Prince William and Kate Middleton in New York
Prince William and kate Middleton take a tour of the lobby of One World Trade Center after a visit to the National September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York.Reuters

Kate Middleton and Prince William made waves when they seemed to call out Prince Harry and Meghan Markle by flying commercial.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have been facing a lot of criticism for travelling by private jet after preaching about the environment. They defended their decision with many reasons but all of them were rubbished when it was revealed that Prince William and Kate Middleton travelled commercial without any issues.

However, it looks like their eco-friendly trip might have been anything but. Apparently, Kate and William's decision to fly with their children on a standard flight to Scotland may have resulted in 4.5 extra tons of carbon emissions according to insiders.

Industry experts have said that without the royal's knowledge, an empty flight was flown from Humberside to Norwich to ensure the Flybe brand would be on the aircraft the royals travelled on. The airline denies this but as reported by Mail Online flight logs suggest an empty flight was flown 123 miles down to Norfolk. The 8.40am flight is usually operated by Loganzir on behalf of Eastern Airways, Flybe's franchise partner.

This would put quite the dampener on the gesture the couple Cambridge was trying to make. Speaking to the Mail Online a source said: "It's utterly extraordinary and makes a mockery of their family's very laudable attempts to travel more economically and in a more environmentally friendly manner." 

Kate Middleton Meghan Markle dress
Britain's Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, (2R) and her husband Britain's Prince William, Duke of Cambridge (R), arrive with Britain's Prince Harry (C) and his fiancée US actress Meghan Markle to attend a Commonwealth Day Service at Westminster AbbeyDANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP/Getty Images

The fact that Kate Middleton and Prince William were unaware of the fact that an empty plane was flown to them just for their convenience redeems them a little though. "An additional 4.5 tons of carbon emissions were created simply to ensure that an aircraft with Flybe written on the side operated the flight with the Royal party aboard, instead of the usual aircraft which flies the route. It's obviously not their fault but is utterly ridiculous."

A spokesman for Flybe said: "Flybe denies any involvement in the decision over which aircraft to fly on this route, which is fully operated by Eastern Airways."

However, the incident went down, the fact that Prince William and Kate Middleton were ready to travel commercial at all is a step in the right direction. Meghan and Harry can learn something from them. Prince William and Kate Middleton have reportedly also been distancing themselves from the couple Sussex in what the Palace claims to be an administrative move.