Meghan Markle had a belated birthday celebration in secret. The Duchess of Sussex reportedly went on a trip to Ibiza in Spain with her husband, Prince Harry, and their baby boy, Archie Harrison.
A Spanish news outlet reported that Duchess Meghan boarded a private plane with the two men in her life from London to reach the Balearic Islands on Tuesday, Aug. 6. The family, however, did not stay long and thus was able to evade the paparazzi and the press while on the island.
The Sussex royals reportedly hired about five local escorts along with their current security detail to help them get around the tiny island unnoticed. Because of this, the royal couple was not subjected to stolen photos from the public's camera phones.
The couple also mostly stayed within their villa. The belated birthday holiday was not the first visit for Duchess Meghan in Ibiza as she was there with her girlfriends in 2016, or before she and Prince Harry started seriously dating.
Royal watchers can't help but wonder if the Ibiza trip was a gift from Prince Harry. Duchess Meghan, who is still technically on maternity leave, is said to be cooped in their home a lot these days but a good friend told Elle that she's enjoying the downtime with their newborn. However, she has enjoyed spending her birthdays with short trips, which her husband happily obliged.
Following the news of their quick holiday in Spain, however, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have once again earned criticisms for flying off on a jet. This comes just weeks after Prince Harry said that he wants to reduce his family's carbon footprint to leave future generations, such as his son, a better environment.
According to Professor Paul Ekins of University College of London (UCL), the Sussex's actual lifestyle "devalue the cause they profess to support." Other said that the family could have, instead, taken a boat or train, or at least fly a commercial jet since there are nine flights a day from London going to Ibiza.
"This can be interpreted as the wealthy continuing to live how they want while dictating to ordinary people that they have to change," Ekins said. "Richer people fly most frequently and the increase in flights is mostly due to wealthy people flying more - not poorer people starting to fly a little."
Prince Harry has also been called a hypocrite because he also flew to Sicily on his private jet recently to join billionaires at a Google summit.
