Meghan Markle and Harry's private travel slammed by Malone
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry came under fire earlier this year when royal expense reports were released. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were revealed to have spent £2.4million on the refurbishment of their new family home, Frogmore Cottage in Windsor, from the Sovereign Grant. However, royal travel was also under scrutiny, as all official royal trips are also paid for through public funds.
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The total bill for the financial year 2018-19 was £4.6million, which included trips abroad to Australia and New Zealand, as well as travel within the UK.
Although in 2018-19 royal train travel cost £800,000, compared to a staggering £1.7million on helicopter travel and £1.7million on non-scheduled air travel, the Royal Train does in fact incur more costs per mile.
Royal author Penny Junor, in her 2005 book “The Firm”, writes: “The Royal Train is the most expensive means of transport the Royal Family use.”
Captain Tim Hewlett, the Queen’s Senior Air Equerry at the time, told the author: “In PR terms [train travel] look like a nice cheap option, and we can stand proudly in front of the accountants and say it cost £35 for a first class rail ticket for the Queen, but the security costs are quite considerable and those are not part of our budget.
“It’s not really so cheap. But the Royal Train is expensive.”
According to the BBC, a September 2018 trip by the Prince of Wales from Aberdeen to Euston cost £22,086, around £40 a mile, but a similar journey by the Queen on a chartered flight in October 2018 cost £17,689, or £32 a mile.
Her Majesty’s trip on the Royal Train with Meghan, Duchess of Sussex in June 2018 to Cheshire reportedly cost £29,714, the 7th most expensive trip of the year coming in behind chartered jets and helicopter flights.
READ MORE: Harry and Meghan CAN use normal flights – but Queen and Charles can't
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Ms Junor continues: “It is not quite the Orient Express, as most of the coaches are 30 to 35 years old and could do with refurbishment, but the train is extremely comfortable by any standards, with armchairs and sofas, a dining room, office and communications equipment, decent-sized bathrooms, showers, soft down duvets and full-sized beds, and, in the Prince of Wales’ coach, pictures of Highgrove on the walls.
“It is a home from home, and one of the most secure ways of accommodating the Royal Family overnight – as well as being one of their favourite – and of maximising their time.
“Both the Prince of Wales’ and the Queen’s coaches are heavily reinforced; they are ten times heavier than the other coaches.”
Her Majesty can also be seen catching scheduled trains, famously at Christmas-time to her home at Sandringham, and Princess Anne can often be glimpsed taking the train from her home into London Paddington.
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Ms Junor writes: “She is met by a car on the platform in London and whisked away, but at Kemble, a small country stop near her home in Gloucestershire, she walks to the car park like any ordinary commuter.”
Using scheduled transport services, as opposed to private charters, for royal travel has again become a hot topic in recent weeks, as Prince William and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge were spotted on a budget airline flight travelling from Norfolk to Balmoral.
It came just days after Harry and Meghan came under scrutiny for taking four private jet flights in 11 days, when they took new son Archie on holiday to Ibiza and Nice.
Although these trips were in a private capacity, the Royal Family do use scheduled flights for official duties, too.
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Scheduled air travel accounted for £200,000 of royal travel expenditure in 2018-19.
However, the Queen and Prince Charles are not allowed to travel on regular scheduled flights.
The most expensive trip taken in 2018 was the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall's official visit to the Caribbean Islands and Cuba aboard RAF Voyager, which cost £416,576.