{"id":605532,"date":"2026-04-14T04:38:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T04:38:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/605532\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T04:38:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T04:38:21","slug":"prince-harry-and-meghan-begin-first-leg-of-australia-visit-in-melbourne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/605532\/","title":{"rendered":"Prince Harry and Meghan begin first leg of Australia visit in Melbourne"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prince Harry and his wife Meghan have begun the Melbourne leg of their whirlwind Australian tour, spending time at the Royal Children’s Hospital before they visit a women’s shelter.<\/p>\n

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will be in Melbourne for three days spending time at various charity events, while also attending “private meetings and special projects”, including a ticketed conference on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The foyer of the Royal Children’s Hospital was packed with families today for the pair’s visit, with young patients waiting eagerly to meet the Duke and Duchess.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Britain's<\/p>\n

Harry and Meghan spent about 10 minutes meeting families in the foyer. (AP: Jonathan Brady)<\/p>\n

Prince Harry shook hands and chatted freely with dozens of people, while Meghan stopped to hug children amid a flurry of camera flashes.<\/p>\n

For 17-year-old Scarlett McGowan, it was a second brush with royalty after having met Harry’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, many years ago.<\/p>\n

“It was fun, Harry was very easy to chat to,” she said.<\/p>\n

“He asked me how my care was and I had to point out how beautiful and how lovely our nurses are, they take such good care of us.”<\/p>\n

\"Prince<\/p>\n

Scarlett McGowan (right) was excited to meet the Duke and Duchess face-to-face. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

She said it was a surreal morning, having only found out about the visit today.<\/p>\n

“I was woken up and told I was going downstairs to meet Harry and Megan and I thought: ‘I think you’re joking, but OK’,” Scarlett said.<\/p>\n

“I don’t get off the ward very much so it was very nice to come down and be human for a little bit.”<\/p>\n

\"Meghan<\/p>\n

Meghan made sure to meet one young patient. (AP: Jonathan Brady)<\/p>\n

Young patient Novalie Morris admitted she didn’t know much about the pair before today, but had a wonderful time, even snagging a hug.<\/p>\n

“Meghan wished me to keep on being brave, and I gave Harry some flowers, so I was just grateful for the opportunity to meet them,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Meghan seemed to love Lily’s handmade sign welcoming her to Australia. (AP: Jonathan Brady)<\/p>\n

Lily Batchelder said she felt very excited today to meet royalty, and made them a sign to welcome them.<\/p>\n

The pair then moved onto other wards and sections of the hospital, meeting patients who were still in their beds and joining a therapy session with some adolescent patients.<\/p>\n

\"AP26104131322767\"<\/p>\n

Harry and Meghan also took part in a therapy session in the Kelpie garden with adolescent patients and staff members during their visit. (AP: Jonathan Brady)<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Harry will meet with players from the Western Bulldogs AFL team at a Movember event, but it’s unknown if he will attempt to kick a footy as Queen Mary of Denmark did last month during her visit to the MCG<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The prince will make a brief stop in Canberra before returning to Melbourne on Thursday to attend Indigenous and mental health events.<\/p>\n

It’s the first time the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been in Australia since 2018, and the first since the couple officially distanced themselves from the royal family.<\/p>\n

\"Prince<\/p>\n

Harry and Meghan made their first public appearance of their Australian visit at Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Harry and Meghan flew into Melbourne on Tuesday morning on a commercial flight from the United States, before being met on the tarmac by a private vehicle.<\/p>\n

Mixed reactions to Harry and Meghan’s visit<\/p>\n

One woman who spoke to the couple on the flight said she wished them well.<\/p>\n

“I said I hope you have a lovely time in Melbourne and I’m sure you’ll enjoy Sydney, and we spoke about their children and that they were here for a couple of days,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It’s so exciting. Everyone was so excited to see them onboard.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

One woman who was on the same flight as Harry and Meghan said she wished them a good trip. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

Another passenger on the flight said Harry deserved respect for travelling with the masses, even if the pair enjoyed first-class luxury.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s admirable and honourable that he’s not just taking his own plane everywhere,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Why not come on a commercial flight, as long as it’s secure enough?”<\/p>\n

Another passenger said she had no idea the pair was on the same flight until she saw Harry as she was disembarking.<\/p>\n

“I’ve never seen anybody look so refreshed getting off a flight from the US. He looked great,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"Meghan,<\/p>\n

Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, speaks with a child patient at the Royal Children’s Hospital. (Reuters: Jonathan Brady\/Pool)<\/p>\n

But not every Victorian was as pleased with the visit.<\/p>\n

Opposition leader Jess Wilson went on the attack on Monday, voicing concerns that Victoria Police had been enlisted to provide private protection for the pair.<\/p>\n

“Suggestions today that Harry and Meghan, who are coming here as private citizens for a commercial purpose, may be provided Victoria Police security or protection at taxpayer expense should appal every single Victorian,” Ms Wilson said.<\/p>\n

The visit down under has been a subject of discussion in both Australia and the United Kingdom<\/a>, where just 19 and 32 per cent of the British public now holding a positive view of Meghan and Harry respectively.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Prince<\/p>\n

One young boy seemed pleased to meet Prince Harry. (Reuters: Mark Peterson)<\/p>\n

British journalist and royal commentator Afua Hagan said the visit had been much more low-profile than their 2018 visit by design.<\/p>\n

“Where you get this conversation about a pseudo-royal visit, it’s because they are so popular, because crowds will turn out,” Ms Hagan said.<\/p>\n

“We know there’s not going to be any walkabouts, maybe because of the security concerns associated with that.<\/p>\n

“I think also partly because they didn’t want to have walkabouts either because then, it looks much more like a royal visit.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prince Harry and his wife Meghan have begun the Melbourne leg of their whirlwind Australian tour, spending time…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":605533,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,155386,90853,57055,155388,137934,44,45972,38930,155387,100793],"class_list":{"0":"post-605532","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-duchess","11":"tag-duke","12":"tag-harry","13":"tag-markle","14":"tag-meghan","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-prince","17":"tag-royal","18":"tag-sussex","19":"tag-windsor"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605532","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=605532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/605533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=605532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=605532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=605532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}