Prince Andrew blows £5,000 taking a helicopter to the golf
Prince Andrew has risked causing a row, by using a taxpayer-funded helicopter to take him from his home in Windsor to a golf club in Deal, Kent. He flew to the Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club on Sunday with Jim Yong Kim, the President of the World Bank. The helicopter then waited for them to finish their round, before flying them back again. The cost of the trip is estimated at £5,000.
The Daily Mail reports that the helicopter is one of two that the Royal Family use for official engagements. They are paid for by the Queen - using her annual grant from the government.
The 112 mile trip might otherwise have taken two hours by car - which doesn't seem a particularly onerous journey given that the Prince didn't have any other official engagements on Sunday.
However, the Palace told the Express that the use of the helicopter had been necessary - considering the best balance of security, efficiency and minimising disruption to the public. It added that the use of helicopters is only sanctioned after "the application of clear and long-established criteria."
Controversial
It's not the first time newspapers have picked up on the price of Prince Andrew's golfing trips. Previously he has been criticised for taking expensive taxpayer-funded flights to watch the Open.
Since being saddled with the nickname of 'Air Miles Andy', any decision to fly will always be poured over. He earned the name in 2014 after visiting 15 countries (six more than any other member of the Royal family) and travelling 66,800 miles by air.
Back in March he was criticised after deciding to take a helicopter on a day of Royal engagements - traveling from Windsor to visit three schools, pop to Buckingham Palace and then return home.
He's not the only Royal to face criticism for using the helicopter. In February, the Duchess of Cambridge took a flight from Anmer Hall to Kensington Palace - and back again - at a cost of £3,000, after carrying out a royal engagement in London. At the time, reports highlighted that the Queen took the train the following day to travel from Sandringham to London at a cost of just £54.
Of course, the flip side of the argument is that the Royals have the helicopter, and employ a full time pilot, so it would be every bit as wasteful to double-up with other forms of transport for longer more complex journeys with security implications. You could also argue that part of the deal of having a Royal Family is that they get to do things like fly their friends to the golf.
But what do you think? Let us know in the comments.
