Prince Charles attended the 65th Anniversary of the D-Day landings with President Obama The Prince of Wales is to try to cut travel costs by using a personal friend’s private plane for an official visit to the US, his spokesman says.
It is thought to be the first time the heir to the throne has used an aircraft provided by a private individual for an official visit.
US financier Joe Allbritton offered him the use of his aircraft.
During the visit, from May 3 to 5, the prince will meet President Barack Obama and address an agriculture conference.
The conference on sustainable agriculture will take place at Washington’s Georgetown University .
Prince Charles’s speech is expected to encompass international sustainability, links between the British and US armed forces, the welfare of injured servicemen, and education.
During the trip, coming just days after Prince William’s wedding, he will also attend an event to support British and American armed forces deployed overseas.
The prince’s communications secretary Paddy Harverson said: “In the current economic climate it was felt it was right to accept the offer [of the plane].
“Needless to say, our friendship with the United States is one of the most important of Great Britain’s international relationships.”
In 2007, the prince took a three-day trip to the US, delivering a speech at the National Constitution Centre in Philadelphia and accepting an environmental award from Harvard Medical School’s Center for Health and the Global Environment.
On that occasion, the prince travelled to the US on a scheduled British Airways flight from Heathrow, although its departure was delayed by nearly an hour.
He was accompanied by his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, on the previous trip, but she will not be joining him on this visit.
President Obama is due to make an official state visit to the UK at the end of May.
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