives. If they are it can lead to them feeling insecure later in life,” she said.
Royal biographer Claudia Joseph, author of Kate: The Making Of A Princess, said: “Times have changed dramatically since the Queen and Prince Philip embarked on their first Commonwealth tour shortly after her coronation in 1953. It was 10 days after Prince Charles’ fifth birthday but he was left at home in England with the nanny.
“Thirty years later Princess Diana broke with royal protocol when she took Prince William with her and Prince Charles on a six-week tour of Australia and New Zealand in 1983. Now, 30 years later, William is showing he is his mother’s son by refusing to be separated from baby George.
“He and Kate will spend only two nights away from their son in the entire trip.”
Unlike other royal trips which move from city to city, this tour has been designed on a hub-and-spoke model, to allow the royal couple to get home to Prince George each night. The royals will be based at the Governor-General’s residences in Sydney and Canberra with each day’s activities starting and returning to the same spot.
The couple will spend only one night away from Prince George while in Australia — at a romantic luxury campsite at Uluru in Central Australia. The period of separation has been made easier because Kate is understood to have stopped breast feeding.
Prince George will be left in the hands of his “super nanny” Maria Teresa Turrion Borrallo, who comes from a society family in Madrid. The royal couple will also be backed up with an entourage of 14 people including press officers, Kate’s hairdresser and an orderly.
Despite enormous public pressure to show off the future king, William and Kate have not committed to taking the Prince on any of their tour visits.
“They are going to take it gently and see how he is on the day,” a tour official said.
But there are plenty of opportunities on the tour schedule that Prince George could enjoy in Sydney, including a trip to the Easter Show and a spell on Manly Beach for a nippers’ demonstration.
“If he is up to it they may take him along,” the official said.
The most likely time the Prince will be on show will be the opening of a Bilby enclosure in his name at Taronga Zoo on Easter Sunday.
| PRINCE GEORGE’S TYPICAL DAY AT ADMIRALTY HOUSE IN SYDNEY |
- Wake up 6am sharp with cry to be heard on passing Manly Ferry.
- Cuddle in bed with Mum and Dad, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
- Breakfast of Vegemite soldiers and soft boiled egg followed by soggy Weetbix.
- Wave bye bye to Mum and Dad from the safe arms of super nanny Maria Teresa Turrion Borrallo.
- Buggy ride around the gardens to watch the boats on the harbour.
- Snack of Australian sultanas and apricots.
- Rubbing eyes and crying as neighbour Mr Abbott calls over the fence. Time for two hour nap.
- Up for a major crawl and investigation of Admiralty House, opening drawers of rare ceramics and pulling into a standing position on priceless antique furniture.
- Lunch of kangaroo shaped pasta followed by Chocolate Paddle Pop with new Governor General and householder Sir Peter Cosgrove.
- Introduction to Australian culture on DVD – The Wiggles.
- Another two hour nap ready for Mum and Dad to return from a busy day with an Easter Show - Bag – fingers crossed it’s the Peppa Pig and George bag with the bucket and spade.
- Dinner of Australian steak, cut into strips, with chips.
- Bath, playing with Sir Peter’s fleet of model battleships and a new book – Kangaroo and Crocodile, My Big Book of Australian Animals.
- And bed at 7.30 as Mum and Dad doze off on the sofa.
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