William has responded to a request by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to visit the Middle Eastern states. He will be away from between December 1 to 4, leaving Kate to look after their three children Prince George, 6, Princess Charlotte, 4, and Prince Louis, 1. The Duchess will still be on official royal duty, as she prepares to attend a big state banquet and reception at Buckingham Palace on December 3.
The reception will be hosted by Queen Elizabeth for NATO leaders and their partners to mark the 70th anniversary of the military alliance.
Formed in 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation was founded in the wake of WWII, and now encompasses 29 member states from North America and Europe.
Donald Trump and his wife Melanie will be among the world leaders attending the banquet, for what will be their second visit this year to the Palace.
Earlier this year in June, her Majesty hosted a special reception for the US President, while he was on a state visit to the UK.
The Royal Family will be represented at the event by Prince Charles, the Duchess of Cornwall, the Earl of Wessex, the Princess Royal, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and Princess Alexandra.
However, Meghan and Harry will be conspicuous by their absence, as they continue to enjoy their six week sabbatical from royal engagements.
They are planning to spend some quality time with their son Archie, and intend to spend the uS holiday Thanksgiving with Meghan’s mum Doria Ragland.
The original plan was to fly to the US to mark the holiday, but speculation has grown that the royal couple will stay in Windsor and fly Ms Ragland to the UK.
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This will be the second time that the Duchess of Sussex has avoided a meeting with Donald Trump.
Meghan skipped the state reception in June, as she was still recuperating from giving birth to Archie.
The Duchess is not a big fan of the US President and there is certainly no love lost between them.
The 38-year-old Duchess publicly supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 US Presidential elections and labelled Trump as “divisive” and “misogynistic”.
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Speaking on The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, Meghan said:“Of course Trump is divisive – think about female voters alone.
“I think it was in 2012, the Republican Party lost the female vote by 12 points.
“That’s a huge number and as misogynistic as Trump is, and so vocal about it, that’s a huge chunk of it.”
Trump branded the Duchess as “nasty”, when he was reminded of her words in an interview with The Sun.
As recently as October, the US President also criticised Meghan for not being tough enough and taking things too personally.
Commenting on the Duchess’ remarks in the ITV documentary Harry and Meghan: An African Journey, Trump told LBC presenter Nigel Farage that he thought she was taking criticism from the press too seriously.
He said:”Well I’ve been watching her interviews and I’ve seen it and she’s taken it very personally.
“I guess she had to be a little bit different than that, but she takes it very, very personally and I can understand it.
“But I don’t know her.”
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