Prince Harry cancels Amsterdam trip as royal birth nears
The Duke of Sussex has cancelled part of this trip to the Netherlands next week as he and Meghan await the arrival of their baby.
Prince Harry was due to be in Amsterdam on Wednesday and The Hague on Thursday as part of a two-day royal tour, even though his baby is due any day.
The Duchess of Sussex is several days overdue – her due date was last weekend – and the announcement of the Netherlands trip by Buckingham Palace earlier this week came as a surprise.
The event in The Hague is to mark the one-year anniversary until the 2020 Invictus Games.
The tournament for injured and sick military personnel and veterans was founded by Harry in 2014 – and it means a lot to him.
Harry will do everything he can to be able to attend the Invictus event on Thursday 9th May – but his team had concluded that Amsterdam the previous day was no longer possible due to logistical reasons.
Next week was shaping up to be a busy royal week; as well as a baby, which has attracted dozens of international camera crews to Harry and Meghan’s hometown of Windsor, Prince Charles and Camilla are due to fly to Germany on an important diplomatic trip.
The four-day royal tour to Berlin, Leipzig and Munich is vital for the Foreign Office at a time when Britain is trying to secure its exit from the European Union.
Charles and Camilla will hold important, but private, talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Prince will make a speech in which he is expected to talk about UK-German relations.
The royals are often used to reach out, diplomatically to other countries, in a way in which politicians can’t.
Royal news is dominated by the arrival of a baby, but other members of the Royal Family, including the new grandpa-to-be, will be fulfilling their role as ambassadors and diplomats at a very sensitive political time in the Brexit negotiations.