Kate Middleton will not be joining her husband, Prince William on the next royal tour.

Next Monday, September 24, Prince William will be heading to Africa as arranged by the UK Government. His trip will be a series of engagements to fight against the illegal trade of wildlife. Prince William is President of United For Wildlife and Tusk Trust and so, this trip is part of his role. However, there is a reason why Duchess Kate won't be with him. OK!’s royal expert Christina Reeves explained that this is a trip Prince William is going to embark on alone due to it being a "personal project".

"Typically William has always worked solo in his fight against illegal wildlife trade, which is why we wouldn’t see Kate join him on a trip like this or him joining Kate on her own personal projects, such as promoting the importance of perinatal, maternal and children's mental health," she added.

According to Christina, most of Prince William's schedule will remain private, meeting leaders and key figures while he's in Africa.

Prince William's trip to China in 2015.

It is also rumoured that Kate will remain on maternity leave until next month, focusing on her children and newborn, Prince Louis. Kate has broken her maternity leave for a couple of occasions since giving birth in April including Trooping The Colour, however, it's expected that she will remain out of the public eye for the next couple of weeks, perhaps until Princess Eugenie's wedding. However, there is also specualtion that Kate might have to skip Eugenie's wedding. If you do the math, the the Duchess of Cambridge may be forced to choose between Princess Eugenie's wedding, and the birth of her sister Pippa Middleton's first child. We're going to just assume - but we reckon given a choice Kate would be with her sister. The Express reported that Pippa's "due date is at some point in October, although the exact date has not been announced." The odds of Pippa going into labour the same day as the royal wedding aren't high - but stranger things have happened.