Travalyst ~ Is This Harry’s Only Hope?

All eyes are on Travalyst, but for all the wrong reasons. When it was launched last September (2019), just after the Sussexes spent the summer on a private jet tour, people were laughing at the eco-tourism project, more so when Harry used the launch to defend his use of private jets with his wincing and cries of ‘victimization saying he needed to protect his family. No one bought it then, and after the recent revelations of the Shifty Sussex escape plan, those that did bother to give him an ounce of sympathy have retracted any goodwill they had towards him.

So what is Travalyst? It’s not a registered charity or been officially declared as a non-profit, or not for profit (NFP)organization. It’s simply registered as a public limited company where Harry owns at least 75% of the shares of the company.  People have viewed this as a NFP because that’s what the Sussex Royal press office told the media, and initially working under the umbrellas of the Royal Foundation and, then Sussex Royal it gave them charitable status. However, there is nothing on paper as it stands that says that it is a charity or NFP when it became a plc (private limited company) on 3 April, 2020. What this technically means is that a charity cannot theoretically transfer all of its funds into a private company, as in the Sussex Royal Foundation cannot transfer funds to Travalyst. Obviously we don’t know whether that has happened, but if it did, then there are some very serious issues at stake, and as only Harry and the two directors are listed, MM doesn’t get involved at all.

We were also told that back in September, 2019 that Harry had been working on Travalyst for two years, but what on earth was he doing all that time? Did it take him two years to call up Visa, Booking.com, Tripadvisor, Skyscanner, and Trip.com? What has he and the team got to show for it as the Royal Foundation accounts were revealed earlier this month, and Travalyst got a fair few pennies thrown its way? What is Travalyst going to do, because all it seems to do is hold summits and get people in the industry together for a chinwag, but that’s not new as it happens all the time. Classified as ‘sustainable tourism’ the initiative doesn’t appear to be more than someone gathering people up to discuss things at a venue to make themselves look good. How much of the Royal Foundation funds have been used for Travalyst over the years?

I decided to take a look back at the domains purchased and it makes for interesting reading, so take things with a pinch of salt…

This is the first domain registered back in October (24), 2016 in GB, and was registered via The Royal Foundation (or a body that calls themselves that), and it has an active parked page. It’s been held dormant for nearly 3.5 years, so why didn’t they use the domain last year to launch Travalyst if the Royal Foundation did own it? Was Harry encouraged to register it and then never did anything with it until necessary?

I‘ve been updating my timelines and articles for my books, and the end of October struck a cord with me, as that was the week that MM emailed Gina at Kruger Cowne to tell her that she wanted to end their contract due to her life with Harry. The infamous banana Instagram post surfaces that same week, and a week later, Harry makes that strange announcement that he is dating MM and that the media must stop being racist. It was strange because no one had been racist, and most people didn’t even know who she was or that he was dating her. Frankly no one cared, and the US election at the time was far more important.

Hold that thought though, what if the Sussexes wanted to launch Travalyst but couldn’t gain access to the (.com) domain for whatever reason, and they had to register other extensions which they did in July 2019, and the .org is the one they are using? If the initiative had been in place for two years then why suddenly acquire a domain six weeks before its launch? Why is this domain registered in Ontario, Canada (possibly because the webmasters are there?) whereas the others are registered in the UK/GB?

It all looks very slapdash, with a webmaster in Canada (and this was in 2019 when the duo were about to go on a tour representing the nation and The Queen), and the domain registered there as well, while the trademark is registered in the UK and the subsequent companies (MWX Trading Ltd in August 2019, and Travalyst in April 2020) are too.

If Travalyst is a vanity initiative (which it has the hallmarks of) then who is being duped here? Look at the  spiel that the upcoming summit is promoting…

How far removed are the Sussexes and Travalyst from reality? Covid-19 is far from over, and while some areas are opening up, people are far too busy to sit around and chat about what to do, because most of these consultants can only offer suggestions. The real people that know are those who own hotels, who live in tourist areas, people who run travel agencies and not bucket shops that act as a middle man (that’s what all the partners are, bar Visa). What does ‘build back better’ mean? Does he mean rebuild? This is why Travalyst seems out of touch, because there are many areas that are still in lockdown, thus you can’t rebuild when you are in lockdown, and others are adjusting their business models rather than rebuilding.

