Eco-conscious Harry and Meghan Markle want to save the planet. But a majority of Britons think they’re ‘green hypocrites’ according to an exclusive Mail Royals poll

• Last year, Prince Harry said climate change was ‘wreaking havoc’ on the planet
• But the Sussexes live in a 16-bathroom mansion and take private jets

They are the Royal couple who have long embraced their close bond with nature.

Whether photographed barefoot on the sands of Sydney’s Bondi Beach or lying on the grass in the shade of a sprawling tree in the gardens of their Montecito mansion, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are keen to promote a laidback image, inextricably coupled with a deep appreciation for the natural world.

There is a ‘ticking clock to protect our planet’, they said on Instagram. ‘We are jeopardizing this beautiful place we call home – for ourselves and for future generations. Let’s save it. Let’s do our part.’

But a poll for The Mail’s new Royals site suggests the British public have  big questions over the couple’s eco-credentials, with a majority accusing them of ‘green hypocrisy’.

More than half of those polled – 56 per cent – said that, while Harry and Meghan present themselves as conservationists, their lifestyle appears to contradict the way the present themselves. 

A comprehensive new poll for The Mail’s new Royals site has revealed Britain’s verdict on Harry and Meghan

One with nature: Harry and Meghan, Duke and Duchess of Sussex visit Bondi Beach

During a speech to the United Nations General Assembly in July 2022, Harry said that climate change was ‘wreaking havoc’ on the planet

Harry and Meghan live in a £11million  mansion with nine bedrooms and 16 bathrooms

The pair have attracted scrutiny for conducting globe-trotting journeys on private jets and for using convoys of gas-guzzling cars.

In August 2019, just two months after making that Instagram statement, Prince Harry used a private jet and a helicopter to travel to a Google conference in Siciliy. a climate summit as it happens.

In the same month, Harry and Meghan reportedly took four flights on private jets in just 11 days to travel between the UK, Nice and Ibiza.  

In June 2022, the family made a £160,000 trip back home to the US after the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee on a Bombardier Global 600, described as a ‘Russian oligarch-style jet’.

According to climate experts, the trip would have resulted in ten times more carbon dioxide – nearly 60 tonnes – being emitted than if the Sussexes had taken a commercial flight.

Other findings from our exclusive Deltapoll survey:  

• More than four in ten think Harry will never come back to live in Britain full-time, but more than a third at 36 per cent think he will come back at some point
• Fifty-two per cent think that the institution of the monarchy is good for Britain, but the proportion who think the opposite is around one in seven (14 per cent)
• Prince Andrew’s reputation has sunk so low that 79 per cent would remove him from the line of succession to the throne
• Fifty-one per cent of the public say that Britain will still have a monarchy in 50 years

Individuals can opt to offset emissions from flying by paying companies to plant trees and engage in other carbon offsetting measures on their behalf.

But it is not known whether Harry and Meghan have elected to do so, and the couple have yet to state publicly whether this is the case.

They have raised repeated concerns  about personal security and this, too, might be a factor in their thinking.

The poll suggest they do continue to have some support. Around 22 per cent of those responding agreed that some air travel was ‘unavoidable’ for the couple, and that they made up for it by using their status to raise awareness of important environmental issues.

Back at ground level, meanwhile, the Sussexes have been spotted using vehicles which do not conform to their high eco standards.

In July last year, they were driven around New York City in a fleet of SUVs – on the same day Harry made a speech to the United Nations General Assembly in which he declared that climate change was ‘wreaking havoc’ on the planet.

The convoy, which included at least two Range Rovers and one dark SUV, had carbon emissions of 235g/km per car, experts said.

Harry has previously described how climate change was one of ‘the most pressing issues we are facing’.

Further revelations from the Mail Royals poll include the fact that only half of people believe Prince Harry should have been invited to the Coronation. A further 39 per cent believe he should not attend.

