It really does not look like the Princess of Wales will ever travel for work again. No more royal tours, no more overseas visits, no more day-trips to Denmark. Kate will travel, but only for pleasure. Only for vacations. Meanwhile, Prince William’s next solo overseas trip has just been announced. He’ll head to Estonia this month for a mostly military-themed visit.
The Prince of Wales will carry out a solo overseas trip to Estonia this month, in his role as Colonel-in-Chief of the Mercian Regiment. Prince William, 42, will travel to the country in northeastern Europe from Thursday 20 March to Friday 21 March to learn about how the regiment is bolstering NATO’s eastern flank as part of Operation Cabrit.
During the two-day visit, the future King will also carry out engagements in Tallinn to learn more about how the country has responded to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and how Estonia is innovating in renewable energy and technology.
William will begin the first day of his trip by meeting Alar Karis, President of Estonia – which has been prominent among those giving military equipment and political support to Ukraine.
He will also visit a school founded by the Ministry of Education and Research of Estonia in May 2022 to respond to the war in Ukraine, and the Prince will meet teachers from Ukraine to hear about their experiences at the school, and how they have helped students settle in Tallinn and looked after their mental wellbeing. William founded his Earthshot Prize to help recognise and scale-up solutions to repair the planet, and he will also attend an event to learn about renewable energy start-ups.
The following day will be spent at Tapa Army Base where William, a former Army officer, will meet Estonian soldiers and attend a handover ceremony as The Mercian Regiment takeover from The Royal Dragoon Guards.
I would imagine that this was something William was asked to do as part of the British concerns that Donald Trump is going to blow up the situation in Ukraine and leave Europe vulnerable to all kinds of Russian aggression. Plus, William simply doesn’t do enough with his military patronages, and he does look for any excuse to wear any uniform at any given time (take that, Harry!). Anyway, it sounds like a perfectly normal two-day tour. I wonder why no one expected Kate to go? If she can go to Mustique, surely she can go to Estonia.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- Britain’s Prince William, Prince of Wales reacts asm he meets residents in the garden during a visit to Millennium House in Poole, on the south coast of England on February 28, 2025 to unveil a new Homewards Activator partnership which will help to deliver new homes across the six Homewards locations. Millennium House is an 11-bed mental health supported housing scheme where residents are given their own support plan, tailored to their specific needs, to help get them to a place where they can live independently.,Image: 970138939, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: HENRY NICHOLLS/Avalon
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- Britain’s Prince William, Prince of Wales gestures during a visit to Millennium House in Poole, on the south coast of England on February 28, 2025 to unveil a new Homewards Activator partnership which will help to deliver new homes across the six Homewards locations. Millennium House is an 11-bed mental health supported housing scheme where residents are given their own support plan, tailored to their specific needs, to help get them to a place where they can live independently.,Image: 970139042, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: HENRY NICHOLLS/Avalon
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- Prince William listens to people speaking during a visit to the Mental Health Innovations (MHI), a charity established in 2017 by The Royal Foundation of The Prince and Princess of Wales, in London, Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, Pool),Image: 972874806, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Pool, *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Kin Cheung/Avalon
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- Prince William looks out of a window during a visit to the Mental Health Innovations (MHI), a charity established in 2017 by The Royal Foundation of The Prince and Princess of Wales, in London, Thursday, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, Pool),Image: 972874824, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Pool, *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Kin Cheung/Avalon
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- The Prince and Princess of Wales attend the annual Commonwealth Day Service of Celebration at Westminster Abbey, in London. Picture date: Monday March 10, 2025.,Image: 974325989, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Aaron Chown/Avalon
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- William – Prince Of Wales and Catherine – Princess of Wales depart a Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster Abbey, London, England, UK on Monday 10 March, 2025.,Image: 974330107, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Please credit photographer and agency when publishing as Justin Ng/UPPA/Avalon., Model Release: no, Credit line: Justin Ng/Avalon
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- Westminster, London, UK. 10th March 2025. Their Royal Highnesses, The Prince and Princess of Wales, attend a service for Commonwealth Day at Westminster Abbey.,Image: 974333847, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Supplied by AVALON – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: Photo by Amanda Rose/Avalon
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- WILLENHALL, ENGLAND – MARCH 11: Prince William, Prince of Wales joins a lesson and speaks with participants on the course to learn about the key skills involved in refereeing during an official visit to an FA Referee Training Course At Sporting Khalsa FC at Aspray Arena on March 11, 2025 in Willenhall, England. The Prince of Wales is patron of the Football Association, the visit to Khalsa FC is part of the FA’s Reflective and Representative campaign which aims to recruit 1,000 people from Black, Asian and mixed heritage backgrounds into refereeing roles.,Image: 974676336, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Chris Jackson/Avalon
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- WILLENHALL, ENGLAND – MARCH 11: Prince William, Prince of Wales waves the linesman’s flag during a mini football game on official visit to an FA Referee Training Course At Sporting Khalsa FC at Aspray Arena on March 11, 2025 in Willenhall, England. The Prince of Wales is patron of the Football Association, the visit to Khalsa FC is part of the FA’s Reflective and Representative campaign which aims to recruit 1,000 people from Black, Asian and mixed heritage backgrounds into refereeing roles.,Image: 974676906, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: *** NO UK USE FOR 48 HRS ***, Model Release: no, Credit line: Chris Jackson/Avalon
Holy crap! Will he go there and claim that he will end the Ukraine/Russia conflict? Because you know he was going to end homelessness and racism in football (not).
