Turbulence hits royal tour over eco breach

‘The journey is 139 times less polluting by train than by plane’

- Richard Palmer

THE King and Queen were criticised yesterday for flying from Paris to Bordeaux while preaching about the need to cut carbon emissions to fight global warming.

The 360-mile hop is no longer permitted on Air France after the French Government banned internal flights of less than two hours 30 minutes for environmental reasons.

Instead, travellers can make the journey in just over two hours on a direct TGV high-speed train.

But that option was ruled out for the King and Queen, who landed in Bordeaux at lunchtime yesterday to fierce criticism from green activists and parts of the French press.

"This plane trip may seem surprising for a King who has made the environment his priority," an editorial in regional newspaper La Depeche said.

"In Bordeaux, his visit will be focused on ecology with a visit to an experimental forest and an organic vineyard and a meeting with the personnel mobilised to deal with the wildfires in Gironde [the department that covers Bordeaux] in the summer of 2022."

The French Green MP Sandra Regol said it was "very disappointing" to see a plane being used by the royals, especially after Charles made a stirring speech about saving the planet in the Paris Senate on Thursday.