Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are facing fresh accusations of hypocrisy after accepting two free private flights on their Nigeria trip.
Nigerian airline Air Peace flew the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their handful of companions on a 120-seat plane on a 664-mile round trip. The return journey from the capital Abuja to Lagos on May 12 pumping out about 12 tonnes in carbon emissions. The average annual global carbon footprint is roughly four tonnes per person.
Harry and Meghan are known for speaking out against climate change. In 2019 they launched the Travalyst initiative, which urged the tourism industry to be more sustainable. Stanley Olisa, of Air Peace, explained how the Sussexes were given the free flights during their three-day tour of Nigeria to celebrate 10 years of Harry’s Invictus Games.
He said: “The planes were chartered. It was just the royals and their entourage. They were not flying with other passengers. We understand that they are royals so we gave them top-tier treatment on board. They were given everything they wanted. It was an exclusive experience. And we flew them back to Abuja in the evening. Everything was complimentary.”
Harry and Meghan's chartered plane at Lagos airportAir Vice Marshal Abidemi Marquis, director of sports for the Nigerian Defence Headquarters, was with Harry and Meghan on the 42-metre Embraer E195-E2 and said: “There were maybe 15 or 20 of us on the flight.”
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Mr Olisa said: “The chairman of Air Peace gave Prince Harry and his wonderful wife Meghan free flights to Lagos and back as part of his contribution to the successful hosting of the couple.” We discovered the round trip on a scheduled Air Peace service today costs from £321 per person.
During their tour, the Sussexes visited a secondary school in Abuja to open an event on mental health and Harry played a game of sitting volleyball with injured servicemen. The Duke and Duchess also spoke at a reception and Meghan co-hosted a women’s leadership event and revealed a genealogy test showed she had Nigerian heritage.
The Sussexes took British Airways to and from Nigeria but the courtesy flights go against the environmental concerns Harry has often expressed.
In 2021, he told Oprah Winfrey: “With kids growing up in today’s world, pretty depressing, right, depending on where you live, your home country is either on fire, it’s either underwater, houses or forests are being flattened.”
And in a 2022 speech to the United Nations general assembly, he said: “Our world is on fire again. And these historic weather events are no longer historic. More and more, they are part of our daily lives, this crisis will only grow worse.”
Yet, while they were still working royals in 2019, Harry and Meghan took four private jet flights in just 11 days – which included going to Sir Elton John’s home in Nice, France.
Just days after attending a conference on climate change in October last year, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex flew to the exclusive Caribbean island of Canouan on a private jet. And last week, Harry said he anticipates travelling more to support his various projects in the future.
He said: “It is hugely important for us to meet directly with people, supporting our causes and listening, in order to bring about solutions, support and positive change. There’s only so much one can do from home and over Zoom, so we look forward to travelling more because the work matters.” Harry and Meghan’s representatives were contacted for a comment.
Rob Bryher, aviation campaigner at climate charity Possible, said: “We know we need to cut down on aviation emissions in order to meet our climate goals and for high profile figures like Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to fly private despite publicly campaigning for the climate is nothing short of hypocritical.
“The frequent and private flying habits of a small group of people are responsible for most of the aviation emissions in the world, which is undermining efforts to tackle climate change and continues to burn through our rapidly shrinking remaining carbon budget. We urgently need to ban private jets so that we can get on with cutting emissions and reducing the industry’s impact on the climate.”
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