Sarah Ferguson is bowing out of an upcoming event for a very royal reason.
The Duchess of York had been scheduled to attend a book festival in Australia, but she pulled out after it was announced that King Charles III and Queen Camilla would be in the country at the same time for a royal tour.
“With regret, Sarah, Duchess of York has decided to withdraw from the Festival of Fiction, so as not to distract or detract in any way from the tour of Australia by His Majesty the King, which has recently been announced,” the festival wrote in a social media post this week.
The post added that the duchess will now appear at a November event in Perth amid “exceptional demand,” and that she “apologises to anyone who is inconvenienced by the change of date.”
Buckingham Palace said on Sunday that the monarch was planning to visit Australia and Samoa in October.
Though the palace has not yet provided specific timing for the tour, it will coincide with the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, which is slated for Oct. 21 to 26.
The Duchess of York was originally set to appear at the Festival of Fiction on Oct. 19.
Charles’ tour comes at a precarious time for the king, who was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year. Due to his diagnosis, the monarch briefly stepped back from public engagements.
