BABY fever and commemorations marking the 60th anniversary of the Queen’s coronation will shape 2013 for the Royal Family.
After the busy Diamond Jubilee of 2012, the House of Windsor will be making headlines once again as the nation awaits the arrival of a future King or Queen.
n Harry’s return
Prince Harry is expected back from his second stint in Afghanistan early in the year.
With the UK’s withdrawal from the country expected to accelerate in 2013, it seems unlikely Harry will see a third tour of duty in the region.
He is on attachment to 662 Squadron, 3 Regiment Army Air Corps within 16 Air Assault Brigade, but his return could prompt a change in direction in regards to his military career.
n Royal baby
The Duchess of Cambridge, who is suffering from severe morning sickness, will most likely keep a low profile as she battles constant nausea and regular vomiting thanks to the condition hyperemesis gravidarum.
The baby is believed to be due in July.
Meanwhile, the Government will press ahead with introducing the Succession to the Crown Bill in the House of Commons at the “earliest opportunity”.
The legislation will end the principle of male primogeniture so that the Royal baby will succeed to the throne, regardless of whether it is a girl or a boy.
The Bill will also end the bar on anyone in the line of succession marrying a Roman Catholic.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said he had received final consent from all the Commonwealth realms to press ahead with the legislation, ending the discrimination against women.
n William’s military career
As the Duke of Cambridge prepares for the arrival of his first child, he will have to decide on his future in the forces and whether to end his stint with the RAF Search and Rescue team and relocate from Anglesey to London.
William and Kate are waiting for renovations to finish on their apartment in Kensington Palace.
n A baby for Zara Phillips and Mike Tindall?
Royal watchers will be wondering whether Olympic silver medallist Zara, who wed just three months after her cousin William and Kate, will follow in their footsteps again and have a baby in 2013.
n 60th anniversary of the Queen’s Coronation
The coronation of the Queen took place 16 months after her accession to the throne.
Thousands of people lined the route from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey to catch a glimpse of the young Queen on June 2, 1953 despite the rainy weather.
An estimated 20 million people watched the religious ceremony – in which the Sovereign took the Coronation oath, was anointed and crowned – after the Queen agreed to the event being televised.
This year’s anniversary will be on a smaller scale than the Diamond Jubilee of 2012 but will most likely feature a service at the Abbey.
The Royal Warrant Holders Association is holding a Coronation Festival and Gala at the Palace in July.
n Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Sri Lanka
CHOGM, which will take place in November 2013, is held every two years and is the Commonwealth’s highest consultative and policy-making body.
The Queen, who turns 87 in 2013, is Head of the Commonwealth and attends the summit.
She was first present at CHOGM in Ottawa, Canada, in 1973 – missing the first one in 1971 – and has been at every summit since.
n Prince of Wales’s tours
Could 2013 be the year heir to the throne Charles pays a trip to China? The Prince is a long time supporter of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and Charles has never been to mainland China.
But his Prince’s Charities Foundation now has an office in Beijing and he has held talks in the past with Chinese president Hu Jintao.
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