Everything to know about Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s 2019 royal tour to Africa

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28th Jun 2019

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have officially announced they will be undertaking a royal tour to southern Africa in the UK autumn (Australia’s spring) this year. The royal couple have confirmed their baby son, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, will be accompanying them on the tour.

The couple made the official announcement on their Instagram account, @sussexroyal, posting a throwback picture of themselves from a previous event looking delighted and excited. The accompanying caption reflected that sentiment along with outlining which countries the couple will visit and the news that Archie will be going along. 

Read on for all the details to know about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s 2019 tour to Africa.

Yes. Reports a royal tour to Africa was in the works surfaced in early June and the couple confirmed the rumours in the most modern way, by way of a post on Instagram (see below).

 

Yes. The couple’s Instagram tour announcement includes a very sweet sentence at the bottom confirming baby Archie will be travelling with his mum and dad to Africa. “This will be their first official tour as a family!”

According to the Instagram post they will visit South Africa together, with Prince Harry taking solo trips to Malawi, Angola and Botswana.

No exact date as yet, but per the social media post, it will be sometime in the UK autumn (Australia’s spring). Meghan Markle is reportedly returning from maternity leave in late September/early October, so the tour will presumably be sometime in October/November.

This timing appears to be a traditional time for royal tours to take place — in October 2018, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle embarked on their first major royal tour together since becoming husband and wife, visiting Australia, New Zealand, Tonga and Fiji.

Prince Harry’s brother, Prince William, and sister-in-law, Kate Middleton, are also reportedly set to undertake a royal tour of Asia in the UK autumn of this year.

Much has been made about Meghan Markle’s influential style and her royal tour wardrobe last year proved the important role fashion plays in a royal tour. Markle wore a number of local Australian and New Zealand designers on the 2018 royal tour, catapulting those designers and brands onto the global fashion stage. 

Markle’s tour wardrobe for this tour is set to be another noteworthy entry into the fashion history books.

Prince Harry has long had a place in his heart for Africa and the couple also have a very special connection to the region. 

Prince Harry’s beloved late mum, Princess Diana, was a passionate supporter of the land clearing organization, HALO Trust, and visited Angola in this capacity just prior to her death. According to Vanity Fair Prince Harry is on a “mission” to continue Princess Diana’s work with the organisation and visited Angola in 2013 to learn about the organisation’s work. Per the official announcement on Instagram, he will again visit Angola on this trip.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle spent time in Botswana when they were first falling in love, getting to know each other without the prying long lenses of the paparazzi. In a touching nod to the place they fell in love, Prince Harry sourced a number of diamonds in Meghan Markle’s engagement ring from the country.

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