
Harry and Meghan's transatlantic travels since Thanksgiving could cost up to £250,000 and create more than 200 tonnes of C02, MailOnline can reveal today.

Harry, Meghan and Archie first flew the 4,700 miles from London to Vancouver together at the end of November for the start of their six-week Canadian holiday.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex returned to the UK last weekend without their son, leaving him with his nanny and the Duchess' best friend Jessica Mulroney, before dropping the bombshell they were quitting as senior royals on Wednesday.

Hours later Meghan flew back to Canada from Britain - rumoured to be on a BA flight from Heathrow to Vancouver - and is thought to be back staying in the £10million waterfront mansion they stayed in over Christmas and New Year with plans to stay there for the foreseeable future.

Harry is expected to be reunited with his wife and son after a Rugby League World Cup 2021 event at Buckingham Palace next Thursday - and when he returns to Britain it will be the Sussexes' fifth transatlantic flight in two months.

Their couple's spokesman today refused to say if they couple had chartered a private jet for their Canadian holiday, which would have cost them upwards of £125,000 per return trip.

This cost would be doubled to £250,000 if Harry does the same return journey next week, unless they can borrow a plane from rich friends such as George Clooney, Sir Elton John or Serena Williams, as they have when holidaying in the past.

Even if they travelled commercially with British Airways, Air Canada or Virgin Atlantic, a first class ticket would be £4,000 return - meaning their transatlantic trips would have cost at least £20,000 so far not including fares for their staff and security, which could be paid for by the taxpayer.

When asked about their travel engagements over the past two months - and whether they flew privately or commercially - their spokesman told MailOnline she 'wouldn't be commenting on their private schedule'.

Meghan has crossed to and from Canada three times now since October - Harry is expected start out on another return journey next week taking them to a total of five transatlantic flights. This would cost £20,000 commercially, first class, or £250,000 by private jet - creating up to 209 tonnes of C02 in the process

Meghan cradles her son Archie as they get off a private jet at Nice Airport in France in August last year. It later emerged the plane was laid on by Sir Elton John - who also made a cash donation to offset the CO2 created. Harry has defended private plane travel as a way of keeping his family safe while travelling the globe

Meghan and Harry's transatlantic travels Week beginning November 25 Harry, Meghan and Archie travel from London to Vancouver for the start of their six week holiday lasting through Christmas and New Year Cost of flying commercial to Vancouver: £2,000 per person, first class one way CO2 per passenger: 4.5 tonnes of C02 one way Cost flying by private jet in total: £67,500 for the 11 hour flight Total C02 per adult passenger: 45 tonnes of CO2 Weekend of January 4/5 Harry and Meghan fly back to the UK - without Archie Cost flying commercial: £2,000 per person, first class CO2 per passenger: 4.5 tonnes of C02 one way Cost of flying by private jet: £67,500 for the 11 hour flight Total C02 per passenger: 45 tonnes of CO2 Wednesday January 8 Meghan boards a commercial jet for Canada Fare: £2,000, first class CO2 she generated: 4.5 tonnes of C02 (one-way) Thursday January 16 onwards When Harry travels to and from Canada again in coming weeks Cost flying commercial: £4,000 return, first class CO2 per passenger: 9.1 tonnes of C02 Cost flying by private jet: £125,000 return C02 for private flight: 98 tonnes of CO2 for return Potential cost: £252,000 Potential C02 emissions: 200 to 209 tonnes Advertisement

Each passenger on a commercial return flight to Vancouver from London creates an average of 9.1 tonnes of C02 - on a private jet this rises 49 tonnes of C02 per passenger.

The average Briton or American be responsible for 18 tonnes of C02 in an entire year.

This means the couple could have created as much as 209 tonnes of CO2 if Harry travels to and from Britain again before next Thursday.

The absolute minimum they will have created from five flights is 45 tonnes.

