{"id":614386,"date":"2026-04-18T04:56:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T04:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/614386\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T04:56:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T04:56:16","slug":"buckingham-palaces-fears-have-come-true-the-duke-and-duchess-of-sussex-can-have-their-cake-and-eat-it-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/614386\/","title":{"rendered":"Buckingham Palace\u2019s fears have come true. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex can have their cake and eat it too"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Bronte<\/p>\n

April 18, 2026 \u2014 5:30am<\/p>\n

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Standing on a wharf in Sydney Harbour on Friday<\/a>, it was clear what Buckingham Palace was worried about has come to fruition: Prince Harry and Meghan can have their cake and eat it too. <\/p>\n

A swath of fans, waiting behind barricades for a glimpse of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, immediately started cheering once the couple got out of their car. They\u2019d had the same rock star reception at Bondi Beach that morning, and throughout the week in Melbourne<\/a> and Canberra<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHarry\u2019s just a lovely, strong man,\u201d Lisa, from Hobart, told this masthead while she waited. \u201cI think Diana would be very proud of him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Squished near her was Emma Ives, who had come with her aunt Christine. Neither of them wanted to miss the chance to see the duke and duchess, even if it was only for a second or from far away.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always followed Harry and William,\u201d said Ives. \u201cI admire everything they do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Prince<\/a><\/p>\n

The couple\u2019s four-day visit to Australia was not a royal tour, their team insisted in the lead-up<\/a> to them touching down at Melbourne Airport on Tuesday morning. And they are technically right.<\/p>\n

Unlike in 2018, when the newlyweds embarked on a 16-day, 76-engagement tour of Australia and the South Pacific, the federal government wasn\u2019t hosting them. There was no police escort waiting for them when they disembarked from their commercial Qantas flight. They were not staying at government-owned residences.<\/p>\n

After their high-profile resignation as senior working royals in 2020, the duke and duchess are not entitled to it. (Though they did receive some taxpayer-funded policing services<\/a> at events where there was public involvement, as is usual for high-profile visitors.)<\/p>\n

\"FansFans waiting to catch a glimpse of Prince Harry and Meghan in Sydney on Friday had not a care in the world over if the duke and duchess are officially working royals. To them, the effect was the same.Getty Images\"TheThe couple were received warmly in Bondi earlier that day, and everywhere they went in Melbourne and Canberra this week.Getty Images<\/p>\n

But what they are and are not entitled to as they travel Australia in their capacity as private citizens, for a mix of commercial and charitable engagements, appeared to be something only those behind palace gates in London<\/a> were worried about.<\/p>\n

Harry and Meghan may no longer be allowed to use their His\/Her Royal Highness styling, but to many they will never lose their royal shine. Australians who watched the then-12-year-old duke dutifully trail behind his mother\u2019s casket<\/a> in 1997, and welcomed a then-pregnant Meghan with open arms at the Sydney Opera House almost eight years ago<\/a>, don\u2019t care for the Firm\u2019s rules.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a tremendous amount of respect for Harry, and Meghan was lovely when she spoke to Mum,\u201d said Michelle Haywood, daughter of the duke\u2019s \u201cbiggest fan\u201d Daphne Dunne<\/a>, who died aged 99, months after speaking with them on the forecourt during their last tour.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Meghan,<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cMeghan couldn\u2019t have been more beautiful to take time to talk to Mum and not hurry off. I\u2019ve found them to be so special to my family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, what keeps the royal shine polished is the fact the duke does not shy away from speaking about his bloodline, particularly the late Princess of Wales, and the similarities they share beyond genetics.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter my mum died just before my 13th birthday \u2013 I was like: \u2018I don\u2019t want this job. I don\u2019t want this role \u2013 wherever this is headed, I don\u2019t like it,\u2019\u201d the duke said on stage at the InterEdge summit on Thursday<\/a>, where he had given a keynote address about mental health.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt killed my mum, and I was very much against it, and I stuck my head in the sand for years and years. Eventually, I realised \u2013 well, hang on, if there was somebody else in this position, how would they be making the most of this platform and this ability and the resources that come with it to make a difference in the world?<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd also, what would my mum want me to do? And that really changed my own perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meghan, meanwhile, opened up about being the \u201cmost trolled person in the entire world\u201d while speaking at Swinburne University.<\/p>\n

Both engagements \u2013 and Harry and Meghan\u2019s vulnerability \u2013 were done so in the service of mental health advocacy. InterEdge was presented by and supporting Lifeline Narrm, and the duchess\u2019 candid admission was made while speaking with representatives from youth mental health charity Batyr.<\/p>\n

That the Sussexes have lent their name and support to causes that need it \u2013 Melbourne\u2019s Royal Children\u2019s Hospital<\/a>, Movember, Batyr and Invictus Australia<\/a> \u2013 is \u201cfantastic\u201d, according to Invictus Australia chief executive Michael Hartung.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Prince<\/a><\/p>\n

Hartung, who is preparing to launch a bid<\/a> to host the Invictus Games in Australia in 2031, has had a front-row seat to seeing how well-received the couple has been by veterans, government officials and the wider public \u2013 both this week in Canberra and Sydney, and in 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a bit of negativity surrounding their return visit, and I think that\u2019s all been put to rest really,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the general public can see that their hearts are in the right place, and they\u2019re there to support good causes, like Invictus. It\u2019s a really positive thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amid the plethora of bombshells Harry and Meghan dropped in their explosive 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey<\/a> was this little nugget: the claim that the British royal family, once they saw how \u201cincredible\u201d Meghan was at the job during their 2018 Australia tour, changed their previously positive treatment of her.<\/p>\n

\"Meghan,Meghan, pictured here at Swinburne University in Melbourne on Thursday, has had just as much of a warm reception in Australia as her husband.Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cReally, here you have one of the greatest assets to the Commonwealth that the family could have ever wished for,\u201d the duke told Winfrey of his wife.<\/p>\n

Imagine what could have been had she not slipped through the Firm\u2019s fingers.<\/p>\n

The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"BronteBronte Gossling<\/a> is a reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, WAtoday and Brisbane Times.Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"April 18, 2026 \u2014 5:30am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":614387,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,134],"class_list":{"0":"post-614386","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\/614386","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=614386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/614387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=614386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=614386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=614386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}