One of the funniest parts of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s successful private tours of Nigeria and Colombia is that the British media cannot make up their minds about what they’re mad about. They’re still crying about how it was a “quasi-royal tour” and Buckingham Palace is still sending out talking points to marginalize the multiple purposes of the tours. It’s also funny because the left-behind Windsors are refusing to travel for the most part. The Princess of Wales hasn’t been on a tour since she and William flopped in the Caribbean and Boston in 2022. William needs to be stage-managed and carefully controlled by staff whenever he leaves the country. Charles and Camilla have only traveled a few times since QEII died and none of those tours were hugely successful. So instead of focusing on the left-behinds, the British media now wants to pretend that the Sussexes’ tours should be judged by the same criteria. As such, we’re now getting stories about the “cost” of Harry and Meghan’s visit to Colombia last month.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussexes’ four-day visit to Colombia cost the country almost £45,000, according to figures released by the vice-president’s office. They were requested by Maria Fernanda Cabal, a Right-wing senator and political opponent of Francia Marquez, Colombia’s vice-president, who orchestrated the trip and hosted Harry and Meghan.

Ms Cabal, who has previously dismissed the quasi-royal tour as “showmanship”, branded it “wasteful spending”. The costs were released in response to a “derecho de petición”, or right to petition.

“Did you know that the visit of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex cost Colombians a total of $244,245,305 (£44,419.26)?” Ms Cabal’s office said.

The cost included internal transport throughout the visit and security. Prince Harry and Meghan paid for their own flights, their accommodation in Bogota and general expenses, according to the vice president’s office. The security costs for the engagements held in San Basilio de Palenque, the first African Freetown in the Americas, founded by escaped slaves, was almost £7,500. In Cali, where the couple attended a music and culture festival, a forum and a meeting with young people, the security bill was just under £4,500.

The total cost covers an eight-day period as it includes four days of advance visits from staff including security and logistics teams who organised “transport, sound, refreshments and everything involved” for each engagement, sources said.

[From The Telegraph]

I’m sorry, all of these blaring headlines in Britain over a royal tour (lmao) which didn’t even cost $60K in expenses for Colombia? While I know there are many Colombians who live in poverty, $60K is negligible when it comes to federal spending. It’s an accounting error, a blip. It’s also what any country would spend for a visiting VIP, especially if that VIP provided the country with millions of dollars’ worth of “free media” and positive press. Media outlets around the world ran photos and stories from the Sussexes’ tour. It reminds me a bit about how often the British media cried about the cost of the Sussexes’ 2018 wedding, while never mentioning the fact that the wedding provided tens of millions of dollars worth of positive media for “Brand Britain” and “Brand Windsor.” If we’re doing cost-benefit analyses, do the whole thing.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.