The whole Travalyst malarky looks fragmented and odd:

• With no head office or contact details bar an info@ email .
• The original domain Travalyst (.com) that claims to have been registered by the Royal Foundation was acquired during the week MM dumps Kruger Cowne (October 2016), and has a parking page, and was registered over two and a half years before the launch.
• The website domain Travalyst (.org) was acquired six weeks before the Travalyst launch and is registered in Canada even though it is a UK based and funded initiative.
• The directors/staff are ‘loyal’ Sussex staff members and were the only two staff members who were not made redundant, but were they the best options?
• James Holt left the Royal Foundation as head of communications in September 2019 and would have a good working knowledge of how the charity works, and how funding and grants are issued. Thus, he would know the best time to make certain announcements, after grants had been issued or funds transferred.
• Travalyst has produced one launch event, and one summit, with an upcoming virtual one, and pretty much that’s it, bar a fancy website that doesn’t say much either.
• It isn’t registered as a non-profit or charity (to date), so what is it? We assume it’s non-profit because they aren’t selling or providing anything, and that’s what they have told the world even though there isn’t anything official to prove this.
• It started life in the Royal Foundation, then moved to the Sussex Royal Foundation, and then suddenly set up its own company in April 2020 when in January, the Sussexes were told they could no longer use Sussex Royal.
• Was this set up as a sideline to help write off flight and accommodation expenses when they left the RF, knowing that they would not be able to expense trips as easily and allow them to move around for free?

I spoke to a friend who audits accounts for charities, and they said you can’t lawfully transfer funds  from a charity to a private company technically. Of course we don’t know if that has happened, but some media outlets have suggested that it has happened, and that’s why there is so much outrage. Harry cannot bend the rules because he was born with a title.

According to his lawyers he is ‘offended’ that people would think he would act dishonorably, but according to Schillings, they state that Travalyst is a non-profit, yet there is no actual paperwork to prove that. They can try and backdate things, but if funds were already transferred when Travalyst had set up their own private company then that is outside of the governance guidelines as far as I have been told. The company documents state they would seek voluntary donations, but doesn’t state that they have applied to be a charity or declared NFP status.

Basically, if there has been some shifting of funds in order to ‘hide’ things then it appears incorrect advice or guidance was followed. The rules are in place to prevent individuals transferring monies to their own companies, but there are other loopholes that people use. Was this a backup plan that was executed in desperation, but is falling apart? MM obviously opted to not have her name on this venture, and you wonder why as she insists on her fingers being in all the pies?

It doesn’t say much especially as they don’t have a plan, but want to get people together and to take credit for it, but nothing of substance has arisen.

If you look at the object(ives) and powers of Travalyst it looks overly ambitious, but take note of section 48 in particular; 48.1.10 -1.17 where it says the company can borrow or raise money to fulfill the ‘objects’, receive voluntary funds, use the funds as the board sees fit to promote the ‘objects’, to purchase, lease, or acquire property convenient for the purposes of the company in the UK or abroad (does this mean he would buy or rent somewhere in the USA and then use Travalyst funds to pay for it?), and invest any funds not used as the board sees fit.

I think 48.1.13 is a rather dangerous caveat to include considering we all know that the Sussex duo have nowhere to live, and don’t have the finances to buy somewhere without having to release funds. If they were to use the ‘powers’ and funds to purchase a property through the company, then what more proof is needed to indicate this was an elaborate plan? Yes, they may need an office, but that didn’t seem to bother them in January when they knew they would have to leave BP, and didn’t move to alternative offices. They didn’t appear to change the contact details online either, which is all very sloppy and unprofessional.

The above are excerpts from the Companies House Travalyst documents, and I leave this post with more questions because there are no answers as yet, but what we have is a company with some vague objectives of wanting to cheer people on to talk about eco tourism, and who want rich people to fund the company while they look like eco-warriors. Who is dumb enough to donate to this cause? Who is foolish or desperate enough to want to be associated with this clown based circus? The question remains, did the Sussex Royal Foundation (charity) transfer funds given to them from the Royal Foundation to Travalyst (a plc) when they were told that had to wind up Sussex Royal?