The Daily Telegraph - 23.08.2019

Cambridges fly to Scotland on budget airline

Duke and Duchess take

family on low-cost flight

after Sussexes criticised

for using private jets

News

‘Gobby, exhausted

mum’ to run the

Sussexes’ new charity

By Hannah Furness
ROYAL CORRESPONDENT

THE Duke and Duchess of Sussex have
appointed a top media executive
known for championing women and
minorities as the first trustee of their
charitable foundation, as they build a
team to shape their working futures.
Karen Blackett, once named the
most influential black person in Brit-
ain, has been made a director of the
new Sussex Royal Foundation.
Describing herself as an “exhausted
mum”, and once joking her “gobby” ap-
proach helped her early career, she has
an OBE for services to the media indus-
try and has been credited with broad-
ening a diverse talent pool of staff.
She appears to share a similar out-
look to the Duke and Duchess on mat-
ters including diversity, the importance
of role models, women in the work-
place and early morning workouts.
Officially listed as a director of the
foundation on Companies House yes-
terday, Ms Blackett joins a team that is
to plan and deliver the Sussexes’ public
charitable work. She is the second out-
side appointment after Natalie Camp-
bell, who moved with the Sussexes
from their shared Royal Foundation
with the Duke and Duchess of Cam-
bridge to help set up the new charity.
The royal couple left their joint char-
ity with the Duke and Duchess of Cam-
bridge earlier this year. Sources at the
time denied a family feud, saying it was
“largely about preparing both couples
for their future roles, which are obvi-
ously on divergent tracks”.
The two royal charities are expected
to share key themes including conser-
vation, mental health and young people
but are intended to reflect the differing
ambitions of the in-laws. The Sussexes’
foundation has been described as more
global, potentially allowing them the
freedom to pursue more commercial
activities than the Cambridges, who
will one day be king and queen.
Ms Blackett chairs the media agency

MediaCom UK and is country manager

of marketing and communications firm

WPP. She was named top of the 2015

Powerlist of the 100 most influential

people of African or African Caribbean

heritage in the UK.

In interviews, she has described be-

ing told as a teenager that her only ca-

reer choices were to be a nurse or a

teacher. The daughter of a bus conduc-

tor and a nurse, she once said she was

directed towards a job in a media plan-

ning department “probably because I

was so gobby”. As well as principal

roles at Portsmouth University and

Creative England, she lists herself on

Twitter as an “exhausted mum”.

She was a guest editor of BBC Radio

4’s Woman’s Hour in 2017, and was

called a “game-changer” in an inter-

view with Marie Claire in 2015.

Ms Blackett, 48, wrote in The Guard-

ian in 2014: “I am a single mother to a

five-year-old boy and I want my son to

truly know that he can be whatever he

chooses to be, without any barriers re-

lated to his skin colour.” She has spoken

of waking for 5.45am workouts and be-

ing inspired by her father, who told her:

“You are black and female; you have to

try twice as hard as anyone else.”

Further appointments to the founda-

tion and details of its planned projects

are expected later this year.

High-flyer A dolphin performs an acrobatic display in

front of Rupert Kirkwood, who was kayaking near Torbay,

south Devon, and caught this dramatic image on camera.

APEX

By Hannah Furness
ROYAL CORRESPONDENT

THE Duke and Duchess of Cambridge
and their three children have flown to
Scotland on a budget airline for their
annual holiday with the Queen, days
after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex
were criticised for using private jets.
The family travelled to Balmoral on
a Flybe flight, where tickets cost
£73. Spotted by members of the
public as they walked with their
luggage toward the plane, the
family were thought to have
set out from their Norfolk
home in Anmer.
A fellow passenger
told The Sun: “They
weren’t harassed by
anyone at all as they got
off the plane. They just
seemed like a family
travelling together, to be
honest.”
The decision to fly with Prince
George, Princess Charlotte and
Prince Louis on the low-cost air-
line from Norwich to Aberdeen
has been noted by royal-watchers.
A spokesman for Kensington Palace
said: “All travel arrangements for mem-
bers of the Royal family take into con-
sideration security, efficiency, cost and
effective use of time.” A rail ticket from
Norwich to Aberdeen costs £178.50.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex
faced heavy criticism for using private
jets for four flights in the space of 11
days as they went on holiday to Ibiza
and Nice, despite their public commit-
ment to the environment. Prince Harry
is also reported to have flown privately
to Google Camp in Sicily, where he de-

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livered a speech on climate change.

Celebrity friends defended their deci-

sions, with Sir Elton John, who paid for

the trip to Nice, saying the private jet

allowed the Sussexes and their baby

son to “maintain a high level of much-

needed protection”.

Jameela Jamil, the actress, who

wrote about body image for an issue of

British Vogue guest-edited by the

Duchess, claimed that the public

would face a serious security risk if

they flew on planes with the royals,

tweeting: “It’s not safe for us to be on

the same planes as royals or presidents

you absolute muppets. They are prime

targets for kidnap and sometimes as-

sassination. It’s in the interest of us

civilians to not be endangered by

proximity to people in such power-

ful positions.”

Both the Cambridge and Sussex

families have used private and

commercial flights in the past. The

Duke and Duchess of Sussex flew

with Qantas on a long-haul trip to

Australia for their first tour as a

married couple, and joined mem-

bers of the public on Royal Air

Maroc for a trip to Morocco in the

spring.

Princes William and Harry have

regularly used economy airlines

for short-haul flights and have

been seen on easyJet, Ryanair,

Wizz Air and Flybe as well as

British Airways.

Previous trips to Balmoral have seen

the Cambridges fly commercially to

Aberdeen on several occasions, includ-

ing with the wider Middleton family

and, according to the Sunday Express,

used a private plane once in 2015.

This summer, the Duke and Duch-

ess of Cambridge and children also

had a holiday in Mustique, with sources

saying only that the costs of their flight

were “met by them”.

The Duke of York was photographed

leaving Scotland on a private plane ear-

lier this week.

The royals’ carbon

footprints have

been criticised

after it emerged

that the Duke

and Duchess

of Sussex fly by

private jet

Karen Blackett has been appointed director

of the new Sussex Royal Foundation

The Daily Telegraph Friday 23 August 2019 *** 3

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