LONDON (AFP) - Prince William and his wife Kate will travel to New York for the first time next month for a mix of charity events, business meetings and parties, as well as a visit to the World Trade Center memorial.

The trip will be the first time that Kate travels abroad since the announcement that she was pregnant with the couple's second son, who will be fourth in line to the throne after toddler Prince George.

Neither royal has ever been to New York and Prince William will also be going to Washington, DC, on a solo daytrip.

"The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will visit the US between 7th and 9th December 2014," said a statement issued by the couple's official London residence, Clarence House.

The programme begins on Dec 8 when William travels to Washington to speak at a World Bank conference to combat the illegal trade in wildlife, while his wife visits a child development centre with New York mayor Bill de Blasio's wife, Chirlane McCray.

The two will then go to an NBA basketball game in New York in the evening.

On Dec 9, they will visit an inner city youth development charity and meet with "British talent in the creative industries in New York".

The couple, who met when they were students at St Andrew's University in Scotland, will round off their trip with a gala dinner at the Metropolitan Museum of Art to mark their alma mater's 600th anniversary.

The Duke and Duchess last travelled to the United States in 2011 when they went to California.