Harry Aubrey-Fletcher is Prince William’s long-standing friend and godfather to the royal’s youngest son, Prince Louis, alongside other godfathers Nicholas van Cutsem and Guy Pelly. He also now works for William as part of the Duchy of Cornwall, managing “a group of rural businesses across Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire and West Sussex,” official documents show. But his latest business venture has now been dramatically rejected, the Daily Mail reports.
Richard Eden of the Daily Mail has revealed that councillors have thrown out his plans for a green energy plant on his Buckinghamshire estate after receiving thousands of complaints from locals.
Harry had intended to sanction the construction of England’s largest biogas-to-grid facility on his land, having offered around 15 acres at Hornage Farm to Acorn Bioenergy for the purposes of a mega biogas plant.
Despite it being an environmentally friendly initiative, the proposal was met with a lot of concerns. The 24-hour plant would have had up to 140 lorry movements per day during peak times, and locals then lodged their concerns over noise, safety and air pollution.
Conservative MP Greg Smith is reported to have said it is a “monster of a proposal”, and that it was “wrong and frankly dangerous for our communities and must be stopped”.
© Getty ImagesThe Say No to Acorn group told The Times: “The proposed plant in open countryside will create significant harm to road safety because of the exceptional burden from HGVs on rural roads.
“It will harm the landscape [and] heritage and leaves important questions unresolved about water supply, pollution, odour, noise, technical capacity and environmental benefit.” Local farmer John Brown added that the development was “completely inappropriate”.
Inside Harry and William’s long-standing friendship
Harry has been friends with William since their time at Ludgrove School, and the pair attended Eton together. Harry is often seen at events alongside William. Most recently, he was pictured in the royal box at Royal Ascot this summer, greeting Princess Kate with a kiss. In 2024, he accompanied the heir to the Aston Villa FC v FC Bayern München game, which took place at Villa Park.
© Photo: Getty ImagesThe youngest son of Sir Henry Aubrey-Fletcher, eighth Baronet and Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire, was also close with William’s brother Prince Harry, and attended his 2018 wedding to Meghan Markle. It is unknown if William’s friend speaks to Prince Harry now, considering the current family rift.
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