Queen Elizabeth II is now looking to hiring a new travel chief that will be managing the royal family's travel plans. This comes after Meghan Markle and Prince Harry experienced backlash for using private jets. After the recent accounts revealed that they spent £4.6 million last year on travel alone, Her Majesty is now taking great measures to make their journeys "cost-effective" and "efficient."
The new travel chief will have a salary of £85,000 and will organize air travel and schedule the royal train trips of the royal family. Although it seems to be an easy task, the crucial part is the new hiree will need to negotiate the "value for money contracts and options for travel," per Express.
Queen Elizabeth wants to make sure that the costs are reduced after the considerable money spent on last year's travels. The amount includes the almost £200,000 spent on private jets for flights to and from Scotland.
The job advert is now posted on the Royal Household website and has a closing date of Dec. 20. "This role is critical to ensuring that the Royal Household operates and purchases safe, efficient, cost-effective, and appropriate travel services for the official duties of Members of the Royal Family and their Households," the job description read.
The future director of royal travel will take the responsibility of organizing air travel and overseeing the operations of the Queen's helicopter flight and the usage of scheduled train services and the royal train. The chosen applicant will also liaise with the authorities to provide advice and recommendations on travel for security and safety purposes and environmental considerations.
The job post comes after the backlash over Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's use of private jets, per The Sun. The royal couple experienced criticisms earlier this year for chartering six private planes despite their concerns for climate change and claims of using commercial travel on the regular.
The backlash began when Prince Harry launched the eco-tourism project in Amsterdam, where he said that he always made sure that his travels were carbon neutral. Critics pointed out that using private jet leaves a huge carbon footprint that hurts the environment.
The Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy noted that 2.52kg of carbon dioxide is emitted for every liter of aviation turbine fuel burned. Prince Harry then defended his use of private jets, saying that he needed to make sure of his family's safety.
