When Will Prince George Carry Out His First Solo Engagement
Prince George is third in line for the British throne, which means that much of his future is already set. Prince William and Kate Middleton’s eldest child will one they be King, which is quite the responsibility to have to bear, but mom and dad have done their best to provide a normal childhood for the young prince and ease him into the role he is expected to fill.
As he will grow older he will be more and more in the spotlight. This can be a hard thing to navigate, but thankfully he has his father Prince William to guide him through it, as he has grown up in the same, if not a harsher, spotlight and has managed to somehow balance his personal and public life.
One of the more important moments and a milestone for any royal is their first-ever solo engagement. There is no set rule on when a royal must do this, but if we look back at what other royals have done, for example, his father, we might get an approximate idea of what to expect.
Prince William had his first solo engagement back in 2005 when he was 23 years old. The young Prince was invited to join the British and Irish Lions rugby team on their tour to New Zealand. He went on an 11-day stay there, all the while representing the Queen at events to commemorate the end of the Second World War.
It was quite the event, with British and New Zealand reporters in Wellington forming a 50-strong media contingent at the city’s airport as Prince William touched down on a commercial flight from Auckland at about 8 in the morning. Even then Prince William had his fans, as there were also tons of excited well-wishers that came out early in the morning to see the Prince, among them three students from Christchurch’s St Andrew’s College, who managed to get the Prince’s attention as he walked past – William had graduated from Scotland’s St Andrew’s University with an art degree just one week prior. According to an onlooker, the royal said “awesome” as the students shouted the name of their college.
This, however, wasn’t his first visit to New Zealand. He had previously gone there back in 1983 as a nine-month-old with his mother, Princess Diana, and father Prince Charles.
Coincidentally, Prince Harry also had his first-ever solo engagement at 23, when he paid a visit to Cardiff’s University Hospital. The crowds gathered there gave him a very warm welcome, as well as his first-ever major public encounter as a local mother pressed her sleeping baby girl into his arms.
Prince George was only two years old when he carried out his first official engagement in the UK, attending the Royal International Air Tattoo. His father William, however, was eight years old when he joined his parents Prince Charles and Princess Diana on a visit to Cardiff.