Harry and Meghan are flying to Australia next month (Image: Getty)
When Prince Harry and Meghan Markle first visited Australia in 2018 they floated in on a wave of welcome and goodwill as the new bride was expecting their first baby. But Down Under, media and royal experts suggest the Sussexes looming April return to Oz will need a wizard’s magic to conjure up a similarly warm reception.
Meanwhile constitutional experts fear the unofficial visit could aid resentful Republicans, already emboldened by Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Sarah Ferguson’s friendships with vile US paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. That would be par for the course for Harry, 41, and Meghan, 44, who have spent the six years since Megxit trying to tear down the monarchy through salacious TV interviews, documentaries or Harry’s 416-page moanfest ‘Spare’.
Back in 2018 the late Queen Elizabeth II had an 83 percent approval rating with Aussies but since her death the monarchy debate there has got more heated, with King Charles only getting a 59 percent thumbs up.
Royal commentator Amanda Platell says the Sussexes’s stats are worse, explaining: « They have broken two golden Aussie rules – no snitching and no whingeing. »
While Australian journalist Tom Sykes wrote on his Substack, The Royalist, that Harry and Meghan could stir not affection but a « bonfire of resentment ».
Already this week a petition in Australia oddly – as it is a privately-funded visit – demands that no taxpayer money should be wasted on their non-official, non-working royal visit.
Read more: Express readers vote on if Harry and Meghan’s tour of Australia will be a flop
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That’s unreasonable as common sense says a few police should follow them round, at least just in case someone actually bothers to acknowledge them – and then to make sure they get back on the plane to California.
The Change.org petition – entitled ‘No Taxpayer-Funding or Official Support for Harry & Meghan’s Private Visit to Australia’ – has so far gathered 37,000-plus names, with more added by the hour.
Beyond Australia, a domestic advocacy group, mounted a campaign to urge ministers to draw a clear line – as this is not an official royal visit.
In a damning broadside to Harry and Meghan’s clear hopes to be perceived semi-working royals, despite Megxit drawing a definitive line in the sand, the group added: « The activities are private and commercial and must be treated strictly as a private visit. »
The ‘private and commercial’ bit is well highlighted.
Already ahead of the visit it has been revealed that Meghan is billed as the star guest at what has been described as a three-day « ultimate girls’ weekend » luxury retreat dubbed « Meg-stock » with tickets starting at £1,400 per person.
The ‘Her Best Life Retreat’ runs across three days from April 17, drawing a sellout crowd of around 300 to a hotel above Coogee beach. Those who splashed out on VIP packages will find themselves in the front row and will get a group shot with Meghan at the InterContinental Hotel gala.
It comes days after Meghan’s lifestyle brand, As ever, announced it had ended its £75m partnership with streaming giant Netflix that began in 2020.
In recent days the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s representative has dismissed the funding petition stressing: « It’s a moot point. The trip is being funded privately, so I’m not sure what this petition hopes to achieve. »
The petition is not a 37,000-name irrelevance – it is a weathervane…. in the ‘whether or not the Sussexes should be doing faux royal trips at all’ vein.
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