The World Cup is set to get the royal seal of approval, with the announcement that Britain's Prince William and Prince Harry be arriving in South Africa next week to meet members of the Fifa executive committee. Sapa reports that they will also attend a reception to celebrate the event, which will start in just under a month.

The princes' press office also announced that the pair would be back in the country next month to lend their support to England's pitch to host the 2018 World Cup, and to attend England's match against Algeria, which will be held at Cape Town's Greenpoint Stadium on June 18.

The South African stopover will form part of a week-long visit to Southern Africa ? the princes' first joint overseas tour, reported The Times newspaper.

The tour will include stopovers in Botswana and Lesotho, which will enable the princes to visit two charities that they are closely involved with. Prince William is patron of the Tusk Trust, based in Botswana, while Price Harry is the co-founder of the Lesotho charity Sentebale.

Despite the fact that the visit is billed as a 'joint tour', and involves numerous flights, the Times reports the princes will have to travel everywhere in separate aircraft because of rules stating that they can never fly together.