Prince William to lead first royal visit to Israel and Palestine

Kensington Palace have announced that the Duke of Cambridge will visit Israel, Jordan and the Occupied Palestinian Territories this summer.

‘The visit is at the request of Her Majesty’s Government and has been welcomed by the Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian authorities’, a spokesperson said.

‘Further details will be announced in due course’.

It marks the first time that a member of the British royal family has visited the Occupied Palestinian Territories, although the Prince will be going solo on the visit.

He will also be the most high profile British royal to make an official tour to Israel.

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The Prince of Wales previously attended the funeral of former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin and president Shimon Peres, but the visits were not considered part of an official tour.

The visit also ends decades of frustration for Israeli officials who have repeatedly pushed for a royal visit.

‘We’re the only democracy in the Middle East and so you ask why do the Royals go to the Arab dictatorships around us but they don’t come here?’, an Israeli official in 2015.

Prince Philip’s mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, is also buried on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.