Prince Harry is Headed Down Under!

After much speculation, Kensington Palace confirmed today that Prince Harry is headed down under next week. The fourth-in-line to the throne will attend the International Fleet Review in Sydney, complete with more than 40 warships, 16 tall ships and 8,000 naval personnel from 19 nations. Harry will be attending several events to commemorate the 100^th anniversary of the arrival of the Royal Australian Navy’s first fleet in Sydney Harbour in 1913.

As the guest of honor, the 28-year-old royal will join Australia’s new prime minister Tony Abbott as well as governor-general Quentin Bryce, to survey the HMAS Leeuwin on October 5.

Putting weeks of unconfirmed rumors to rest, Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced the royal visit today, saying: “Australians have great warmth towards members of the royal family.”

While the event runs from October 3 – 11, Harry’s specific itinerary has yet to be released. Personally I’m hoping he heads home immediately as I will be in London that week, although I suspect the Australians would disagree with me on this.

UPDATE (10:00am): Prince Harry is due to attend the Sentebale “Forget Me Not” dinner in Dubai on October 7 – he may be in London for me after all… 

Richard Palmer, @RoyalReporter

Prince Harry first visited the commonwealth nation during his gap year in 2003; this visit will mark his first official visit representing his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II.

It is easy to see why Australia was keen to have Captain Wales in attendance for this momentous celebration; his international popularity combined with his status as Apache helicopter pilot for the British Army Air Corps makes him the ideal special guest.

As exciting as the prospect of Captain Wales inspecting ships is, don’t look to me for coverage of this event – I will actually be on a plane to the UK! Here’s hoping he makes it back to London for the following week so we can hang out. Kidding, kind of.