Prince William Arrives in Estonia Without Kate Middleton for First Official Foreign Trip of the Year

Prince William is in Estonia for the first time as he makes his first official international trip of 2025.

The Prince of Wales, 42, arrived in the small state on the Baltic Sea in northeastern Europe on the afternoon of March 20. He is visiting the country, which borders Russia, for two days.

His trip is a solo one without his wife, Kate Middleton, and he is there to visit some of the British troops who are stationed there.

But his first stop was to visit the President, Alar Karis. The conflict in Ukraine is likely to be on the agenda.

William is Colonel-in-Chief of the Mercian Regiment, which is part of NATO’s eastern flank as part of Operation Cabrit. The operation has British troops based in Poland as well.

“Operation Cabrit is the name of the U.K. operational deployment to Estonia where British troops are leading a multinational battlegroup as part of the enhanced Forward Presence (eFP),” the British Army says. “U.K. Armed Forces have a leading role in NATO’s eFP in the Baltic States in order to enhance Euro-Atlantic security, reassure our Allies and deter our adversaries.”

He is also spending time in the capital Tallinn to learn more about how the country has responded to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and how Estonia is innovating in renewable energy and technology amid the critical energy security issues in Eastern Europe.

Prince William is expected to meet some Ukrainian families who have fled to Estonia in the last three years.

It will be seen as another step in his burgeoning role as an international statesman. Two years ago, the royal traveled to Poland to see some of the efforts undertaken by British, European and U.S. allies to help Ukraine and met some of the refugees displaced by the war.

His spokesperson said then, “This is a continuation of the evolution of his role as a global statesperson. We talk often about him using his global platform for the good of the environment, via Earthshot. But this is the first opportunity for him to take a visit of this kind as Prince of Wales and, given that it is one of the biggest political issues facing every country on the planet, this is a demonstration of him growing as a statesmanlike figure.”

In recent years, Prince William has had top-level meetings with President Joe Biden — when he was in Boston for his environmental initiative, the Earthshot Prize, in 2022 — and President Donald Trump — in December 2024 when he was invited by French President Emmanuel Macron to Notre Dame’s reopening, a job he undertook on behalf of his father, King Charles.

The Prince of Wales also represented the U.K. alongside other world leaders at the commemorations of D-Day in northern France in June 2024.

In recent years, William has also met the leaders from South Africa and Qatar as he helped his father welcome them for state visits or traveled to countries for his Earthshot Prize.

It is the second visit by a member of the British royal family this year. William’s follows that of his uncle Prince Edward, 61, who traveled to Estonia for a two-day stay in January to undertake a series of military engagements. He had gone there in his royal role as Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Dragoon Guards and went to see troops deployed to Estonia. 

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On Monday, March 17, Princess Kate, 43, underlined her commitment to one of her regiments, the Irish Guards. As honorary Colonel of the regiment, a role she took over from William, she took part in the annual St. Patrick’s Day celebrations with some of the troops in London.