Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s latest visit to Australia is mixing charitable visits alongside commercial engagements while in Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s latest trip to Australia is finally underway – with a huge difference to their last tour there. The couple are set to mix charitable visits alongside commercial engagements while in Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra.
Harry and Meghan’s office said the coming days will “focus on mental health, community resilience, and support for veterans and their families, alongside private meetings and special projects”. However, with the couple no longer representing the Royal Family, questions have been asked about who is funding the trip, if Australian taxpayers will face any cost – and how much the couple stand to make from the visit Down Under.
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One of the biggest commercial events for Meghan will come when she is interviewed on stage at a “girls’ weekend” retreat in Sydney this weekend, which costs £1,400 per ticket.
VIP tickets for the event at the five-star InterContinental Coogee Beach hotel cost £1,670 and include a group table photo with the duchess. Her appearance was announced last month by Gemma O’Neill, host of the Her Best Life podcast, which is organising the 300-person event.
It is unclear how much Meghan stands to make from this event, which still has a “handful of additional rooms” available. However, according to the Daily Mail, Meghan’s fee has been described as a ‘fat one’ and could be in the region of $250,000.
Meanwhile, Harry will give a keynote speech at the InterEdge Psychosocial Safety Summit in Melbourne later this week. Delegate tickets for the summit, hosted at Melbourne’s Centrepiece conference venue, are available for £525, with platinum tickets costing £1,250 and a virtual ticket allowing on-demand access to Harry’s speech costing £260.
It is understood some of the profits will be going to the charity Lifeline, which provides 24-hour crisis support and suicide prevention services. But it is unclear if Harry is receiving a fee.
Meanwhile, Harry and Meghan’s camp have insisted that the trip has been privately funded. However, a petition on Change.org demanding “no taxpayer funding or official support for Harry and Meghan’s private visit to Australia ” arguing that “public funds should not be used for private visits”, has attracted more than 45,000 signatures.
Their spokesperson previously described the petition as a ‘moot point’, adding: “The trip is being funded privately, so I’m not sure what this petition hopes to achieve.”
However, the New South Wales Police Force said it would “conduct an operation to ensure public safety is maintained during the visit by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex”.
A spokesperson for the force, which is responsible for policing Sydney, said: “The operation will require some additional security measures throughout their stay in New South Wales, while minimising any disruption to the community.”
Victoria Police said it “does not provide comment on specific operational arrangements”. A spokesperson for the force, which is responsible for policing Melbourne, added: “Police are aware two high-profile people are visiting Melbourne in a private capacity in April. Police routinely assess events and visits and will deploy resources as necessary to ensure community safety.”
Speaking on Sunrise on Australia’s Channel 7, security expert Tony Loughran said the total cost of security could run into “tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars”.
He explained: “He’s [Harry] inevitably going to bring his team over … they’ll dovetail with private security here. But then you’ve got the outer layer, which is the actual police, then where they’re going to come in and look at cordons. They’ll look at private venues themselves, where they might need a bit of additional support.”
The couple last travelled Down Under in 2018, several months after their wedding, for their first official royal tour together, which saw thousands take to the streets to catch a glimpse of them and shake their hands. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, that trip cost AU$410,580 (£215,661) to the Australian taxpayer.
However, it is understood that the current visit does not include any walkabouts to meet the public, with sources saying “security and costs associated with keeping public order are always at the forefront of planning”.
In 2024, Harry and Meghan went on a four-day visit to Colombia, where it later emerged in figures released by the vice-president’s office that it cost the country £45,000 to host the couple.
Security has been a significant concern for Harry, who has been attempting to have his taxpayer-funded security in the UK reinstated. He was stripped of automatic police protection in Britain when he and wife, Meghan, left the country after quitting as working royals.
After a lengthy legal battle, which he lost, it emerged that he wrote to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood shortly after her appointment and submitted a formal request for a risk assessment to the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (Ravec). This assessment is understood to be being carried out.
