Travel plans announced for queen's jubilee

LONDON, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Queen Elizabeth's children, grandsons and cousins will celebrate her Diamond Jubilee year with overseas visits while she stays in Britain, officials said.

Buckingham Palace has released plans that include a Diamond Jubilee tour of Britain by the queen and Prince Philip, starting in North London in late March and continuing at intervals through the summer, The Daily Telegraph reported.

The queen is poised to become the second British sovereign to reign for 60 years. At 85, she is already four years older than Queen Victoria was at her death in 1901 after 63 years on the throne.

Other senior royals will make official visits to the 15 countries where the queen is head of state, other major Commonwealth countries and crown dependencies and trust territories.

Prince William, duke of Cambridge, and his wife are to visit Malaysia, Singapore, the Solomon Islands and Tuvalu. Tuvalu, an island nation in the Pacific, last got a royal visit from the queen and Prince Philip in 1982.

Prince Harry is to visit Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas on his first official royal trip outside the country on his own. Prince Charles and the duchess of Cornwall have an itinerary that includes Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.

The queen's three younger children and two cousins, the dukes of Kent and Gloucester, have also been pressed into service.

The palace said dates are still being worked out with the governments involved.