{"id":403186,"date":"2026-04-17T09:52:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T09:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/403186\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T09:52:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T09:52:18","slug":"harry-and-meghan-on-a-different-kind-of-foreign-trip-in-australia-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/403186\/","title":{"rendered":"Harry and Meghan on a different kind of foreign trip in Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brisbane, Australia\u00a0\u2014\u00a0\n <\/p>\n

\n The last time Australia hosted the Duke and Duchess of Sussex they were the fresh new faces of the royal family, ready to walk the path set by decades of tradition.\n <\/p>\n

\n This time, there was no royal walkabout, but a mix of quasi-regal public engagements and private commercial events for a tour that\u2019s part-celebrity, part-charity.\n <\/p>\n

\n A tour by Harry and Meghan to Australia \u2013 where his father is still the king \u2013 was always going to be controversial given their deliberate attempt to distance themselves from the family yet retain some vestiges of royal status.\n <\/p>\n

\n Even before they arrived, some complained about cost to taxpayers of police security, and the couple\u2019s attempt to cash in on their titles \u2013 as one newspaper column put it, to use Australians \u201cas an ATM.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Yet, for all the headlines about their money-making exploits, it\u2019s unclear how much cash they\u2019ll make from the privately funded tour that includes many unpaid appearances.\n <\/p>\n

\n Prince Harry wasn\u2019t paid anything to speak at the InterEdge Summit on Thursday, a spokesperson told CNN. And sources say rumors about Meghan\u2019s huge payday for a surprise appearance on MasterChef Australia are also false.\n <\/p>\n

\n To observers, the tour \u2013 and the couple\u2019s status \u2013 was hard to define. \u201cWhat exactly are they? They\u2019re not royals, but they\u2019re assuming the facade of royals,\u201d commentator and author Bonnie Greer told CNN.\n <\/p>\n

\n Holly Wainwright, the executive editor of Australian news site Mamamia<\/a>, wrote that Harry and Meghan had returned to Australia not as royals or celebrities but \u201dsome kind of new, indestructible hybrid.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s relationship with Harry and Meghan<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\n The couple last touched down in Australia in 2018 for a formal tour as royal newlyweds, whose wedding was watched by millions worldwide and boosted that year\u2019s sales of Australian women\u2019s magazines.\n <\/p>\n

\n Less than two years later, the couple announced their split from the royal family, but interest in them remained high as mostly negative headlines from Rupert Murdoch\u2019s UK tabloids \u2013 longtime foes of Prince Harry <\/a>\u2013 carried over into News Corp\u2019s vast stable of Australian mastheads.\n <\/p>\n

\n As a member of the Commonwealth, Australia has a direct connection to the British royal family, with King Charles as its head of state.\n <\/p>\n

\n While rumblings of a republic are never too far away, a survey taken at the end of the king\u2019s last visit to Australia in 2024 showed most Australians wanted to keep the status quo.\n <\/p>\n

\n By then Harry and Meghan\u2019s popularity had taken a hit in Australia, but local media coverage of their latest tour suggests \u2013 love them or hate them \u2013 interest is high.\n <\/p>\n

\n Harry and Meghan\u2019s arrival in Melbourne Tuesday on a commercial Qantas flight made local breakfast news with live reports from journalists who stopped passengers for comment on the famous couple.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThey were super friendly around the toilet areas,\u201d one passenger said.\n <\/p>\n

\n Australian media has followed their latest trip closely \u2013 covering Meghan\u2019s comments on bullying and Harry\u2019s thoughts on parenthood.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cEvery day for 10 years, I have been bullied and attacked. And I was the most trolled person in the entire world<\/a>,\u201d Meghan told students at Melbourne\u2019s Swinburne University of Technology at an event by batyr, a mental health organization, on Thursday.\n <\/p>\n

\"clipped<\/p>\n

‘Every day for 10 years I’ve been bullied and attacked’: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex\n <\/p>\n

\"clipped<\/p>\n

‘Every day for 10 years I’ve been bullied and attacked’: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex<\/p>\n

0:34 <\/p>\n

\n Harry also reflected on his past challenges in royal life at an event the same day.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI don\u2019t want this job. I don\u2019t want this role \u2013 wherever this is headed, I don\u2019t like it,\u201d he recalled feeling as a teenager, speaking at the InterEdge Summit. \u201cIt killed my mum, and I was very much against it.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cEventually I realized \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?\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"Prince<\/p>\n

\n Most of the negative headlines this week are around the private engagements with hefty entry costs, though it\u2019s not clear how much money they\u2019ll take home to California \u2013 if any.\n <\/p>\n

\n Proceeds from ticket sales to the InterEdge Summit \u2013 from almost 1,000 Australian dollars ($720) to more than twice that \u2013 would be used to support Lifeline Narrm, the Victoria branch of a national charity that runs a 24-hour crisis support and suicide prevention hotline, the spokesperson said.\n <\/p>\n

\n It was also questionable how much Meghan would financially benefit from taking part in the \u201cHer Best Life\u201d retreat at the InterContinental Hotel.\n <\/p>\n

\n Marketed as an \u201cintimate luxury weekend,\u201d the event was organized by podcaster Gemma O\u2019Neill, who last month told listeners that Meghan was turning up effectively \u201cas a favor\u201d to their mutual friend Markus Anderson, described by Marie Claire as Meghan\u2019s \u201clong-time confidant.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

\"Prince<\/p>\n

\"Prince<\/p>\n

\n As of Wednesday, tickets were still available for the exclusive event \u2013 priced at up to 3,199 Australian dollars ($2,283) for two nights\u2019 accommodation, a gala dinner with free-flow drinks, two breakfasts, one lunch, a Saturday-night disco, yoga, sound healing, talks on mediation and manifestation and, of course, a chat and a group photo with Meghan.\n <\/p>\n

\n O\u2019Neill told her listeners she\u2019d worked hard to keep prices the same as the last retreat she hosted. She did not respond to CNN\u2019s request for comment, but sources suggested any fee paid to the duchess was nominal.\n <\/p>\n

\n In a price-sensitive economic climate \u2013 with Australians being warned that fuel shortages related to the United States and Israel\u2019s war on Iran could drive up inflation and interest rates \u2013 the notion of people spending thousands of dollars on a weekend retreat may have touched a nerve.\n <\/p>\n

\n But this is Sydney, one of the world\u2019s most expensive property markets. Some people can afford to drop thousands of dollars on a luxury weekend.\n <\/p>\n

\n Reports suggest the pair may be setting the stage for the potential expansion of Meghan\u2019s lifestyle brand \u201cAs Ever\u201d to Australia, but at the time of writing that hadn\u2019t been confirmed.\n <\/p>\n

\n It\u2019s clear the duke and duchess need to create new revenue streams to maintain their life as ex-royals. \ufeff\ufeff(Meghan\u2019s partnership with Netflix for her show \u201cWith Love, Meghan\u201d ended last month<\/a>.)\n <\/p>\n

\n But to sell anything requires willing buyers \u2013 and so far, this tour has shown that there\u2019s still an audience for Harry and Meghan in Australia \u2013 working royals or not.\n <\/p>\n

\n Their four-day tour ends on Friday.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brisbane, Australia\u00a0\u2014\u00a0 The last time Australia hosted the Duke and Duchess of Sussex they were the fresh new…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":403028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[321,93,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-403186","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=403186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/403186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/403028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=403186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=403186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=403186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}