Meghan Markle and Prince Harry slammed for her 7,000-mile private jet journey to New York for fancy baby shower
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have landed themselves in a soup over their recent travels, or so it would seem. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been facing immense backlash from the public over Meghan's recent 7,000-mile private jet journey to New York for a lavish baby shower thrown by her close friends.
The Duchess' $500,000 New York trip has led to accusations of hypocrisy on the couple's part because of her anti-poverty campaigning, as well as Prince Harry's climate change crusade, reports Daily Mail. People are furious that Meghan and Harry, who have used their first year of marriage to launch new projects to help disadvantaged British families, would indulge in luxuries of this manner.
People were not only upset with the royal couple over their extravagant expenditure, but the duo also managed to call upon the wrath of environmentalists because the couple has campaigned on climate change on many occasions in the past. A spokesman for Friends of the Earth said: "Private air travel obviously comes with a huge carbon footprint."
The spokesperson suggested, "Perhaps for future trips, the Duchess could consider less carbon-intensive modes of travel. We invite her to set a good climate trend by flying less." During the couple's trip to Australia last year, Prince Harry said in a speech: "It is going to take every single one of us to stop the clock on the destruction of our planet, and time is not on our side. The standard we walk past is the standard we accept."
Speaking last November at a Waste to Wealth summit in Central London, Harry's father Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, also condemned the destruction of the planet, saying "businesses and individuals need to get better at recycling to sort out the mess and save the planet for our grandchildren." He added: "We are the first generation to understand, in full and terrifying scientific detail, that we are destroying our world. And we are the last to be able to do something about it."
All the men of the royal family share the same values, as even Prince William spoke about the need to combat climate change during his sit down with Sir David Attenborough at a summit in Davos, Switzerland, last month. He further urged the global elite to tackle urgent environmental issues in order to preserve the planet for future generations.
And when Meghan decided to board a private jet instead of traveling by one of the many trans-Atlantic commercial flights between the US and UK, one critic tweeted: "Meghan & Harry are being billed as Humanitarians. They are Patrons of charities for the disadvantaged. The obscene cost of this 5-day trip is utter hypocrisy. Not to mention the carbon footprint of taking a private jet."
Geoffrey Downes said on Twitter: "That trip cost half a million. No wonder there are anti-royalists out there when we've got thousands of homeless people on our streets. Thoughtless." Meanwhile, Kensington Palace, when asked to comment on the issue, has not yet responded to any questions.
