Crown princely family to go away for a while

The Royal Court in Oslo rather surprisingly announced today that the Crown Prince and Crown Princess will take their children on an extended foreign journey from the end of November to the end of January.
According to the Royal Palace (external link) the purpose of the journey “is to meet people and experice other countries and cultures and to spend time together as a family”. The Crown Prince and Crown Princess say: “People around the globe live very different lives, and these lives are the foundation of their understanding of and perspective on the worlds [sic] challenges. We hope that this trip will give our children important insights and an appreciation of the variety of people and cultures in the world".
Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit have both shown a deep interest in global issues and challenges and this journey will certainly add valuable experiences to their children’s education.
As both Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Marius Borg Høiby are attending school it will be arranged for them to receive private tutition to keep up with their curricula during the journey.
When meeting the press during a visit to the Stock Exchange earlier today the crown princely couple said they have chosen the months November, December and January as it a relatively quiet time of the year with fewer public engagements - although this somehow weakens the oft-repeated argument that the royal family has a huge working load beside the public duties.
Judging from the reactions around the Internet it seems some people think that the decision to go on a journey shows that Crown Princess does not take her own studies seriously, but it should be pointed out that the study year for her part ends on 12 November and resumes on 18 January.
Some people also seem to be disappointed that the journey means the crown princely couple leaving the King, who they claim are in bad health, and the Queen alone with all the duties. But again there are not that many public duties to be carried out at this time of the year, while the King is in excellent health. His health problems occured back in 2003 and 2005 and are now a thing of the past.
The photo shows the Crown Prince and Crown Princess during the Swiss President’s state visit to Norway on 14 October.