Prince William and his wife the Duchess of Cambridge, née Kate Middleton, will carry out their first joint engagement since their return from the royal tour of Australia and New Zealand last month. The Duke and Duchess will travel to Scotland on Thursday 29 May where they have a busy day planned for them. William and Kate, who are known as the Earl and Countess of Strathearn there, will be visiting Strathearn, Perth and Kinross located in the central area of the country.
© Photo: Getty ImagesPrince William and Kate on their royal tour of Australia last month
The pair will tour the Famous Grouse distillery and will meet young people at the Strathearn Community Campus in Crieff.
They will also unveil a plaque dedicated to the newly restored MacRosty Park as a Field in Trust, and they will visit a fete in Fortevoit.
The last time the couple travelled to Scotland in an official capacity was in April of last year, when they accompanied William's father Prince Charles to East Ayrshire. At the time, Kate was pregnant with her first child and third-in-line to the throne Prince George. It was also then that she revealed to a well-wisher that she wanted to keep the sex of her unborn baby a surprise. "We don't have any names and we don't know what it is," she told a mother in the crowd.
© Photo: Getty ImagesPrince William and a tartan-clad Kate last visited Scotland on a royal engagement in April 2013
Kate was tasked with opening the new Tamar Manoukian Outdoor Centre at Dumfries House alongside her husband and father-in-law. The trio stayed overnight in Scotland and had a jam-packed schedule of events, some of which they carried out without Prince Charles, who is known as Duke of Rothesay in the northern country. Other engagements during their trip last year included a visit to Glasgow's Emirates Arena, a facility for young homeless people and the Quarriers Stopover Project.
© Photo: Getty ImagesKate and Prince William at St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh in 2012
Scotland will no doubt hold a special place in William and Kate's hearts as they first met at the University of St Andrews in Fife. The couple became friends as they both studied History of Art, with William later changing to Geography, but nevertheless their royal romance blossomed. Along with other members of the British royal family, the Duke and Duchess often spend quality time up north, with the Queen at her residence in Aberdeenshire — Balmoral Castle. They also attended Zara Phillips' wedding to Mike Tindall in the Scottish capital of Edinburgh in 2011, and the following year, they travelled up again when Kate watched William earn the title of Knight of the Thistle from the Queen at St Giles Cathedral.
