Incredibly, the royal plane drama continues.
When last we checked in with the Windsors, Will and Kate had just gotten some absolutely lavish Daily Mail press for flying budget, in contrast to Harry and Meghan using private jets, as though all the royals don’t take helicopters as easily as the rest of us hop on the bus. However, twist! It turns out that when Will and Kate booked their budget flight to Scotland, the airline swapped out the plane that would carry them, resulting in two empty planes being reshuffled something like 500 miles total.
Don’t worry—it gets even more ridiculous. “An aviation source with knowledge of what happened said the plane which normally flies the route had been replaced by a Flybe-branded aircraft in an attempt to maximise press coverage for the company,” reported the Scotsman. Their source said:
“An Eastern Airways jet was flown empty from Humberside to Norwich and then flew the scheduled flight to Aberdeen with the Royals on board.
“The Loganair aircraft which normally flies this route for Flybe and Eastern flew from Aberdeen to Norwich as usual but then flew empty from Norwich to Aberdeen.
“I guess it was to ensure if they had any Press coverage of the Royal travel, an aircraft with a Flybe logo flew them.
Flybe told the Scotsman that it was Eastern that had decided to swap out the planes, which Eastern confirmed:
“Eastern Airways can confirm any decision as to which aircraft operated the Norwich-Aberdeen service on Thursday morning was entirely that of Eastern Airways and not that of Flybe and apologies to Flybe for any resulting confusion. Decisions taken were to ensure operational control and responsibility remained that directly of Eastern Airways.”
To be clear, Will and Kate didn’t know about the switch; “A Kensington Palace spokesman declined to comment but it is likely the couple will be mortified,” said the Daily Mail. Truly, the royals can’t catch a break, except for the massive series of breaks they caught just by virtue of being royals.