The Prince and Princess of Wales could soon be heading to Australia for their first visit in more than a decade, after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s visit with the King at the weekend.

During his 90-minute meeting with the monarch at Balmoral Castle, Albanese took the opportunity to quash any plans for his government to pursue a republic – and issued an invitation to William and Kate to visit with their three children.

“I’m certainly hoping there will be one, there’s a standing invitation that the royal family are always welcome in Australia,” he said outside Crathie Kirk shortly after.

“It was wonderful to welcome King Charles and Queen Camilla to Australia recently. They had a very successful visit and His Majesty is very engaged and I hope that the Prince and Princess of Wales are able to visit as well and we are hopeful that might occur in the coming period.”

William and Kate, then the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, last visited Australia in April 2014 for a 10-day tour with baby George.

Their whirlwind itinerary included engagements in Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra and Adelaide, as well as a trip to Uluru.

A baby Prince George in Australia in 2014. Photo: Getty

Plans for a post-Black Summer bushfires visit were stymied by the Covid pandemic.

The death of Queen Elizabeth II was a further hurdle, with royal protocol decreeing that the monarch must be the first to visit any realm. That obstacle has since gone, with the King and Queen’s official visit in October last year.

However, the King’s cancer battle and the princess’s year out with, first, abdominal surgery and then her own cancer treatment have made visits of such a distance unlikely.

Further complicating the Waleses’ schedule is that Prince George – a toddler when he visited in 2014 – will move to a new school in mid-2026. His younger siblings, Princess Charlotte, 10, and Prince Louis, seven, have never visited Australia.

Kate and William are known to schedule their engagements around their young family, including regularly stepping back from public appearances during school holidays.

Earlier this year, Kate told an Australian reservist serving in London that Prince George often spoke about wanting to return to Australia.

“George finds it fascinating that he has been to Australia and New Zealand,” she said.

“I would like to go back there with them now … It’s finding time to do that.

“We tend to go further afield when it’s official visits – it’s being able to carve out time to experience these countries in a more private capacity.

“Because otherwise you end up seeing lots of insides of amazing buildings but you don’t get to meet that many people. It’s making sure that you can combine a bit of work with the children. I might see you down there.”

Robert Jobson, the royal editor for Seven’s Sunrise, said a Wales family tour was most likely in June or July next year, to fit in with the long summer school holidays in Britain. George and Charlotte have joined their parents on a couple of royal tours, while Louis would make his official visit debut.

“The period, I think, is probably going to be the summer of the UK when the kids are not in school,” he said on Monday.

“I can’t see William and Kate going down to Australia and leaving the kids.

“Kate hasn’t really done a foreign trip of any significance since 2022, so this is a major trip for her.”

The princess’s last major expedition overseas was a visit with William to the Caribbean regions of Belize, Jamaica, and the Bahamas in 2022.

Albanese, long been an advocate for a republic, has slowly backed away from pushing the idea.

“I support an Australian as our head of state, but I also respect the decisions which have been made and our system of government, and I think that’s important,” he said.

The federal government abolished a portfolio for the republic from its assistant ministry in July 2024.

“I think I’ve made it clear that I wanted to hold one referendum while I was Prime Minister, and we did that,” Albanese recently told the ABC’s Insiders – referring to the 2023 referendum on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, which nearly 60 per cent of Australians rejected.

The Australian Republic Movement insists a republic will happen one day and called on the government to keep a path to a referendum on the national agenda.

“A visit to Australia’s head of state shouldn’t require a flight to Balmoral,” the movement’s co-chair Nathan Hansford said.

“Millions of Australians have never had a say – including younger voters and people who have made Australia home in recent years.

“It’s reasonable to ask the question again through an open, respectful national conversation.”