The Duke and Duchess of Sussex – aka Prince Harry and the former Meghan Markle – have been caught taking their fourth private jet flight in 11 days.

I personally don’t mind one bit. If I were a royal prince with a net worth estimated at £30 million married to a reasonably famous ex-TV actress, I too would fly by private jet as often as humanly possible rather than have to share breathing space and arm-rest space with the rank, corpulent, and disgusting proletariat.

But I recognise that we live in an increasingly eco-conscious world where some people find that kind of behaviour deeply offensive, environmentally destructive and to be avoided at all costs.

There was that guy, for example, who was at that Google conference in Sicily the other day who made an impassioned speech about the importance of living ‘sustainably’. And we know he meant every word because he delivered it while standing barefoot.

Then there was that other guy, the one who recently appeared in a special edition of Vogue and who, during the course of an interview with the renowned ethnologist Jane Goodall, said he was only going to have “two, maximum” children because any more might be bad for the planet.

The guy added:

“I always think to myself, whenever there’s another natural disaster, a huge increase in volcano eruptions or earthquakes or flooding, how many clues does nature have to give us before we actually learn, or wake ourselves up to the damage and the destruction that we’re causing?”

And let’s not forget the third guy: the one who bravely spoke up in Sydney last year about the rarely-mentioned threat posed by “climate change.”

He told his audience:

“We cannot continue to breathe polluted air while cutting down our forests, or without reducing emissions.”

Nor did he neglect to remind his listeners:

“…with privilege comes great responsibility.”

I imagine that were Prince Harry to encounter any of those three environmentalists they’d give him a pretty stern lecture on his selfish carbon-guzzling ways.

Then again, maybe they wouldn’t because I’ve just noticed a weird coincidence: all three of them happen to be called Prince Harry/the Duke of Sussex – a name they also have in common with the guy who has been taking all those private jet flights. What could this all possibly mean?

Well, I hate to criticise a guy who has risked his life on two tours of duty in Afghanistan, first as an infantryman attached to the Gurkhas; subsequently as a helicopter pilot. But I do think that if Prince Harry is not to lay himself open to the charge of being a rank hypocrite, he needs to do one of two things.

Either

a) dial down the environmental proselytising, avoid regurgitating brainless eco-drivel he has picked up second hand from an autistic 16-year old girl, a doddery old nature TV presenter and his barking Dad, and instead stick to stuff he knows about: shooting pheasant; playing polo; taking out Taliban with hellfire missiles.

or

b) stop travelling by private jet

If I were him, I’d go for a). And I think I know who’d agree very strongly with me.

Clue: she used to be in Suits, behaves as if she considers herself grander than the Queen, and probably won’t be very amused if the private jets have to be nixed just to save a few dumb-assed stupid polar bears…