Glaring Prince Harry absence in latest eco-tourism announcement
In a puzzling turn of events, the Duke of Sussex has been left out of a major announcement by an initiative he helped launch, after a rocky few months for the royal.
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Prince Harry has been left out of a major revamp announcement by the eco-tourism project he helped launch, in a puzzling turn of events.
The Duke of Sussex has spent years as the public face of sustainable non-profit organisation Travalyst, after first getting on-board while still a working royal in 2019.
At the time, he received criticism over his use of private jets amid his public pleas for the tourism industry to focus on sustainability.
The organisation combines major travel industry companies including TripAdvisor, Skyscanner and Booking.com.
Earlier this year, Travalyst announced it was transitioning from its “pilot phase” and entering an “incredibly exciting” era with a new board of directors with “world-class expertise”, but failed to mention Harry at all.
Until that point, the high-profile royal had featured prominently on the majority of its press releases.
The statement was released in May, just over a week after Harry and Meghan Markle were caught up in what their spokesman described as a “near-catastrophic” car chase involving paparazzi in New York City.
Despite his omission from its latest PR push, Newsweek reports that the duke remains in regular contact with the Travalyst board and CEO behind the scenes, and is still listed on its website as “founder and patron”.
It comes amid a challenging year for the Sussexes, which has seen the commercial aspects of their post-royal life take a hit – while Harry also recently suffered a setback in one of his legal battles.
Last week, a major part of Harry’s case against News Group Newspapers (NGN) – his claim of phone-hacking by the UK’s The Sun – was dismissed by a High Court judge in London, citing his testimony’s “lack of credibility”.
However, the remainder of Harry’s claim against NGN (which is owned by the same parent company as News Corp Australia, publisher of this masthead) will go to trial.
The legal development came just weeks after Harry and Meghan’s deal with Spotify collapsed – with an executive labelling them “f**king grifters” – and amid persistent reports their marriage is in trouble, which their representatives have denied.
As a result, a royal source recently told The Sun that “there is a bit of a feeling Harry is spiralling out of control and all is not well”, adding that “members are family are worried about how he is coping.”
Originally published as Glaring Prince Harry absence in latest eco-tourism announcement
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