Prince Harry raised eyebrows when he appeared in China to address a travel conference in Shanghai, just as King Charles began his historic visit to Canada – and Jennie Bond believes the irony of Harry’s trip was ‘hard to ignore’

Prince Harry’s surprise appearance in China appeared to fall short with the ‘irony’ of the trip hard to ignore, according to an expert. The Duke of Sussex jetted all the way to Shanghai to be at a global travel and tourism conference in the city, where he gave a keynote speech urging the travel industry to support sustainable travel and tourism and shared climate goals.

Harry is the co-founder of the not-for-profit organisation Travalyst, which promotes sustainable travel. However, the timing of the visit came just as his estranged father King Charles was arriving in Canada for a historic visit, where he gave a speech in parliament. But despite Harry’s trip to China also marking a first, as it was his first trip to the country, former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond believes it didn’t make the waves Harry might have been hoping.

Harry waves to those at the conference (
Image:
Trip.com Group Envision 2025/Travalyst)

She told the Mirror: “Fortunately it seems not to have overshadowed Charles and Camilla’s trip to Canada. In fact, it seems to have made very little news at all. If the idea was to garner as much publicity for the cause as possible, it would seem to have fallen rather short.

“There was no advance information about it and not much of a splash when he was there. But he is clearly employed by Travalyst to make keynote speeches like this, and I’m sure he made a good job of it. The timing of the conference would have been coincidental to the King’s trip to Canada, certainly not deliberate.

“However, the irony of flying across the world to promote sustainable, environmentally friendly travel is hard to ignore. Surely a video speech would have been more ethical? The same criticism could be lobbed at William flying around the world to host the Earthshot Awards but sometimes it just raises the profile in a way nothing else could. I’m not sure that Harry’s presence did the same.”

King Charles and Queen Camilla on a trip to Canada (
Image:
AP)
Harry’s trip came amid reports that have suggested that all that could be set to change as he attempts to find a ‘new purpose’. It is reported that Harry could be launching his own commercial venture in the next few months, while also concentrating on his Invictus Games Foundation.

There are no details so far on what the venture could be, which will be one of the first tasks for the Sussex’s newly formed team of advisors.

But Jennie said: “Personally, I think this commercial route opens him up to all sorts of accusations of trading on his royal status which would make him an even angrier young man than at present.

“I think Harry is still trying to figure out where he goes from here. By normal standards, he’s a very rich man, but life in Montecito doesn’t come cheap, especially with all the security costs he deems necessary.

“So is he content for his wife to be the breadwinner while he concentrates on the children and charity work? There’s nothing wrong with that but he might feel he needs to pursue commercial ventures too.”

Prince Harry’s recent appearances have seen him promote his charitable and non-profit causes. And Jennie added: “There’s nothing wrong with being a stay-at-home dad and using his influence to help charities around the world. He’s brilliant at interacting with people and at just being Harry. He should perhaps stick to what he’s born to, trained for and truly good at.”