Finally, the slow royal month of August is almost over. Kensington Palace tweeted that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry were due to begin a busy autumn, focusing on their charity work and continuing their advocacy on mental health issues. We expected September to be a big month for the younger trio, particularly in light of William and Kate’s “move” to London, but I was still half-surprised to see KP double down on this point so literally.

A slew of new engagements were announced for all three next week, including one on Monday, September 4 for Kate as she heads to Family Action’s Hornsey Road Children’s Centre in London.  Three days later, William and Kate will drop off Prince George for his first day of school at Thomas’s Battersea.

And while that’s exciting enough on its own, the Palace also announced that, “In October and November respectively, Prince Harry and the Duke and Duchess will undertake official visits on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Further details on both visits will be announced in due course.”

I’ve been wondering if they would try and slip in an autumn tour this year, but wasn’t overly optimistic in light of the family’s “move,” George starting school and the underlined point that was repeatedly made about bringing George and Princess Charlotte on last year’s tour in Canada. Nevertheless, the only full-blown tour the two have done this year was to Germany and Poland in July, while Paris and Belgium were “mini-tours.” In 2016 the couple completed two – India and Bhutan in April and Canada in September, while 2013-2015 were interrupted by Kate’s pregnancies. No word on the length, but one full-length trip and three mini-tours would be a solid way to cover off the year.

As for Harry, he has a couple engagements on the books for next month, but the cornerstone of his autumn will be the Invictus Games in Toronto in late September. Obviously, Toronto is where his girlfriend, Meghan Markle, is located and while it’s a question mark whether she will attend, my guess would be no unless an engagement is announced in the next three weeks. (And the likelihood of that is slim if he’s due to an overseas trip in October, but you never know…)

And as for those two, they reportedly spent a solid three weeks in Botswana, capping off their holiday with some time in Zambia at Victoria Falls. They were spotted returning to London together – specifically, on the Heathrow Express, where onlookers say they didn’t actually speak, but were instead clearly texting each other across the aisle.

With that news, summer is officially coming to a close. Tomorrow I’ll write up the trio’s scheduled appearance at Kensington Palace in honor of the late Princess of Wales.