Queen and Duke of Edinburgh Heading to Australia

Queen Elizabeth II and The Duke of Edinburgh are set to undertake their sixteenth official visit to Australia in the tail end of October, as was announced by Buckingham Palace and the Australian Prime Minister’s office this week.

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The purpose of the visit is for the Queen to open the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), which will be held in Perth beginning on October 26th. The meeting will run until October 30th, with the Queen and the Duke departing Australia the day before.

The royal couple will arrive in Canberra on October 19th, and will spend one day in each Brisbane (on the 24th) and Melbourne (the 26th), before flying out to Perth. Their last visit to Western Australia, of which Perth is the capital, was in 2000. The Queen was last in Australia in 2006, when she opened the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games.

The Australian media is speculating that this visit will be the Queen’s last visit to Australia, as she is now 85 and the Duke 90. Buckingham Palace will release an itinerary in the coming week.

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1. Possible Visit to Australia in 2010 in the Works for Prince William
2. Round Up of Queen Elizabeth II & The Duke of Edinburgh’s Events, October 28-November 5
3. The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh Make University Visit
4. Queen Elizabeth To Contribute To Help Australia’s Wildfire Victims
5. The Duke of Edinburgh Back in Action at Sandringham