Harry and Meghan have been accused of double standards by encouraging people to cut their carbon footprint to save the planet - while regularly using private jets themselves.

The couple claim they pay to carbon offset their journeys and said their of use non-commercial planes was to 'keep his family safe'.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their three children unwittingly added fuel to the fire when days later they took a FlyBe commercial plane soon after Harry and Meghan's jet-setting around Europe.

MailOnline has uncovered flightlogs from Farnborough Airport, the luxury airfield closest to Frogmore Cottage where the couple previously flew by private jet to Ibiza and Nice last year.

There were a number or private jets that took off there would have got the Sussexes to Canada in time for the start of their six-week Vancouver break that began by Thanksgiving, November 28.

But finding out who owns this planes or who was on board is notoriously difficult because the super-rich are able to block the public seeing this information.

There were no direct flights from Farnborough to Vancouver in the week before November 28 - but there were eight private jets that went to America or Canada between November 24 and November 28.

Several stopped at private airfields on the east coast of the US, commonly used as hubs for pilots to refuel before heading to destinations in the west of North America including LA, Hawaii or Vancouver.

On November 24 one flew to Teterboro airport in New Jersey, a hub used by many of the world's stars to head into nearby New York, where the couple have close friends.

Only two private jets returned to Farnborough from North America last weekend, when Harry and Meghan are known to have returned the Britain before their bombshell announcement on Wednesday night.

Meghan is believed to have flown back to Canada late on Wednesday or early on Thursday, on a British Airways flight.

The couple used their new Sussex Royal website this week to claim they are working towards being 'financially independent'.

In the section on travel they say they will use 'commercial air carriers, local trains and fuel-efficient vehicles, be it for official or personal travel'.

But they also give themselves a get-out clause, saying it will be commercial travel if 'possible' and 'unless advised otherwise on security grounds' - and do not say when they will start this policy.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex's decision to retire will mean a huge increase in their carbon footprint. They are pictured disembarking from their plane on their arrival in Suva, on day one of the royal couple's visit to Fiji. Meghan is understood to have flown commercially

A map shows the total number of tonnes of carbon dioxide the Sussexes would be responsible for if they flew between London and Canada, by commercial airliner, return

The couple came under scrutiny in 2019 for their use of private jets when they travelled together. The trips were privately funded by the couple.

They also visited family friend Sir Elton John’s holiday home, but the musician revealed he had paid for the cost of the flight himself and donated to a carbon- offsetting charity.

The couple appear to want to set down roots in Canada after their six-week Christmas break proved a roaring success.

But if Harry, Meghan and Archie took three first class trips a year between London and Toronto, they would clock up an annual carbon footprint of 20.31 tonnes each a year.

And if they based themselves in faraway Vancouver and took three return flights annually, online calculators show their footprint would rise to an even more damaging 27.3 tonnes per head – more than three times the annual average. It's even worse news if they want to save the planet.

Scientists recommend everyone should only be responsible for producing 1.97 tonnes of carbon per year if we want to reverse climate change by 2050.

Pictured: The interior of the plane used by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to visit Elton John's mansion in the south of France

The royal couple faced widespread criticism after using four private jets in the space of just 11 days last summer.

The journeys came soon after Harry told Meghan's edition of British Vogue that they only want to have two children as a way of reducing their carbon footprint.

When he appeared at an event in Amsterdam soon after the private jet debacle, he refused to apologise for his private flights to Italy, France and Spain, saying: 'I spend 99 per cent of my life travelling the world by commercial.'

He claimed his decision to use non-commercial planes was to 'keep his family safe'.

The Duke also insisted he 'offsets 99 per cent' of his carbon footprint. Accounts reveal that the royal family's carbon footprint from official travel nearly doubled in 2018, to 3,344 tonnes of CO2.

In the aftermath of Meghan and Harry's private jet furore, the Queen advertised for a new director of royal travel to ensure 'efficient' and 'effective' flights.