He’s suddenly looking old. It sounds like an important visit, I hope he is capable.
I agree – and given the sensitivity I am surprised Willi is being asked to go.
He looks like he has sunburns on his cheeks, while Kate looks like she never went on vacation. Hmm 🤔 were they even together for these vacations
I doubt they were together on vacation, but I do believe Kate went to Mustique. Her mom was there celebrating her birthday. One article mentioned a party for her.
Look at Willy’s people pushing the ‘future king’ angle. Cannot be content with being the heir, has to shove Charlie aside. Charles won’t be happy.
Maybe that is why this visit has been given to William (by Charles). So he can mess it up again like he did with his public fawning over the dumpster fire.
Military photo-ops for the Windsors for the rest of the month then.
The poor Estonians. What did they do to deserve Willie?
Visits like this do not happen unless the host country (i.e Estonia) has either invited the royal or has agreed that the visit should go ahead.
Estonia is the UK’s ally. Prince William isn’t allowed to just show up without checking with them first.
As for what Estonia gets out of it – sore needed attention at a time when some in the Baltic states feel vulnerable and ignored by the bigger European countries
So the Estonian government invited Willie specifically or did they ask Starmer to send a royal – any royal – over? Thought this would be more a Wessex thing.
Just checked – Estonia has participated in Invictus. Oh how different things could have been.
Edward was just there for a royal visit as well but nobody cared.
So William is just following in Edwards footsteps most likely with the push of the government because of the need for Europeans to support each other vs trump
If you look at countries that supported Ukraine in % of their gdp last year, Estonia is number 1.
Some people really underestimate the Baltic States and their commitment to resisting Russia.
This is the whole list:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1303450/bilateral-aid-to-ukraine-in-a-percent-of-donor-gdp/
So, I hope he will be diplomatic and respectful.
They know what Russia is like, they have lived under them before.
They won’t send Kate because they’re afraid she’ll jazz hands her way into a diplomatic snafu. She’s very good at doing that, y’know. (My cynicism level is very high these days.)
You’re not being cynical — you’re being pragmatic.
Kate can’t be trusted in sensitive situations.
If this trip is about NATO, Ukraine and the Mercian Regiment, then I don’t see how Kate would fit into it. It’s only 2 days and it’s not a state visit.
Yeah, it really doesn’t even seem like the type of visit that Kate would be expected to go on? Do I think she could be worked in? Maybe meeting the wife of the HOS, sure, but it doesn’t seem super necessary. That said, Im guessing Trump might do a thing at the Whitehouse for the uk bc he’ll want royalty to visit him and I’m guessing he’ll demand that Kate attend. So they may have to do some joint travel but that’s probably a ways off. William would just ignore Kate and chat up Ivanka as he did at the Jordan wedding iirc.
I think William does not want Kate to go on tours with him.
This is my take as well. It’s one thing when they meet up somewhere in public and spend 15 minutes to an hour with other people as a buffer, it’s a completely different thing to have to travel and spends days together.
Two scenarios and neither are good:
1. Her health is more fragile than they are saying publicly, which is awful and I hope is not the case.
2. She struck a deal to only be a part-time royal. Which is amazing because they did not allow Harry to do that, despite being the son of the king
She was not even ever a part time royal. She’s just lazy. I think she liked the attention of the tours but William wants her to stop accompanying him
3.formal separation looming ‘for her health’. We’ve seen him and his family sidelining her from big things since fall 2023.
Yes formal separation the negotiations are done. Don’t believe it has anything to with her health Peg is just done.
Seems like a strictly military related engagement so don’t think a spouse is needed. She would just be a tag-along and the host country would have to think of activities for her.
Why, we dont need him, we already had Harrys successful visit in 2014, even Chick visited us in 2001, year or so ago the invisible Edward was here. During difficult and trying times we need people who have actual power and not egghead who imitates actual work.
Just from looking at her it seems her health may be more worst than what they are saying.
She just looks like she is medicated. What I is don’t get is no one mentioning that scar that goes down her eye. You can really see it in some pics of her yesterday. She didn’t have that scar befor and now she has one. How did she get it?
This is just the sort of trip he should be making as heir. PoW as was worked hard at a full range of both UK and foreign engagements. If FK wants to be taken seriously then he has to do serious events not just attending football matches and celebrity filled film premieres. In short work from Monday to Friday on the full range of events plus weekend and evening duty of required.