Page QQQ Daily Mail, Friday, August 23, 2019After row over Sussexes’
luxury air travel...
MEDIA GURU
ily, accompanied by the children’s
nanny, Maria Borrallo, are seen
being escorted from the 44-seat
plane by airport officials.
A passenger who saw them said:
‘The family were sat right at the
front. I fly this route all the time
and we were none the wiser. No
one knew they were on the flight.
Later on I realised that Kate’s
mother [Carole Middleton] was
sat a few rows in front of me.’
Another said: ‘They weren’t har-
assed by anyone at all ... they just
seemed like a family travelling
together to be honest. It was amaz-
ing how they did it – they must
have slipped on quietly, after peo-
ple were already seated. You don’t
expect to see royalty on a budget
airliner.’
William could be seen clutching
bags of hand luggage with George,
six, holding onto him and Char-
lotte, four, skipping behind. Kate
was carrying baby Louis, one.
Their decision to take a cheap,
scheduled flight from their Norfolk
home up to Scotland – the cost of
which was unlikely to have
exceeded £365 – contrasts mark-
edly with Harry and Meghan’s use
of a private jet four times in 11
days travelling on holiday to loca-
tions on Ibiza and in the south of
France. Those flights would have
cost up to £20,000 each way.
Celebrity friends, including Sir
Elton John who invited the couple
and their son, Archie, to stay with
him and his husband in France,
rushed to their defence. The
actress Jameela Jamil, in an
extraordinary rant on Twitter, even
argued the couple should never
take scheduled flights as it puts
the public at risk of being caught
up in an assassination attempt.She also accused ‘England and
English press’ of racism for holding
the couple to scrutiny, ranting: ‘Just
say you hate her because she’s
black, and him for marrying a black
woman and be done with it.’
But royal biographer Robert Job-
son insisted: ‘William and Kate fly-
ing on a budget airline proves you
can do it, there was no trouble on
the flight, and if there was, they
have their protection officers.’
Fans of Harry and Meghan took
to social media yesterday to accuse
the Cambridges of orchestrating
the pictures as part a ‘smear cam-paign’ between the once-close
brothers. But the footage was
taken by a member of the public
and it is understood that the Cam-
bridges’ trip was planned weeks
ago. The family do take commer-
cial flights regularly but have also
been known to borrow friends’ pri-
vate jets, as do other members of
the Royal Family, including the
Queen, Prince Charles and the
Duke of York.
The Duke and Duchess of Sus-
sex’s decision to use private jets
for their summer holidays comes
just weeks after Harry was also
criticised for taking two charter
flights and at least one helicopter
to attend the Google camp sum-
mit in Sicily to give a barefoot
speech on climate change.
Harry wrote on Instagram in July:
‘Every choice, every footprint,
every action makes a difference.’
He and Meghan did, however,
take scheduled flights to Morocco
earlier this year on an official visit
to North Africa, as well as to Aus-
tralia and New Zealand last
autumn. Harry has also travelled
to and from a charity polo match
in Italy on a commercial plane.THE Duke and Duchess of Cambridge
were yesterday spotted with their
three children getting off a £73 budget
flight to Scotland as debate contin-
ued to rage over Harry and Meghan’s
private jet jaunts.
William and Kate, along with Prince
George, Princess Charlotte and Prince
Louis, were seen by fellow passengers on
the 8.45am FlyBe flight from Norwich
International Airport to Aberdeen Airport,
as they headed to Balmoral to spend a
summer break with the Queen.
In a video shot by a fellow passenger, the fam-By Rebecca English
Royal CorrespondentJaunt: Harry and Meghan board private jet in the South of FranceSo who
needs a
private
jet? Kate
and Wills’
£73 flight
Down to earth:
Flybe plane
similar to one
used by WilliamTHE Duke and Duchess of Sussex
have appointed one of Britain’s
top black businesswomen as the
first trustee of their new charita-
ble foundation.
Karen Blackett, named the most
powerful person of African or Afri-
can Caribbean heritage in the UK
in 2015, was yesterday registered
as a director of the new Sussex
Royal Foundation – set up by the
royal couple after their public
split from the Cambridges.
The 48-year-old single mother,
from west London, has 25 years of
experience in the advertising
industry and is chairman of Medi-
aCom UK, which has clients includ-
ing Shell and Audi.
She was also appointed by
Theresa May as a race equality
business champion and worked
as an external adviser to help