Image copyright Jason Bell/Camera Press Image caption The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince George will begin the tour in New Zealand 
 
 An official photograph of Prince George with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge has been released ahead of their tour of Australia and New Zealand. 
 
 The eight-month-old is pictured in his mother's arms while Prince William holds their dog, Lupo. 
 
 In the image, taken by royal christening photographer Jason Bell, the family is looking through an open window at their Kensington Palace home. 
 
 The Cambridges are due to arrive in New Zealand on 7 April. 
 
 They then fly to Australia on 16 April and their three-week tour ends on 25 April. 
 
 First tour 
 
 In the new image, the blond baby prince is wearing a pale blue jumper bearing his name, while his mother wears a cream-coloured blouse and his father a shirt with rolled-up sleeves. 
 
 Prince George, who is third in line to the throne, is not looking directly at the camera like his parents - instead, he is smiling at the black cocker spaniel next to him. 
 
 Other than a glimpse of the curtains, little of the Cambridges' renovated Kensington Palace home can be seen in the photograph. 
 
 It is the first official picture of Prince George to be released since his christening last October. 
 
 The visit to Australia and New Zealand will be his first official overseas tour. The trip echoes the Prince and Princess of Wales's visit to Australia and New Zealand in 1983 when the couple took William, then aged nine months, with them. 
 
 Image copyright PA Image caption Prince George was christened at the Chapel Royal in St James's Palace, London, in October 
 
 The tour will begin in Wellington, where the Cambridges will be greeted with a ceremonial welcome to New Zealand, called a Powhiri in Maori. 
 
 They will see a yacht race, visit a rugby stadium and a vineyard, and there will also be Maori engagements in Christchurch and Dunedin. 
 
 During their time in New Zealand, they will attend a ceremony in Blenheim to recognise the sacrifice of members of the Australian and New Zealand armed forces in the First World War. 
 
 There will be a similar commemorative ceremony in Canberra, Australia. 
 
 Their Australian itinerary includes visits to Uluru in the Northern Territory, as well as Sydney and Adelaide. 
 
 The duke and duchess will also visit an area of the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, that was hit by bushfires last October. 
 
 Their 11-strong entourage includes Prince George's new nanny, Maria Teresa Turrion Borrallo, and a hairdresser. 
 
 Celebrity photographer 
 
 Prince William has made a number of official trips to Australia and New Zealand in the past, but Catherine is yet to pay an official visit to either country. 
 
 The couple passed through Brisbane airport on their way back to the UK at the end of their South Pacific tour in September 2012, however. 
 
 The duke had paid an official visit to New Zealand and Australia in March 2011. He went to Christchurch shortly after it suffered an earthquake and also visited Queensland and Victoria, which had been hit by floods. 
 
 It is the third joint official trip abroad for the duke and duchess, following a visit to Canada and the US in July 2011, shortly after they were married, and their South Pacific tour. 
 
 Before taking official photographs following Prince George's christening at St James's Palace, Bell was known for his celebrity subjects. 
 
 His images from the christening included one of the young prince with his father, grandfather Prince Charles and great-grandmother, the Queen. ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Prince George was carried off the plane by his mother 
 
 The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have carried Prince George off the plane at the start of a three-week visit to New Zealand and Australia. 
 
 It is the first official tour for the eight-month-old prince, who was awake in his mother's arms as the trio were greeted at Wellington airport by Prime Minister John Key and waiting media. 
 
 It was only the second time the baby has faced the press. 
 
 The party were met with cold, wet and windy weather. 
 
 After greeting them on the tarmac, Mr Key tweeted: "The Royals have landed in Wellington. Let's make them very welcome, New Zealand." 
 
 Fashion choices 
 
 The couple were then taken to Government House, the official residence of the governor general, where they received a traditional Maori welcome. 
 
 They were greeted with a nose-press, called a hongi, and met Maori warriors. 
 
 A minor controversy marked the start of the trip - which ends in Canberra on 25 April. 
 
 Plunket, New Zealand's national childcare agency, published photos of a baby seat facing forwards in the royal car, with critics claiming this contradicted Plunket's advice that children of the prince's age should face the rear window. 
 
 Image copyright AFP/Getty Image caption Prince George will only accompany his parents on a few engagements 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption The couple were greeted with a nose-press, called a hongi 
 
 Image copyright AP Image caption Prince William inspected the New Zealand Air Force Band 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption Maori warriors greeted the royals at Government House 
 
 The duchess's fashion choices are expected to be closely scrutinised during the tour and she arrived in New Zealand wearing a red coat with gold buttons - from British designer Catherine Walker, who was a firm favourite of Diana, Princess of Wales. 
 
 She teamed her outfit with a red pillbox hat designed by Gina Foster and a silver fern-shaped brooch, a symbol of New Zealand. 
 
 She has been loaned the diamond and platinum piece by the Queen, who had herself received it as a gift during a visit to Auckland 60 years ago. 
 
 Prince George wore a cream cardigan and matching shoes. 
 
 Analysis The reception that William, his wife and son receive over the next three weeks will say something about the vitality of the British crown and its relevance in 2014. Clearly not everyone who turns out to cheer William, Catherine and George will necessarily subscribe to the view that, 50 years or so from now, when George might be expected to succeed to the throne of the United Kingdom, that he should also become king of Australia and king of New Zealand. But as ambassadors for the system of hereditary, constitutional monarchy, this trio exert a powerful force. Prince George on first overseas tour 
 
 He will be taken to a few specific engagements throughout the trip, and the programme stops on most days in the late afternoon to allow his parents to get back to him. 
 
 The royals flew on a scheduled Qantas flight from Heathrow Airport, via Dubai, to Sydney where they transferred to a military plane. 
 
 Their engagements in New Zealand will see them take in a yacht race and visit a Maori tribe, a rugby stadium and a vineyard. 
 
 In Australia, their destinations include Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Queensland, Adelaide and Canberra. 
 
 Helping oversee the care of Prince George will be his newly-appointed nanny Maria Teresa Turrion Borrallo, who stayed in the background as the royals received their official welcome to New Zealand.
– Ahead of their Australia-New Zealand tour next week, Prince William and Kate Middleton have released an official family photo that includes their now 8-month-old bouncing baby boy, reports the BBC. Prince George, who will accompany the royal couple on their trip beginning next Monday, is pictured being held by his mother in an open window at the royals' residence in Kensington Palace; William and the family pooch, Lupo, are at right in the image the palace says was taken by George's christening photographer, Jason Bell. As for the youngest royal's official duties on the Australia-New Zealand trek, well, it's up in the air, as per a palace statement via CNN: "George being just a little over eight months old by the time they travel, I'm sure you will appreciate that the couple will have to make a final decision on those moments much closer to the time." They will head out with an entourage of 11, notes the BBC, including a nanny and hairdresser.