Kate Middleton Flies Commercial with Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis to Balmoral

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 22 August 2022

Forget the private jet, forget the helicopter—Kate Middleton and her children Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis arrived in Scotland en route to the Queen’s Balmoral Estate via commercial flight, multiple sources report. (It is believed Prince William and eldest son Prince George arrived separately.)

The family is in Scotland to spend the last few weeks of summer at Balmoral, Her Majesty’s summer retreat. Marie Claire reported today that, come September, the Cambridge trio will begin as day pupils at Lambrook School, the first time George, Charlotte, and Louis will all attend the same school.

According to HELLO!, a video shared to TikTok on Sunday evening shows Kate disembarking a commercial flight with Charlotte and Louis, of which the user wrote “On a flight to Scotland, Kate Middleton, both kids, nanny and security 2 rows in front of me. Could get a private jet or helicopter but keeping it simple, flying economy.”

In the clip, Kate wore a linen-look midi skirt in sage green, layering it with a khaki blazer, HELLO! reports. Her hair was down in natural waves, and she accessorized with a cream shoulder bag. Charlotte wore a long-sleeved floral dress, and Louis wore navy tailored shorts and a blue shirt.

“She even got up halfway through the flight to get her daughter’s iPad,” the user shared. “And yes, she was stunning, even gave me a smile while looking back at the row behind her to talk to her son.”

No one on board the flight took any photos or videos, the user reported.

“Just a mum taking her children on holiday to see grandmother,” the user wrote. “But there was a buzz on board.”

Balmoral is an annual getaway for the Queen and, vis a vis, many members of the royal family. The Balmoral Estate spans around 50,000 acres, “boasting a breathtaking landscape of mountains, rivers, lochs, woodland, and gardens,” HELLO! reports.

According to Vanity Fair (via Tatler), “they [William and Kate] always enjoy going up to Balmoral. They love the outdoors and walking in the hills and spending quality time with family. It’s where William spent a lot of his childhood and it’s important to him that his children experience what he did as a young boy.”

While there, according to Tatler, the family takes long walks in the countryside, fishes, goes horseback riding, and cycles.

Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.