Fewer than half thought the Duchess should be allowed to attend. It has now been confirmed that she will not take up the invitation, and will remain in the couple’s £11million Montecito home with one-year-old Lilibet and Archie, 3.

It was reported that the delay in the couple responding to the invitation was, in part, linked to discussions over where they would sit.

Half of those who thought the Sussexes should be allowed to attend believe they should have a prominent position for the historic ceremony, while 27 per cent disagree.

Charles is said to be very pleased his youngest son is coming and his mood is described as ‘generally quite forgiving’.

But Harry may not encounter quite the same welcome from his older brother William. The Prince of Wales is said to still feel betrayed by the attacks Harry made on him, and wife Kate, in his recently-published memoir, Spare. Sources have claimed William has no plans to speak to his younger brother during his short trip to the UK.

Harry and Meghan leave the United Nations building in New York with a convoy that included at least two Range Rovers and one dark Sports Utility Vehicle

Seventy-one per cent of respondents believe that William and Kate are good role models for the country, compared to just 14 per cent for Harry and Meghan

Just one in ten believes that Harry and Meghan should receive public money

Other findings from the Deltapoll survey include:

• Amid the controversy of Harry’s revelations in Spare,  a third of people – 33 per cent – do not support Harry publicly criticising the Royal Family. A further 29 per cent understand why he wants to do it, but do not believe he should have done so in public.

• Nearly two thirds of people (64 per cent) feel so strongly about the attacks on the Royals in Spare, and following the couple’s Netflix series in December, Harry should even be removed from the line of succession altogether. He is currently fifth in line to the throne, behind Prince William and his three children, George, 9, Charlotte, 7, and five-year-old Louis.

• The poll reveals 37 per cent believe Harry and Meghan owe the Royal Family an apology. But one third (33 per cent) think both sides have a responsibility to bury the hatchet and apologise to each other.

• That may be difficult. Sources claim King Charles and the Prince of Wales have no intention of apologising to Harry, something he had hoped for before accepting the invitation to the Coronation.

• Just 14 per cent believe today that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are good role models for the country – compared to 71 per cent backing William and Kate.
• The Cambridges ‘better represent modern Britain’, according to 64 per cent of respondents.

The Sussexes aren’t alone in lacking popularity.  Prince Andrew remains the least in favour – and a majority of those polled would also remove his daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, from the line of succession.

Some members of the Royals currently receive funding from the Government through the Sovereign Grant, which comes from taxpayers.

But only one in ten thought Harry and Meghan or Prince Andrew should benefit from the Grant. Around five per cent of the couple’s income in 2018/19 – the first year of their marriage – came from the Sovereign Grant, but this has stopped since they stepped away as working Royals.

A majority of the public – 74 per cent – equally believe that Harry and Meghan should foot the bill for their security needs.

Prince Harry is currently embroiled in a legal battle with the Home Office over the right to police protection when he and his family are in the UK.

The Duke has insisted his family requires round-the-clock protection.

Meanwhile, although the Duke’s memoir painted Charles as a somewhat ineffectual father, who was unable to hug 12-year-old Harry when he learned of his mother’s death, there was healthy support in the poll for Charles as a father. 

More than four in ten – 43 per cent – said the King had done a ‘good job’ of parenting his two boys.

The poll also decided that William embodies Diana’s values more than Harry by a margin of nearly two to one (50 per cent, compared with 27 per cent).

Forty three per cent said that Charles has done a ‘good job’ of being a father 

And as for whether Diana would have approved of Meghan, the responses were perhaps not what Harry would have liked.

The Prince has claimed Meghan and his late mother would have been ‘as thick as thieves’ and ‘best friends’.

But those who responded to our poll were divided – 37 per cent believed the Princess of Wales would have approved of the Duchess, while an almost-equal 36 per cent felt differently.

The new findings are from a Deltapoll survey of 1,569 British adults between 24 and 27 March with statistics weighted to represent the population as a whole.

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