Royal Family sets sights on return to normality with more overseas tours after a 'brutal' 2024 - following Kate Middleton and King Charles's cancer diagnoses
- It has been a hard year for the royals, who have limited their international visits
- READ MORE: Queen Camilla matches with Kate Middleton as royals wear nearly identical outfits for Christmas Day church service in Sandringham
The Royal Family are looking to return to their usual schedules by undertaking more oversea tours in 2025 - after going through a challenging year.
The Princess of Wales, 42, is expected to continue her gradual return to public duties with more appearances, after she announced that she completed her chemotherapy in September.
Just a week after her birthday, Kate was admitted to the London Clinic in January for planned abdominal surgery.
She spent nearly two weeks there, after undergoing her operation, and was recuperating at home when she discovered she had cancer and told the public of her diagnosis in March.
The mother-of-three has limited her royal duties this year and has not taken part in an official foreign visit for more than 14 months.
But things seem to be looking up, as Prince William, 42, suggested they could carry out an overseas tour together during his recent visit to Cape Town.
He said at the time: 'I think hopefully Catherine will be doing a bit more next year, so we'll have some more trips maybe lined up.'
The couple attended the Rugby World Cup in France in September 2023, and the Crown Prince of Jordan's wedding in June 2023, and travelled to Boston in the US for the Earthshot Awards in December 2022.
The Prince and Princess of Wales, pictured together, attend Crown Prince of Jordan's wedding in June 2023
But before that, their last major overseas trip was a platinum jubilee tour to Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas in March 2022, nearly three years ago.
Kate was seen yesterday alongside her children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, as she arrived for the annual Christmas Day service at Sandringham Church.
The princess was engaging with the public, beaming as she chatted to well-wishers who queued up to catch a glimpse of the royals on their festive outing.
The Princess of Wales turns 43 on January 9, with the Waleses likely to celebrate the occasion, as they try to put a 'brutal' 2024 behind them.
William has set out his hopes for his future role in the monarchy, saying he was trying to do things 'differently' and wanted to be a prince for his 'generation', carrying out his duties with a 'smaller r in the royal'.
King Charles is also looking ahead, as a senior Buckingham Palace official said he will return to regular overseas trips in 2025 as he adapts to living with cancer.
King Charles and Queen Camilla are snapped during a visit to the Samoan Cultural Village in Apia in October this year
On Christmas Day, the monarch filmed his festive message to the nation in a former hospital chapel in London, where he candidly admitted to the 'uncertainties and anxieties of illness'.
He said: 'From a personal point of view, I offer special, heartfelt thanks to the selfless doctors and nurses who, this year, have supported me and other members of my family through the uncertainties and anxieties of illness, and have helped provide the strength, care and comfort we have needed.
'I am deeply grateful, too, to all those who have offered us their own kind words of sympathy and encouragement.'
The King, who is still undergoing treatment, will fly abroad during the spring and autumn, the traditional periods for official foreign royal trips, provided doctors sanction the travel.
The development emerged at the end of the King's recent tour of Australia and Samoa with the Queen, which was described as the 'perfect tonic' for him.
The palace official added: 'We're now working on a pretty normal looking full overseas tour programme for next year, which is a high for us to end on, to know that we can be thinking in those terms.'
His treatment is said to be moving in a positive direction and, as a managed condition, his cycle of outpatient appointments will continue into 2025.
Among the expected trips is a poignant visit to Auschwitz in Poland to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camp on January 27.
Kate and her husband Prince William are pictured with their children George, Louis and Charlotte on Christmas Day
King Charles and Queen Camilla are snapped walking around Sandringham on Christmas Day this year
Charles, who is patron of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, commissioned portraits, unveiled in 2022, of some of the nation's last remaining Holocaust survivors as a reminder of the horrors of the Nazi regime.
Camilla travelled to Poland for the 75th anniversary in 2020.
The King and Queen could also carry out a tour to India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, with the Mirror reporting that plans are being drafted.
Other commemorations the King and Royal Family will be involved in include the 80th anniversary of VE Day (Victory in Europe) on May 8 and VJ Day (Victory over Japan Day) on August 15.
VE Day celebrates the day Britain and its Allies formally accepted Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender during the Second World War.
Beacons and lamp lights of peace will be lit in the evening, reminiscent of celebrations that took place across the country in 1945.
Five years ago, on the 75th anniversary of VE Day in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the late Queen delivered a televised address to the nation during lockdown, saying: 'Never give up, never despair - that was the message of VE Day.'
March 23 marks five years since then-prime minister Boris Johnson announced the first lockdown in the UK, ordering people to 'stay at home' as the Covid virus spread.
Charles will be expected to send a message to US president-elect Donald Trump ahead of his January 20 inauguration, and Mr Trump could receive an invitation to visit the King in the UK in the wake of his political comeback.
Traditional royal highlights in the year ahead range from Trooping the Colour and incoming state visits, to the Order of the Garter procession and Royal Ascot.
