Prince Edward and Sophie take £24,000 private plane for skiing holiday

If it’s good enough for Meghan, it’s good enough for Edward! Now the Wessexes arrive in St Moritz by £24,000 private plane for a skiing holiday days after the Duchess of Sussex raised eyebrows with her £100,000 New York flight

• The Earl and Countess of Wessex travelled in style as they jetted out on a private plane for a skiing holiday
• Prince Edward and Sophie were joined by children James, Viscount Severn, 11, and Lady Louise Windsor, 15
• The family departed airfield in Range Rovers and made their way to the upmarket ski enclave of St Moritz
• Comes after fellow royal Meghan raised eyebrows during a extravagant trip to New York for her baby shower

The Earl and Countess of Wessex travelled in style as they jetted out on a private plane for a skiing holiday in the exclusive Swiss resort of St Moritz.

Prince Edward and his wife Sophie were joined by their children James, Viscount Severn, 11, and Lady Louise Windsor, 15, as they enjoyed a half term holiday in the Alps.

The ski-mad family flew out from Britain on Sunday in a £49million Gulfstream G650, a private jet that costs in the region £24,000 to charter for a two-hour flight.

Capable of flying at speeds of almost 600mph, the jet can carry up to 14 passengers and three cabin crew, and includes four convertible beds, two bathrooms, high-speed internet and a Blu-Ray entertainment system. 

Shortly after landing near St Moritz, the family departed the airfield in black Range Rovers and made their way to the upmarket ski enclave, as shown in photographs that surfaced today. 

The Countess of Wessex is seen in the backseat of a Range Rover as she and her husband are driven to the exclusive sky resort of St Moritz

Prince Edward gestures towards staff shortly after his family landed in Switzerland ahead of a short holiday in the Alps

Capable of flying at speeds of almost 600mph, the jet can carry up to 14 passengers and three cabin crew, and includes four convertible beds, two bathrooms, high-speed internet and a Blu-Ray entertainment system

Sophie is shown talking with staff shortly after disembarking from the £49million jet from which the family flew in from Britain

St Moritz is something of a celebrity haunt for die-hard skiers, frequented by the likes of John Travolta, Liz Hurley and Ivana Trump, as well as a string of royals.

The royal couple, who are regulars on the slopes, are expected to fly back to the UK by Monday, when Prince Edward is expected to carry out public engagements in Somerset.

MailOnline has contacted representatives of the Wessexes for comment.

Prince Edward came underfire last summer when he was accused of ‘abusing public money’ after using a private jet to travel 280 miles across the UK at a cost of £6,000.

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The tenth-in-line-to-the-throne travelled from Hampshire to Birmingham Airport in June before attending an event in Tamworth marking the death 1,100 years ago of Anglo-Saxon ruler Aethelflaed.

Later in the day he returned south, going from Birmingham Airport to Bournemouth in Dorset to attend an event in Poole in the evening.

The normal cost to hire the Cessna Citation XL private jet used to fly between the West Midlands city and the South Coast is about £6,000, while a first-class train ticket from Hampshire to Birmingham would have cost £250. 

It comes after fellow royal the Duchess of Sussex raised eyebrows during an extravagant trip to New York for her baby shower.

The royal couple (Sophie is shown in black), who are regulars on the slopes, are expected to fly back to the UK by Monday, when Prince Edward is expected to carry out public engagements in Somerset

The ski-mad family flew in from Britain on a £49million Gulfstream G650, a private jet that costs in the region £24,000 to charter for a two-hour flight

The Range Rover carrying the Earl and Countess is seen rolling over the tarmac as the family prepare for their skiing trip

Prince Edward (second from right) is pictured chatting with staff having flown into Switzerland on a £49million private jet

Mile-high Meghan: The Duchess of Sussex, circled, was pictured boarding a private jet on Wednesday evening bound for the UK, after spending five nights in New York. A one-way trip on the plane is believed to cost a staggering £100,000 ($125,000) and Amal Clooney appears to have picked up the bill

Meghan Markle was flown home in a $43million private jet laid on by George and Amal Clooney after the extravagant trip to the Big Apple, where she partied for five nights with her celebrity friends.

Meghan landed at Farnborough Airport in Hampshire on Thursday after a £200,000 round trip to America following a lavish baby shower thrown by Serena Williams, Jessica Mulroney, and one of the royal’s sorority sisters from Northwestern University.

The eye-watering cost and extraordinarily lavish nature of Meghan’s trip to New York has caused some disquiet in Britain despite Kensington Palace insisting it was ‘privately funded’.

Meghan’s extremely luxurious mode of transportation back to the UK – a Gulfstream G450 twin jet plane – is thought to have cost a staggering $125,000 (£96,000) for the six-hour journey back to the UK from the Big Apple. 

The 37-year-old royal is also thought to have arrived in New York via private jet, meaning that a phenomenal $250,000 (£200,000) was spent on her round-trip travel for the personal girls’ trip.

After the whirlwind five-night trip, which appears to have cost up to $100,000 (£75,000) per day in hotels, events, food, drink and gifts, Meghan has just two nights to recover at her London home before flying to Morocco with Prince Harry on Saturday for a three-day trip to the north African country.  

The Earl and his wife are seen in conversation in the back of a black Range Rover as it leaves the airfield and makes its way to St Moritz

Passports are checked by security officials as the royals make their way from the airport to the luxury resort of St Moritz

The family make their way to St Moritz, which is something of a celebrity haunt for die-hard skiers, frequented by the likes of John Travolta, Liz Hurley and Ivana Trump, as well as a string of royals

Prince Edward (shown in the backseat of the car) puts his hand up as he passes through the exit of the airfield near St Moritz

Cars arrives to take the party to St Moritz, which is something of a celebrity haunt for die-hard skiers, frequented by the likes of John Travolta, Liz Hurley and Ivana Trump, as well as a string of royals

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