It was the moment that could have summed up Harry and Meghan’s Australian visit. After a private meeting with the first responders and victims of last year’s Bondi terrorist attack, the couple did an impromptu walk down to the shore. But as the crowds gathered, one sunbather remained unmoved – quite literally – on her towel. Unbothered by the crowds who were forced to manoeuvre around her, even Prince Harry appeared to notice and point at her.
The image of the “unbothered queen of Bondi” has now gone viral and has become the picture that tells you the story of how the pair’s trip to Australia really went. While the Sussex camp called their “tour” a triumph of “connection and compassion”, a successful blend of public and private commitments, the reality is rather different. And they would be wise to heed the warnings before any repeat of the Harry and Meg roadshow in the UK in July.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex appeared to receive a rapturous reception on their four-day tour of Australia from Tuesday to Friday, with images of crowds surrounding them on Bondi Beach, Sydney Opera House and Melbourne Children’s Hospital. But the photos belie the fact that, unlike their first tour in 2018, the mood was very different, says Mick Carroll, editor-in-chief of news.com.au.
The pair visiting Bondi beach – an ‘unbothered’ sunbathing queen, not pictured (AFP/Getty)
“There was little sign of animosity, but it was in stark contrast… Last time people deliberately showed up, waiting hours to see them,” he says. “This time they tended to visit places such as Bondi where people were anyway. They were happy to cheer and wave and take photos, but most were actually there for the beach.”
Their changed status meant they attracted the kind of response visiting celebrities get, as opposed to their previous tour, when people wanted to meet a royal couple, explains Claire Harvey, editorial director of The Australian newspaper. “The crowds consisted of the same people who gather outside court if celebrities are up on drink-driving charges, or someone’s giving out meatball samples outside the butcher’s,” she says in a damning verdict.
The quasi-royal tour was considered a blueprint for the part-public, part-private approach Harry and Meghan had desperately sought – and the Queen denied. The Sussex team believes it to be a success: “We’ve tested the playbook, it worked,” a source close to the couple said. But Australians were always comfortable with the blend of visits to Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne; meeting survivors and responders of the Bondi Beach massacre and mental health organisations, alongside with private commitments, such as Meghan’s guest appearance on MasterChef Australia and a paid glitzy gig at the Her Best Life retreat in Sydney.
Sky News Australia’s Danica De Giorgio, who dubbed it a “woe-is-me microphone tour,” featuring a, “cash-for-wear clothing scheme”, and Harvey says appearances like on MasterChef, were a mistake. “It’s a low-rating show on the least-popular commercial network. The Sussex camp says Meghan wasn’t paid, so presumably the motivation was to remind Australians the couple exists and maybe sell some jam. Which seems like the purpose of the whole trip,” she says. “This makes the mental-health charity visit and footie-kicking men’s health appearance for Movember seem a little cynical.”
But the most troubling appearance was the decision to visit Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital, at the same time as launching a site to sell the clothes Meghan was wearing. While in Australia, Meghan revealed her involvement with shopping platform OneOff, a “style-driven fashion discovery platform powered by the people setting the trends”.
Meghan and Harry visiting Melbourne Royal Children’s Hospital (PA)
Alongside Kate Hudson and Paris Hilton, images of the duchess appear for shoppers to purchase her outfits, including on a visit to the children’s hospital and a women’s shelter.
Punters can snap up her outfit of a black Karen Gee dress for £924, Real Fine Studio earrings for £576, plus sold-out Christian Dior leather pumps, but it didn’t sit easy with her audience. “She’s literally profiting off events which should have been low-key engagements,” says De Giorgio. “It’s actually gross.”
While a Sussex spokesperson described the visit as a chance for the couple to learn about the hospital’s “holistic, patient-centred approaches that prioritise emotional wellbeing alongside clinical treatment,” the confusing mash-up of service and cash-for-clothes profiteering, says Harvey should serve as a warning for Harry and Meghan’s future trip to the UK.
“If this is a commercial trip by a couple with bills to pay and designers to collaborate with, why go to a children’s hospital at all? That kind of event is what royals do. And Harry and Meghan have spent several years dumping on the royals and complaining they have no privacy,” she says. “And the clothing link is tacky.”
During the tour, Prince Harry was also a guest speaker at Melbourne’s mental health InterEdge Summit, where tickets were on sale for up to £1,250. He revealed he initially hadn’t wanted his royal role because “It killed my mum,” but went on to say, “Helping other people is helping me. And that service… is a cure in itself. For me and my wife, the work we do, we really enjoy it.”
Meghan, meanwhile, rounded off her tour with an appearance at high-end health retreat, Her Best Life, in Sydney, on Friday, which critics had dubbed “Megstock”. Tickets, which did not sell out, cost up to £1,600 for VIP access and a selfie with the duchess. Meghan however, only stayed for two hours on Friday, before departing with Harry – who had given her a standing ovation – to a rugby game at Sydney’s Allianz Stadium.
“I’m not sure the guests would have been expecting her to only be there for two of the 48 hours of the event,” says Carroll. Let’s hope their goodie bag swag, which contained Meghan’s As Ever edible flowers and a bookmark were enough to dampen any disappointment.
While the Sussex team might consider the trip a successful blend of “reflection, resilience and compassion”, before they attempt to repeat it in the UK, they would be wise to make some changes, say Australian experts.
“As the couple depart Australia, they do so carrying with them the stories, insights, and partnerships forged over these four days – grounded in a continued commitment to supporting communities and building a more connected, compassionate future,” said a Sussex spokesperson. It is the kind of word salad which we have come to expect from Team Sussex, who somehow keep failing to land a clear message about their purpose now.
With Prince Harry expected to be in the UK in July to mark the one-year countdown to the 2027 Birmingham Invictus Games and Meghan reportedly pondering accompanying him for the first time since 2022, they should consider the optics of combining charity and commercial events, says Carroll. Australians were left, at best, confused, and at worst, angered by the tour.
“I’ve spent all my life investing in women, can I finally invest in me?” Meghan told the Her Best Life audience in Sydney. The answer appears to be, yes, but proceed with caution.