The Duchess of Sussex will appear at a three-day retreat in Sydney featuring “sound healing”, a disco and a manifestation session, with tickets costing up to AU$3,200 (£1,700) per person.
The women-only event, held from April 17-19 at the InterContinental Sydney Coogee Beach, will include “meaningful speakers” and “a gala dinner featuring in-person conversation with Meghan, Duchess of Sussex”, described as “an intimate gala like no other”.
It added that the event would be an “unforgettable weekend for women ready to reconnect, recharge and have some serious fun”. VIP ticket holders will be offered front-row seats and a group photo with the duchess.
The event will take place during the Sussexes’ trip to Australia in April
Harry and Meghan last visited Australia seven years ago, when they were still senior members of the royal family.
The 300-person Sydney retreat has been organised by the Her Best Life podcast, founded by Gemma O’Neill and Jackie “O” Henderson, a well-known Australian presenter.
O’Neill — a former producer for Australian actress Nicole Kidman — confirmed the event on Wednesday on the podcast, and said Meghan would be a guest speaker. She added that the duchess “really loves what our community is about, which is women trying to grow [and] be their best selves”.
Gemma O’Neill and Jackie “O” Henderson in 2024
DON ARNOLD/GETTY IMAGES
The Q&A with Meghan will take the format of a “fireside chat”, she said. Other activities will include talks by a psychologist, yoga, “sound healing”, a disco and a meditation and manifestation session. VIP tickets cost about AU$3,200 per person.
• Would Prince Harry and Meghan be welcomed back? We asked Britain
O’Neill explained that she and the Duchess of Sussex, 44, share a mutual friend in Markus Anderson, a consultant for Soho House. Anderson, she said, proposed a collaboration with the duchess if she were to ever visit Australia again.
“Markus messaged me because he was at Meghan’s house,” O’Neill said of how the collaboration came to be.
• Meghan says cheaper Netflix deal is a sign of ‘strength’
“Markus is also very close friends to Meghan and has been for many years as well — long before she was married — and they have a beautiful friendship too, and I guess that’s probably one of the things that I’ve always felt about Meghan, whenever I’ve read stories, is I’ve always felt protective that my friend’s Markus is the bee’s knees, he’s a top-notch human. The first person to be there, check on you.
“I knew that Markus wouldn’t be so close or best friends with someone who wasn’t also the same.”
A spokesperson for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex said their visit to Australia next month will be for “private, business and philanthropic engagements”.
Harry and Meghan last visited Australia in October 2018 for a 16-day tour, the newly wed couple’s first major overseas trip. Kensington Palace had recently announced that Meghan was pregnant.
Meghan in Dubbo, Australia, in 2018
SAMIR HUSSEIN/GETTY IMAGES
Their visit was regarded as a success that helped restore the royal family’s reputation in Australia at a time when republican sentiments were running high. A majority of MPs were then in favour of Australia becoming a republic without the English monarch as head of state.
That support has since faded, with recent polls recording that a clear majority of Australians believe the nation should remain a monarchy, while only 43 per cent say it should become a republic with an elected president.
• Harry and Meghan lose 11th publicist in five years
Large crowds turned out for the couple’s 2018 tour, which included a visit to Bondi beach in Sydney and a cruise around Sydney harbour. Prince Harry also climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge with Scott Morrison, then the prime minister.
In January 2020 the couple stepped down as senior royals and moved to the US.