Prince Charles turns 71 years old today. Unfortunately, he cannot spend this special day with his family this year. Royal duties come before personal festivities. And so Charles will be far away from home on his birthday and will not be able to celebrate with his sons Prince William (37) and Prince Harry (35), like last year.

Charles and his wife Duchess Camilla (72) are currently on a trip to India and New Zealand. So Charles will spend his birthday in India with his wife of 14 years. On November 17, they will continue on to New Zealand, where the royal couple will stay until November 23.

Prince Charles travels on to the Solomon Islands - without Camilla

For Prince Charles the journey is not over after his stay in New Zealand as he will visit Tuvalu and the Solomon Islands. But without his wife - Duchess Camilla will be returning to Britain early, which is probably due to her fear of flying.

On their journey, the two are visiting organisations that deal with causes that Charles and Camilla are involved with. Charles especially wants to promote environmental protection as well as helping out displaced youth.

For Camilla and Charles, this is not their first trip to New Zealand. The couple already visited the Commonwealth state in 2012 and 2015.