Prince Harry and Meghan’s huge Aussie plans revealed. Visit to Sydney and Melbourne in Mid-April​.

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Prince Harry and Meghan’s huge Aussie plans revealed. Visit to Sydney and Melbourne in Mid-April.

EXCLUSIVE

More than seven years after then-newlyweds Prince Harry and Meghan embarked on their hugely successful Aussie tour, the couple is reportedly heading back Down Under.

A source confirmed exclusively to news.com.au that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are planning to visit Sydney and Melbourne in mid-April.

While their last trip to our shores was in an official capacity as working members of the royal family, this time around they’re travelling as private citizens – and it’s understood they’ll be focusing on activities related to their businesses and philanthropic work.

Details of their specific plans remain unclear, but it’s been rumoured that Meghan will appear as a guest on the Her Best Life podcast, which was initially launched and co-hosted by Jackie “O” Henderson and Gemma O’Neill through their “Besties” company. Earlier this year, just a couple of weeks before her high-profile and abrupt recent exit from her KIIS breakfast show, Henderson revealed that she had decided to “step away” from the venture.

It’s rumoured that Meghan will also appear as a special guest at an upcoming “Besties” event, following in the footsteps of previous VIP speaker Gwyneth Paltrow.

The actress took part in a wide-ranging Q&A with Henderson back in 2023 which attracted around 3,000 ticketholders to the ICC in Sydney’s Darling Harbour – so Meghan’s appearance could be in a similar capacity.
Despite Henderson’s recent departure from the Besties company, she hinted last month that she may return in some capacity in the future - and perhaps Meghan’s involvement could be one such occasion.

Gwyneth Paltrow was the special guest at a Besties event, run by Henderson (left) and Gemma O'Neill, back in 2023 – and Meghan is now rumoured to follow in her footsteps. Picture: Supplied
While details of the couple’s itinerary are expected to be confirmed in the coming weeks, it’s likely that Harry’s plans will involve Australia’s armed forces or veterans’ community, given his strong connections to both.

It’s understood he also has a number of friends locally, fostered across multiple previous visits, including during his month-long stay with the ADF at an army barracks in Darwin back in 2015.
And in his 2023 memoir, Harry gushed over his time living in Australia as a 19-year-old in 2003.
He wrote in Spare that working as a jackaroo on a farm in rural Queensland had helped him find inner peace during what were “some of the best” weeks of his life.

It’s not yet known whether the Sussexes’ children, Prince Archie, 6, and Princess Lilibet, 4, will join them on the trip next month or stay back at the family’s home in Montecito, California.

News.com.au understands that the royal couple’s Aussie visit has been in the works for almost a year.

100% agree especially as they are- apparently- so paranoid about their children’s privacy .
I am astounded that parents and medical staff allowed this .
When I was receiving cancer treatment the last thing I wanted was a camera shoved in my face.

He really wants back into the royal fold doesn't he. It's written all over his face.
Living his best life in SoCal? pull the other one it's got bells on!!

So desperate. So transparent.

Trying to force eye contact there, very uncomfortable, poor kid.

Sky News Australia had not received any information under embargo, meaning no agreement could have been broken. The information was in the public domain after being published by British media

Sounds like the most recent court case doesn't it, @Thedom?
Whether there was an embargo or not, here are their reps claiming someone had breached security when actually the info was already out there

As for the pawing of kids, this was all too predictable and I agree with @jeffgoldblum that it was less than wise after a bug-ridden flight, but then I'd have hoped the parents would have thought of that ...

Thanks ! Although it’s not helping my irritation at all! 😡

Interesting but worrying thought. I suppose KC managed the rehabilitation of Camilla but if he thinks it will work for Andrew or harry then he really is out of touch or his mind.

Surely he wouldn't be so stupid? Fortunately Andrew is out of it, but he must know how greedy, grasping, arrogant and entitled H&M are?
Maybe he's just too soft.

You would hope !
but according to a quote from a parent that arrived for an appointment with her child, they had no idea they were coming and were not informed they were there!!! ( and they also queried exactly why they were there!)

To be honest I don't particularly like KC and I think he is every bit as grabby as h&m and he wants/expects adoration. He gets really tetchy if heckled, he openly hated and was jealous of Diana's popularity, he wants to be center of attention. Not sure he likes being overshadowed by W&C. Never seen Ann or Edward jostling for attention.

Goodness where is the medical privacy and consent. I would be horrified to be harassed by a journalist if I was attending a hospital appointment especially with a child. The anticipation, anxiety and stress is hard and then to be faced with this?

Are H&M donating to the hospital or is there an intentional fundraising effort that they are amplifing? Because I don’t understand the diversion of scarce healthcare time and resources otherwise - and the disruption to the hospital logistics. Can’t just be to line these two grifters pockets?

That's true, jeff, but with such young kids it's usual for parents to stay with them during appointments, and if someone had tried to use mine for some silly meet and greet the answer would have been no way

As for the thoughts about Charles needing to rein this in I'll be amazed if he does anything at all. For a start he's shown time and gain that he hasn't the judgement, and if it came to welcoming Harry back I still believe he could rely on public fickleness for it to be accepted - doubtless larded with a hefty dose of "mental illness/suffering" claims

You know, you’re right and very astute.

