(NewsNation) — Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are smack in the middle of their quasi-royal tour, and if you didn’t know any better, you’d think it was a huge success.
But instead of winning over hearts at a cancer hospital and making inroads at a homeless shelter, the royal couple have left the Australian public fuming.
The couple’s first stop Down Under was to Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital, where staff, patients and medical equipment were rolled out to greet the couple.
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Unfortunately, many of the children who were undergoing chemotherapy, radiation and other cancer treatments were unmasked. As were Harry and Meghan, who had just gotten off an international flight.
As one Australian nurse practitioner fumed to me, “Who does that? These children are extremely susceptible to germs, and they don’t mask up? After an international flight? And no one even saw them wash their hands before they cuddled those kids. Last month, Meghan went to an American children’s hospital and wore a mask — so why not here? This is outrageous!”
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – APRIL 14: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex talk with Kog Ravindran, chief of staff to the CEO & executive director of communications at the Royal Children’s Hospital, during a visit on April 14, 2026 in Melbourne, Australia. The royal couple are on a four-day visit to Australia, with engagements across Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney. (Photo by Jonathan Brady-Pool/Getty Images)
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – APRIL 14: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex meet children and their families during a visit to the Royal Children’s Hospital on April 14, 2026 in Melbourne, Australia. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are on a four-day visit to Australia, with engagements across Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney. (Photo by Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images)
Markle made a surprise visit to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles on March 12 and was indeed photographed talking to children while wearing a mask.
To add insult to injury, the sick Australian children’s photographs were then beamed out around the world.
“They talk about privacy online and won’t show their children’s (full) faces, but our sick children are fair game?” another Aussie railed. “They are using these kids as PR but also hypocritically putting them online.”
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Meanwhile, Markle also rubbed people the wrong way when she announced her investment in OneOff, an AI shopping platform that immediately started posting shoppable images of her outfits online.
Outfits like the ones she wore to the children’s hospital and to a women’s homeless shelter.
So that you now not only know what to wear when you’re visiting sick children or homeless people, you can drop $50,000 on an outfit — and help Markle (who gets a cut of every sale) pay her rent to boot! Win, win!
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