Last night, Prince William left for his week-long tour of three African countries: Namibia, Tanzania and Kenya. But despite frequently having travelled on royal duties with his wife, Kate Middleton, he's going it alone this time.

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The Duke of Cambridge's private working trip will be devoted to visiting various projects which play an integral part in the fight to end wildlife crime. The tour has been organised as part of his role as United4Wildlife President and Patron of wildlife conservation organisation Tusk.

But while the Duchess of Cambridge is also part of the The Royal Foundation, which notably supports the cause of wildlife conservation, she won't be attending the trip. Despite what many might assume, however, it's nothing to do with the fact she'll be staying at home to look after five-month-old Prince Louis.

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William and Kate celebrated Prince Louis’ christening in July

It's actually because the environment isn't a specific issue that Kate campaigns for. OK! magazine's royal expert Christina Reeves explains that members of the royal family tend only to go on solo engagements when they're related to personal projects.

"This working trip to Africa was arranged by the UK Government for Prince William – predominately in his role as President of United For Wildlife and Tusk Trust.

"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," Reeves says.

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Prince William on a previous trip to Kenya with Tusk in 2016

As the expert notes, Kate Middleton's charitable causes tend to champion mental health and early years support for children, and she has frequently made solo public appearances in aid of these causes. In January this year, she visited London's Great Ormond Street children's hospital, and in March she officially opened the new headquarters of children's mental health charity Place2Be.

Prince William wasn't present for either of these events.

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The Duchess of Cambridge opening the new headquarters of children's mental health charity Place2Be

The Duchess of Cambridge is currently on maternity leave, having given birth to her third child, Prince Louis, in April this year. Typically, new royal mums take a six-month break from their official duties, which means we're likely to see Kate back in action from the end of next month.

We look forward to having her back.

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Catriona Harvey-Jenner
Features Editor

Cat is Cosmopolitan UK's features editor covering women's issues, health and current affairs. news, features and health. The route to her heart is a simple combination of pasta and cheese (somewhat ironic considering the whole health writing thing), and she finds it difficult to commit to TV series so currently has about 14 different ones on the go.