Meghan is not a hugger, she’s a grabber. A grabber and a finger-digger.

Likewise I can’t stand people grabbing me / grabbing my hands, and these days (in my dotage) I tell them to get the f**k off me, and I mean it.

I wonder what Australians think of the grinning suck-ups in the hospital lobby and those who wheeled out their sick kids for consumption? I’d also like to know how ethical, informed consent was obtained here for participation in this media circus.

I wonder if we will see a turn in public acceptance of exploiting sick children? They cannot consent and their images will live on the internet for ever. Even if their parents / Drs consent - it really isn’t appropriate. Same as the debate about influencer parents pimping out their Dc for cash - it’s the same debate.

No, I'm not happy to place any blame on the parents.

It is already a stressful situation, you have handed over their health to a doctor, it is easy to see how it is possible to get swept up in the situation, the expectation of others. The blame lies with the hospital management that allowed this.

Add to it the hypocrisy of H&M talking about internet safety, whilst projecting images of vulnerable children.

Your post brings it home exactly what they've done here. Landed themselves on a bunch of parents attending hospital with their sick children for who-knows-what conditions.

The last thing you need when you're shepherding a sick child (or anybody) to an appointment for treatment or diagnosis is to have to pause your stressful errand, and move your mental focus from the errand in order to provide a smiling backdrop for a pair of slebs who have no reason to be there except self-publicity.

If it is true that none of the hospital attendees were forewarned, WHY did the hospital agree to this Disaster Tourism moment?

I'm not happy to place any blame on the parents

To clarify, I wouldn't "blame" the parents exactly, @RecollectionsMayVary ... it's their choice to make and rightly so, just as some of us would have made different ones no matter what the hospital management requested

Overall though I completely agree that using kids as props is completely inappropriate even when in full health, never mind in a situation they may not want to be on public record when they're old enough to have made the decision for themselves

Ironic, really, that H&M make such a thing of their own kids' privacy and yet use others for PR, but it's just more hypocrisy to go with all the rest

I wonder how they would have felt if one of their own children were in hospital sick and had some wannabe posing for photos with the media using their child as a prop? Without their permission or knowledge? Absolutely disgusting.

There wouldn’t be ‘back channel’ approval if this - the Government has to be very careful with overseas messaging and these two are anything but. Harry is an adult who has already shown he resents the RF - KC interfering with his visits would result in a lot of whining and potential negative publicity for the RF. As for being the centre of attention; I am not particularly keen on KC but he is the King so in terms of the RF must be seen as the main player. Anything else undermines the RF (another reason never to approve of H&Ms trips).

Wasn’t the Columbia trip funded by one of the huge private American family trusts? If such funding is associated with this trip then the hospital visit might be associated with a gift?

Me too ! Puzzled , but I don’t allow my children to be photographed or used in any sm or pr purposes anyway!
as for Charles , well yes apparently he’s always been sentimental apparently but honestly I’ve lost my patience, his reign was never going to be long or distinguished like his late mother and it’s about time he realised that popularity is not the job of the monarch, he needs to step up and parent Harry finally because his pandering has led to this! , let his reign be remembered for finally putting his foot down with those in his family who are not behaving and clearing up the mess that all this secretive behaviour has wrought, he owes William a better start than was passed onto him.

I agree. The parents have been ambushed and they are incredibly vulnerable and stressed themselves by having a hospitalised child - they may have been overwhelmed / coerced by the imbalance of power from Drs / management which meet the needs and agendas of the ‘sleb / hospital accountants - but never the clinical or emotional wellbeing of the most vulnerable person with the least agency in this situation - the ill child.

This is exactly the kind of scenario QEII was trying to avoid. It has the look of a royal visit but they are also undertaking paid work using their titles. They are shameless. I do think they need to have their titles removed. However as AMW is the obvious priority, I don’t think it will happen anytime soon. This mess, I predict, will be left to William.

Harry would likely get the police involved ‘at the highest levels’, and get hold of the state Governor, if this happened to him.

Having now seen H’s petulant, nasty side, I imagine he’s probably happy to be exploiting Australian people’s kids for the likes as a ‘clever’ strategy.

This children’s hospital is a bloody disgrace going along with it. I hope the Australian public lets the management board know what they think.

(Charles) needs to step up and parent Harry finally because his pandering has led to this! , let his reign be remembered for finally putting his foot down with those in his family who are not behaving and clearing up the mess that all this secretive behaviour has wrought, he owes William a better start than was passed onto him

I agree with every word, @jeffgoldblum, except that it's perhaps a bit late for any effective parenting of Harry. Despite a few photo calls it seemed that his priority after Disna's death was the rehabilitation of Camilla, and from that other things followed

Maybe the greatest service his mum ever gave was to live so long that he'd never have the title for long, and I guess monarchists can only hope William will be an improvement