Prince William, Kate to visit Paris on Friday

Prince William and his wife Kate will meet President François Hollande and launch an initiative called ‘Les Voisins’ or The Neighbours to foster closer relations between the two countries.

Prince William and his wife Kate will be on a two-day visit to Paris starting Friday. Alastair Grant/REUTERS

The young royals’ official visit to Paris on Friday and Saturday, comes months before the 20th anniversary of the death of William’s mother Diana in a car crash in the French capital.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will also host a black-tie dinner at the British Embassy and attend a Six Nations rugby match between France and Wales at the national stadium on Saturday.

Although no official commemoration is planned during the trip, it will be impossible to escape the poignancy of Diana's eldest son visiting the city where she died on August 31, 1997.

William was just 15 and his brother Harry 12 when their mother and her boyfriend Dodi Al-Fayed were killed after the Mercedes in which they were passengers crashed in a tunnel in central Paris as it was being pursued at high speed by press photographers.

Their French chauffeur Henri Paul, who was later found to be over the legal blood alcohol limit, also died.

To mark the 20th anniversary of her death, the princes announced earlier this year they were setting up a committee to raise funds to pay for a statue of Diana, who was known as the Princess of Wales, to be erected in the public gardens of Kensington Palace in London, where she lived.

The Paris visit is another sign that the princes and their father, heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles, are increasingly taking over official duties from the queen, who will turn 91 next month.

William and Kate are also to visit to Germany and Poland in July.

William has announced he is stepping down as an air ambulance helicopter pilot to focus more on royal business.

The prince has been criticised as “work-shy” by the famously aggressive British tabloids over the number of engagements he performs compared with the queen. 

- with AFP