The Prince and Princess of Wales have been branded ‘utterly delightful’ by members of the cabin crew who served them during their eight-hour commercial flight from London to Boston yesterday.

The royal couple, both 40, have flown out to the US for a whirlwind three-day tour of Massachusetts’ capital city before attending the second annual Earthshot Prize Awards Ceremony at the MGM Music Hall tomorrow night.

According to CBS, the royal couple’s entourage took up most of the first class seats during the eight-hour flight. 

Passenger Brent Scuttles – who was sitting just two rows behind Prince William – admitted it was a total ‘surprise’ to see the royals on board a commercial plane. 

He said: ‘You do a double take to see if you really see who you think you see!’

Describing the father-of-three as ‘slight’, the first class passenger said the Princess was as ‘beautiful as one would expect’. 

According to the publication, the Prince and Princess of Wales were spotted making conversation with other nearby passengers and spoke about their itinerary during the trip – which involved attending a Boston Celtics game last night.

The couple are also expected to meet President Biden on Friday at the White House ahead of the Earthshot ceremony in the evening. 

Impressed cabin crew said the couple were ‘utterly delightful’ to serve on board the plane. 

Fellow passenger Jonathan Wood said there was a ‘buzz’ around the aircraft once word had gotten round about the royal couple. 

Although passenger Jo Adkins admitted they were surprised to hear the Prince and Princess of Wales had taken a commercial flight, another added that it made sense given the environmental focus of their royal tour.

Earthshot was set up by Prince William in 2020 as a contest to champion innovative environmental solutions.

Once they landed at Logan Airport, passengers were reportedly asked to wait until the Prince and Princess of Wales had already left the plane to disembark.

The publication reports there was 12 state troopers waiting to escort the couple to their first engagement of the day, which was a tour of Boston City Hall. 

In August 2019, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle faced criticism after it was revealed they had taken four private jets in 11 days. 

Earlier this year, the couple were accused of ‘enormous hypocrisy’ after it was revealed they had returned to their £11million Montecito mansion with their children Archie and Lilibet on a gas-guzzling Bombardier Global 6000 before the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations ended.

After touching down in the US, the Prince and Princess of Wales joined 20,000 basketball fanatics to cheer on the Boston Celtics and promote the Earthshot Prize awards on day one in the city – but their first trip to the US in eight years has been overshadowed by a racism scandal rocking Buckingham Palace.

William and Kate arrived in Boston just hours after the Prince’s own godmother, Lady Susan Hussey, a former lady-in-waiting to the late Queen, was accused of making racist remarks at a reception hosted by Queen Consort Camilla.

Lady Susan Hussey, who was a lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth II for decades and was retained by King Charles following his mother’s death, has resigned after allegedly asking Ngozi Fulani, a black woman who runs domestic abuse charity Sistah Space in Hackney: ‘What part of Africa are you from?’

Responding to the allegations made by Ms Fulani on Twitter, Buckingham Palace said it took the situation ‘extremely seriously’, adding Lady Susan Hussey had offered a ‘profound apology’ for her words. 

Her resignation ends a six-decades-long career within the Royal household which saw her become one of Queen Elizabeth II’s closest confidantes. Her role was so significant, she even earned herself a brief portrayal in Netflix’s The Crown. 

Lady Susan, 83, was welcomed into The Firm in 1960, around the time Her late Majesty gave birth to her third child, Prince Andrew, when she was employed to help answer letters addressed to the Royal household, Tatler reports. 

She is the youngest daughter of the 12th Earl of Waldegrave and the widow of Marmaduke Hussey, former chairman of the BBC who passed away in 2006. 

After assuming her role and becoming closer to the monarch, she soon became known as one of the late Queen’s ‘Head Girls’ as a lady-in-waiting. Before long, she was reportedly nicknamed the ‘Number One Head Girl’ as she continued to provide support to the Queen.

Throughout her time as a close confidante of the royal family, Lady Susan grew close to King Charles. So close, in fact, that he asked her to be Godmother to his eldest son, Prince William.