Prince Harry's ‘travel summit' gaffe ‘hard to ignore' after spokesperson defends Duke of Sussex's travel record
Prince Harry's head-scratching decision to travel all the way to China for a brief appearance at a sustainable travel summit has faced fresh scrutiny.
The Duke of Sussex made a surprise visit to Shanghai last week to attend Trip.com Group's Envision 2025 Summit and the Travalyst Executive Summit.
Harry, 40, is the founder of 'Travalyst', an organisation that promotes eco-travel and offers suggestions on how users can utilise trains or public transport where possible.
It is understood that Trip.com 'hosted' Harry in the Chinese megacity for the brief appearance before the ex-working royal turned around and made the 6,000 mile journey home.
Veteran royal correspondent Jennie Bond believes the Duke of Sussex's decision to travel to Shanghai for just two short engagements appeared unintentionally ironic.
'The irony of flying across the world to promote sustainable, environmentally friendly travel is hard to ignore,' Ms Bond told The Mirror newspaper on Friday.
'Surely a video speech would have been more ethical?'
Worse, Harry's trip to Shanghai also coincided with his father King Charles' historic visit to Canada.
'It seems to have made very little news at all. If the idea was to garner as much publicity for the cause as possible, (Shanghai) would seem to have fallen rather short,' Ms Bond said.
The Sussex camp appears to have gone on the defence amid the scrutiny over the Shanghai visit.
On Monday, a spokesperson told The Times newspaper that Harry has only travelled abroad three times in six years for Travalyst and typically works on the venture remotely.
According to the carbon emissions calculator of FlightFree USA, a campaign group urging people to fly less, "avoiding this trip (Los Angeles to Shanghai) is as climate friendly as carpooling for 3.7 years".
The calculator claimed that Harry's return flight from Los Angeles to Shanghai would cause more emissions of greenhouse gases in a single trip than 3.5 billion people emit over the course of a year.
Somewhat surprisingly, Harry's visit to Shanghai marked the first time the jet-setting Duke had ever set foot in China.
Since leaving royal duties over five years ago, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have maintained a heavy schedule of international travel, including faux 'royal tours' of Nigeria and Colombia.
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