{"id":605987,"date":"2026-04-14T09:55:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T09:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/605987\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T09:55:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T09:55:08","slug":"less-pomp-more-cosplay-prince-harry-and-meghans-faux-royal-australian-tour-monarchy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/605987\/","title":{"rendered":"Less pomp, more cosplay: Prince Harry and Meghan\u2019s \u2018faux royal\u2019 Australian tour | Monarchy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Prince Harry and Meghan will touch down in Sydney on Tuesday for what has been described as a \u201cfaux-royal\u201d tour that will be dramatically different from the pair\u2019s first visit<\/a> to Australia.<\/p>\n

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will visit Sydney<\/a> and Melbourne during their four-day visit, while Harry will do a solo Canberra trip.<\/p>\n

But it will be a private \u2013 and at times promotional \u2013 tour, not a royal visit, with more lofty pursuits than the pomp and ceremony of representing the firm.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Harry will be a keynote speaker at InterEdge\u2019s \u201cpsychosocial safety\u201d summit, a two-day professional development event with tickets ranging from $498 for a virtual attendance to $2,378.65 for the platinum experience. He is expected to talk about workplace mental health.<\/p>\n

Meghan will headline the three-day \u201cHer Best Life\u201d retreat in Sydney, including participating in a Q&A. Pitched as a \u201cgirls\u2019 weekend like no other\u201d, tickets cost $2,699 including accommodation, or $3,199 for a more VIP experience including a group table photo with Meghan.<\/p>\n

double quotation markHaving to flog $3,000 tickets to a wellness retreat looks quite pointless in the current world climate. It\u2019s tin-earedGiselle Bastin<\/p>\n

\u201cBack in 2018 they were newly married, newly pregnant and we were very, very excited,\u201d Flinders University associate professor and royals researcher Giselle Bastin said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey had a glamour attached to them \u2026 they felt like a new beginning, like the future of the Windsors.<\/p>\n

\u201c[But] there\u2019s been so much fracture and unhappiness around the couple and their relationship with the royals \u2026 the celebrity shine has rather worn off.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2018, they were welcomed by rapturous crowds and met the then prime minister Scott Morrison. Throngs of people attended their public outings, lavish receptions were thrown and flowers were presented.<\/p>\n

Megan and Harry watch a performance at a high school in Sydney on 19 October 2018 during their Australian tour. Photograph: Getty Images<\/p>\n

There will be no walkabouts to meet the public because of security and cost concerns.<\/p>\n

Instead, along with the luxe wellness retreat, Meghan will be promoting As Ever, her collection of products that the website describes as \u201cmore than a brand\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a love language,\u201d it says of its assemblage of jams, spice kits and candles.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not reading the room,\u201d Bastin said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving to flog $3,000 tickets to a wellness retreat looks quite pointless in the current world climate. It\u2019s tin-eared.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harry has said the 2018 tour caused waves in Buckingham Palace because of Meghan\u2019s ability to charm the public.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was also the first time that the family got to see how incredible [she] is at the job,\u201d he said in a 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He compared it with a 1983 trip by his parents, then-prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales.<\/p>\n

Revelations in that Winfrey interview exposed the extent of the breakdown of the relationship between Harry and Meghan and the rest of the royals.<\/p>\n

On this trip, there will be a range of sporting, mental health and veteran-related events.<\/p>\n

The pair will visit the Royal Children\u2019s hospital in Melbourne, Meghan will visit a women\u2019s homeless service and Harry will visit the Australian War Memorial, go to an Invictus Australia event and attend the last post ceremony on Anzac Day.<\/p>\n

It is a privately funded tour, although some taxpayer-funded policing services will reportedly be provided <\/a>to ensure public safety.<\/p>\n

Daily Mirror royal editor Russell Myers told Today<\/a> the schedule looked like a \u201cbox-ticking tour\u201d.<\/p>\n

In 2020, Harry and Meghan signed a five-year, US$100m (A$142m) Netflix deal<\/a>, a deal that was renewed last year.<\/p>\n

Nine newspapers published a brutal rundown of the pair\u2019s income stream on Monday, in a piece titled \u201cAustralia was good to Harry and Meghan. Now they want to use us as an ATM<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

It noted the couple struggling to afford a 16-room, $14.65m ($21m) house in Montecito, California, while also listing their $20m ($28m) Spotify podcast deal, $20m ($28m) from Penguin Random House for Harry\u2019s book Spare<\/a>, a \u201csubstantial sum\u201d from his father for life outside Britain, \u00a36m ($11.4m) inherited from Diana and \u00a38m ($15.2m) from the late Queen Mother\u2019s estate.<\/p>\n

Bastin said they still need cash, and are using Australia to raise it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have an enormous output in terms of money and they don\u2019t have as much coming in,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a faux royal tour. They\u2019re not working royals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they\u2019re using Australia as an opportunity to get a sense of the mood, about how they\u2019ll be received \u2026 to cosplay what it might be like if they once again become working royals.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article was amended on 14 April 2026 to correct a conversion error. US$100m is A$142m, not A$1.42m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Prince Harry and Meghan will touch down in Sydney on Tuesday for what has been described as a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":605988,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,134],"class_list":{"0":"post-605987","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605987","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=605987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/605988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=605987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=605987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=605987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}