Prince Harry back in the UK as he prepares to quit Royal Family
Prince Harry arrived in Edinburgh on Tuesday evening ahead of his first public appearance in the UK on Wednesday since he and Meghan split from the Royal Family last month.
He arrived in Scotland on a train from London as he returned to the UK for the first of several engagements for what’s expected to be his last royal duties before stepping down.
The Duke of Sussex will be in Edinburgh, where he will welcome businesses taking part in a sustainable tourism partnership that he launched last year.
The launch of Travalyst was overshadowed by last summer’s on-going controversy about the Sussexes using private jets while campaigning on the dangers of climate change.
For Wednesday’s meeting in Scotland, Prince Harry took the train from London to Edinburgh, conscious that his own travel plans do reflect on the causes he is promoting.
LNER, the train company which operates the route to Scotland, says its new trains are among the lowest carbon options for travel between London and Edinburgh.
Travalyst is attempting to bring together some of the biggest operators in the travel industry to ensure holidays and leisure trips have a lower carbon footprint and a more positive impact on the destinations tourists visit.
The companies involved include Booking.com, Skyscanner, Tripadvisor, Trip.com and Visa.
The Duke is attending a working summit to test some of the early plans around aviation and accommodation.
Harry has come back to the UK from Canada where he, Meghan and Archie plan to settle, at least in the short term, when their royal changes kick in at the end of March.
The couple have recently confirmed they will no longer use the word “Royal” in any of their branding despite launching the sussexroyal.com website just a few weeks ago, and registering their Foundation under the name “SussexRoyal”.
On Friday, the Duke and Duchess issued their own statement which appeared to criticise the Queen’s decision that they must stop using the term “SussexRoyal” when they leave the Royal Family.
They laid out their own side of the argument on their website “clarifying” their negotiations with the Queen and the Royal Family over the terms of their exit.
They claimed the Queen and the British government had no “jurisdiction” of the use of the word “Royal” overseas, even though in Canada, the Queen is the Head of State and is as much Canada’s Queen as Great Britain’s.
To many royal watchers, it appeared to be an attempt by the Sussexes to set themselves against the rest of Harry’s family – publicly - as they enter their final weeks as members of the Royal Family.
We wait to see how that statement will reflect on the Sussexes’ final few engagements in the UK before their final departure.