Taxpayer’s bill for Royals’ Africa trip
Cost of their controversial South Africa trip last year
ACCOUNTS: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s controversial family tour of southern Africa last year cost the taxpayer a quarter of a million pounds, Royal accounts reveal.
Harry and Meghan took their then four- month- old son Archie Mountbatten- Windsor to South Africa last September on his first overseas trip.
THE DUKE and Duchess of Sussex’s controversial family tour of southern Africa last year cost the taxpayer nearly a quarter of a million pounds, the annual Royal accounts reveal.
Harry and Meghan took their then four- month- old son Archie Mountbatten- Windsor to South Africa last September on his first overseas trip, with the Duke also travelling solo to Angola, Malawi and Botswana. The cost of flights made it the most expensive royal journey of the year.
It became mired in controversy after Meghan launched legal action against a newspaper and Harry delivered a scathing attack on the tabloid press while still abroad.
As the tour was sanctioned by the Foreign Office, the Duke and Duchess are under no obligation to pay any money back – despite announcing their decision to quit as senior Royals just three months later, a source confirmed.
Buckingham Palace’s Sovereign Grant financial report revealed the couple’s travel costs came to £ 245,643, including scheduled flights to and from South Africa, Harry’s charter flights for his solo trips and flights for a staff planning visit.
“The Duke and Duchess of Sussex undertook over 20 engagements, bringing attention to a number of worthwhile causes,” the source said.
“So the visit, as an official visit funded by the Government, fulfilled the objectives that were set out for it and so therefore there would be no requirement or obligation on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to make any payments in relation to that official visit.”
During the 10- day tour, Meghan gave a rousing speech to young women in a township and also tackled the issue of genderbased violence in South Africa.
But the highlights were overshadowed at the end when the Duchess announced a privacy lawsuit against the Mail on Sunday over a letter she wrote to her father.
Harry then filed his own legal proceedings against two newspaper groups over alleged historical phone hacking. And in an ITV documentary filmed in Africa, the couple spoke of their struggles as members of the Royal Family.
Other costly overseas trips by family members included a twoday visit by the Prince of Wales to Oman following the death of Sultan Qaboos bin Said, with the charter flight costing £ 210,345. The source said the trip was taken at short notice and no commercial flights were available. The Duke of York took a charter flight to Northern Ireland to attend Royal Portrush Golf Club’s Open championship, which cost £ 15,848, the accounts stated.
The source defended Andrew’s use of a charter instead of a scheduled flight, saying: “The use of charter was the only way to get him to complete his engagements to fit in with his other programmes.”
Andrew, once nicknamed Air Miles Andy for his lavish use of aircraft at the public expense, has since stepped down from Royal duties over his former friendship with the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The Princess Royal flew by charter to Rome to watch the Italy v Scotland Six Nations rugby match and for a trip to Pakistan, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s travel costs were £ 117,116.
There is no requirement to make any payments in relation to that visit. Buckingham Palace source explaining the accounts yesterday.