{"id":595187,"date":"2026-04-09T07:41:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T07:41:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/595187\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T07:41:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T07:41:14","slug":"sussexes-aussie-trip-in-peril-as-prince-harrys-melbourne-event-sees-ticket-prices-slashed-while-meghan-markles-3000-retreat-struggles-to-sell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/595187\/","title":{"rendered":"Sussexes’ Aussie trip in peril as Prince Harry’s Melbourne event sees ticket prices slashed, while Meghan Markle’s $3000 retreat struggles to sell"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s upcoming trip to Australia is already facing hurdles, with both of their paid appearances struggling to sell out less than a week before their arrival.<\/p>\n

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are due to land in Melbourne on Thursday to begin their unofficial tour<\/a>, which will see the 41-year-old Prince deliver a keynote speech on workplace mental health, while the 44-year-old former Suits actress hosts an “in-person conversation” at a luxury Sydney retreat.<\/p>\n

However, demand for Harry’s appearance at the InterEdge Summit in Melbourne appears to have softened, with ticket prices slashed by half in the final lead-up to the event.<\/p>\n

\"Harry<\/p>\n

Tickets, originally priced at $1,978, are now listed at $997 on the event website.<\/p>\n

The two-day mental health summit at Melbourne Park will feature the Duke of Sussex alongside retired tennis champion Jelena Dokic and other speakers discussing mental health issues.<\/p>\n

It’s understood Harry will be paid USD$50,000 (about AUD$70,000) for his keynote address- a significant drop from the USD$1 million (AUD$1.4 million) he was once paid to attend a JP Morgan event in February 2020.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Duchess of Sussex is set to receive USD$250,000 (about AUD$355,000) for attending the ‘Her Best Life’ retreat<\/a> in Sydney, which runs from Friday, April 17 to Sunday, April 19.<\/p>\n

The event, organised by embattled radio star Jackie ‘O’ Henderson and her manager Gemma O’Neill<\/a>, is charging attendees around $3000 each for access to the lifestyle entrepreneur at the Intercontinental Hotel in Coogee.<\/p>\n

While organisers initially claimed the exclusive event- capped at 300 guests- had sold out, a fresh update suggests otherwise.<\/p>\n

Taking to Instagram on Tuesday, O’Neill revealed the hotel had “kindly released a handful of additional rooms”, encouraging interested guests to enquire via direct message.<\/p>\n

The Sussexes have also been warned to brace for a mixed reception in Australia.<\/p>\n

A Change.org petition, which has already attracted more than 43,000 verified signatures<\/a>,\u00a0 argues the couple should not receive taxpayer-funded support during their visit.<\/a><\/p>\n

The petition states Australians should not be expected to fund the pair’s “security, logistics or government coordination”, given they are travelling as private individuals.<\/p>\n

\"\u2018A<\/p>\n

Despite the growing noise, royal commentator Richard Palmer believes Meghan is likely viewing the visit as a chance to reset the narrative.<\/a><\/p>\n

“Their Australia trip is one of, if not the, most anticipated royal events of the year,” he told The Mirror.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“They want to prove their critics wrong, so will be hoping it is a huge success. If it is, it will be Meghan’s revenge.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s upcoming trip to Australia is already facing hurdles, with both of their paid…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":595188,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[64,63,447,134,33664,5513],"class_list":{"0":"post-595187","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-celebrities","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-meghan-markle","13":"tag-prince-harry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=595187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/595187\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/595188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=595187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=595187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=595187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}