A few days ago, Kensington Palace confirmed that Prince William and Kate would travel to Scotland for their 14th wedding anniversary, which is next week. Scotland is where their relationship began, at St. Andrews, although William made Kate wait around for the ring for years after they graduated. There’s something that feels very forced about this announced trip too, especially given William’s conspicuous move to hire his mother’s divorce attorneys. It feels like someone yanked his chain and made him agree to play his part in the two-day “happily married couple” skit. Well, it looks like Kensington Palace is going to milk this for all its worth – they’ve released additional details about the trip, including Will and Kate’s plans to stay at an isolated cottage overnight. Hm.

The Prince and Princess Wales will celebrate their 14th wedding anniversary next week in romantic style – at an isolated self-catering cottage for two on the Isle of Mull in Scotland. The couple, who walked down the aisle at Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011, are visiting the Scottish Isles as part of a two-day visit to highlight their resilient local communities, as well as the wild natural beauty of the region.

They will arrive on Tuesday and undertake a number of engagements in picturesque Tobermory – made famous by the hit children’s show Balamory – visiting a community hub and an artisan market. Kate and William will also visit a local Croft to learn about sustainable farming and hospitality.

But as part of their efforts to highlight the importance of the self-sustaining economy in the Inner Hebrides they plan to rent a house for the night on the island, it can be revealed. The couple are both more at home in the countryside than anywhere else, making it the perfect way, say sources, for them to also celebrate their first wedding anniversary since Catherine, 43, revealed she was in remission from cancer. The couple have endured what William, 42, last autumn described as a ‘brutal’ year, making their time away even more precious.

A royal source explained that the tourism industry contributes ‘significantly to the economy of the Isles’, which see hundreds of thousands of people visit every year, adding that the Prince and Princess are looking forward to ‘showing their support for the islands with their stay’.

Known as the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay – and Lord and Lady of the Isles – William and Catherine will be visiting both the Isles of Mull and Iona. It is their first visit to the Inner Hebrides, which Their Royal Highnesses have been keen to visit for some time, it is understood.

A source said: ‘For The Duke and Duchess, this visit is all about the power of communities, and highlighting that by building stronger and better-connected communities we can perhaps build a steady path to more loving and compassionate society. What we will see on their visit to the Inner Hebrides is that we can learn powerful lessons from ways of life on Mull and Iona, specifically about how we reconnect with each other. The simpler way of life that these island communities enjoy, steeped in nature and built on strong person to person connections, offers a powerful model for transforming our own health and wellbeing, and in turn the communities within which we live.’

[From The Daily Mail]

The islands sound beautiful. If I was being paid millions of pounds a year, I would visit those beautiful Scottish islands constantly. You wouldn’t be able to make me stop visiting them. There are only 3000 people living on the Isle of Mull?? And Iona only has a population of about 130 people? And much of the local economy is tourism-based, as the article says. I actually hope that William and Kate give the islands a tourism-bump, but I have no idea if anyone actually cares enough? As for staying overnight in a cottage… lol. I would guess that they just didn’t feel like flying all the way back to London/Windsor on the same day.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.