The Duke and
Duchess of Sussex have taken baby Archie on his first family holiday, it has been reported, as they flew to Ibiza for a five day summer break. The family of three, reported by the local media to be on the Balearic island, are said to have flown by private jet for the trip, timed around the Duchess’s birthday in August. They are understood to have stayed in a secluded villa away from the cameras, accompanied as usual by their protection officers but without the input of local police. It would mark the first known overseas trip for three-month-old Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, who will travel with his parents on his first foreign tour to
South Africa in the autumn. The trip, which has been neither confirmed or denied by Buckingham Palace, follows the Duke’s short visit to Sicily two weeks ago in which he delivered a speech warning about the dangers of climate change after flying in by private jet. Then, he endured widespread criticism for the apparent hypocrisy, with private charters produced many times the damaging carbon emissions as an ordinary commercial flight. Their son Archie went with them to Ibiza Credit: Dominic Lipinski According to a source quoted in the
New York Post, the Duke “showed up at the super-secret three-day event to give an impassioned lecture about saving nature to a crowd of A-list celebrities and power brokers, many of whom arrived in gas-guzzling private jets and are staying on enormous mega-yachts”. The Sussexes join other members of the
Royal Family in using charter flights for private holidays, with the Duke of York photographed boarding one in
Scotland earlier this week as he travelled back from Balmoral. Senior members of the family also regularly use chartered planes on their official overseas visits, for security reasons and to navigate busy schedules. The Royal Family traditionally use the month of August for their holidays, with an extended stay at Balmoral for the
Queen who is visited by her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren through the summer. The Cambridges have been widely reported to have enjoyed a long-haul trip during the school holidays, appearing tanned and relaxed during a public engagement on the Isle of Wight last week. The Duchess of Sussex is known to be a fan of Ibiza, having travelled there with friends including designed Misha Nonoo in 2016 and posting pictures to her Instagram. The couple have travelled extensively during their relationship, conducting a transatlantic relationship largely without being photographed and disappearing on honeymoon without the destination being published.
Prince Harry has previously been known to regularly take commercial flights and trains. His work in the coming months is likely to focus heavily on conservation, with a planned project about the tourism industry. The Duke will return to public duties on Saturday August 24, when he will attend the Rugby League Challenge Cup Final at Wembley in his capacity as patron. A spokesman for Buckingham Palace declined to comment.