Britain's Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William, The Duke of Cambridge. Photo: YUI MOK/AFP/Getty Images The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are expected to meet showbusiness and sporting royalty next month.
Kensington Palace announced that the couple will make their first visit to New York.
The Duke and Duchess will watch a National Basketball Association match between the Brooklyn Nets and the Cleveland Cavaliers on Dec 8, when they may meet the Nets’ former part-owner, the rapper Jay-Z, and his wife, the singer Beyonce.
Jay-Z rarely misses a Nets game, and the visit of Cleveland will also give the royal couple the chance to meet players including LeBron James, the Cavaliers’ forward who is the highest-paid player in the NBA and the third highest-paid sportsman in the world.
Jay Z sits with Beyonce during a game between the Brooklyn Nets and Oklahoma City Thunder at the Barclays Center. (Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images)
Neither the Duke nor the Duchess have visited New York in either an official or private capacity, and they are said to be excited about seeing the city for the first time. Prince George, however, will have to wait for his first bite of the Big Apple, as he will be left at home.
The Duchess, who had to cancel a visit to Malta in September because of her pregnancy sickness, has recovered sufficiently for Kensington Palace to feel confident that she will be well enough to cope with the seven-hour flight.
The couple hope their visit will raise money and awareness for the Duke’s campaign against the illegal wildlife trade, with several engagements focusing on conservation work.
Their visit to the basketball game will also have a wildlife theme, as they will announce a collaboration between the NBA and United for Wildlife, a group of conservation charities brought together by the Duke and the Prince of Wales.
Britain’s Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, speaks at an event to launch the United for Wildlife campaign #WhoseSideAreYouOn. (LEON NEAL/AFP/Getty Images)
As well as the potential for a meeting Jay-Z and Beyonce, the Duke and Duchess will have a further chance to meet celebrities when they attend a reception celebrating British talent in the creative industries based in New York.
The Duke will also fit in a first visit to Washington DC, attending a working lunch at the World Bank to discuss the campaign against the illegal wildlife trade, though the Duchess, who will be about 20 weeks pregnant by then, will stay in New York rather than risking two extra flights.
The couple will arrive in New York on Dec 7, attending a private function to raise money for the American Friends of the Royal Foundation, the US wing of their joint charity.
During their visit the couple will also pay their respects at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum at the World Trade Centre, where nearly 3,000 people, including 67 Britons, died in the terrorist attacks in 2001.
Their three-day trip will end with a 600th anniversary dinner for the University of St Andrews, where they met as students, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Duke is patron of the University of St Andrews 600th Anniversary Campaign.
Britain’s Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge (3rd L), and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge attend a rugby match between Wales and Australia. (GEOFF CADDICK/AFP/Getty Images)
A Kensington Palace spokesman said: “The couple really are very much looking forward to all the special moments of the visit. They have been an integral part in planning it.”
?Prince Harry’s plans for a three-day visit to the Middle East have been thrown into disarray after his host, the Sultan of Oman, pulled out due to illness.
The Prince will go ahead with his trip to the Gulf state, which begins on Tuesday, but yesterday Kensington Palace was still unable to confirm details of his itinerary, or whether he would meet any members of the Omani royal family.
It means the Prince’s time in Oman, which was intended to strengthen ties between the two royal families and between the two countries, may end up being little more than a sightseeing trip.
The Daily Telegraph
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