Prince William and Prince George Seen on Same Commercial Flight to Barcelona
Prince William and his son Prince George were seen on the same British Airways flight to Barcelona. Cosmopolitan says the trip broke royal travel protocol, the unwritten custom on how senior royals fly.
Express reported the sighting on 5 November 2026 and published a video showing the two of them on a commercial plane. Cosmopolitan followed on 6 November 2026, describing the pair as flying on the same flight.
The custom is not a law. It is an unofficial rule, which The Sun has described as meaning that the heir to the throne should never fly on the same plane as the monarch. Prince William is the heir. His father, King Charles III, is the monarch. The aim, as The Sun has reported it, is to protect the line of succession, the order of people who would become king.
The same rule reaches further down the line. The Sun reported in 2025 that Prince George, who is a teenager, can no longer travel in the same plane as his father. Prince George is second in line to the throne, behind his father. Cosmopolitan says the protocol applies to future heirs flying together.
Earlier practice shows how the custom worked in the family. The Daily Mail reported in 2025 that when William turned 12, he usually flew in a smaller 125 aircraft from RAF Northolt. Three other family members flew separately in a 146 aircraft.
Prince George has his own link to flying. The Sun reported in 2024 that he began learning to fly at 11, and that his first flight came on the last day of his school holidays.
The Barcelona trip also had a football fixture. The Sun reported on 3 November 2026 that the father and son watched Aston Villa play Barcelona at Camp Nou, the club's stadium, in pouring rain.
Royal aviation has a long history of its own. The royal.uk website says Edward VIII was the first monarch to hold a pilot's qualification. He created The King's Flight in 1936, which provided air transport for royal official duties. The same site describes the Prince of Wales as the heir to the throne and the eldest son of His Majesty The King and Diana, Princess of Wales.
The custom itself has never been written into law, so it rests on practice and on the arrangements the household makes for each journey.
