Kate Middleton, Prince William, and Their Family Were Just Spotted on a Commercial Flight

This is intriguing. According to the Daily Mail, Kate Middleton, Prince William, and their three children Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis were just spotted getting off a budget flight to Scotland from Norwich this morning. It's expected that they're still currently on family vacation; The timing is particularly interesting, though, given that Meghan and Harry have come under fire recently for flying private as they've also headed to vacation with their young son Archie Harrison.

You can see the photos in the link here, but it's really just the family of five with suitcases on the tarmac headed towards the terminal. The palace had no comment, but a passenger 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 realized that Kate’s mother was sat a few rows in front of me."

That is...a very interesting contrast, and I'm not sure it's a coincidence, even if it's just to show an understanding of recent scrutiny. Elton John made a statement about the Meghan and Harry coverage, citing Diana's death and a sense of protection towards the young family. "To support Prince Harry’s commitment to the environment, we ensured their flight was carbon neutral, by making the appropriate contribution to Carbon Footprint™," he said, slamming the "relentless and untrue assassinations on their character."

That's also not to say that Meghan and Harry don't ever fly commercial—Harry was spotted on a British Airways flight in May, and the previous December he and Meghan took a commercial flight to Nice. It's the same with the Cambridges: Kate definitely flew commercial with Prince George in 2013, and then again in her solo trip to the Netherlands. Generally, the royals can and do fly private when they're on official business, but have lately been working to keep costs down (if the latest budgeted numbers from 2018 are any indication).

Either way, I highly doubt scrutiny over plane travel is going away anytime soon. In a way, I'm glad the conversation about eco-friendly travel is starting to become more pointed, but some of the language hasn't been constructive thus far.

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