Inside Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Australia tour as full details released

The busy itinerary does not include any opportunities for Harry and Meghan to stop and greet members of the public.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s trip to Australia starts today (Image: Getty)

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will touch down in Melbourne, Australia, today for the start of a four-day visit packed full of engagements reflecting their key interests. Their trip will emphasise the veteran community, mental health, sport and youth empowerment, with visits planned in Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra.

Harry and Meghan’s team insist the visit is not an unofficial royal tour, after their previous trips abroad have been criticised as having all the hallmarks of a traditional state visit – even though they decided to quit the Firm in 2020. Instead, they say the programme is rooted in longstanding areas of work for the Duke and Duchess, and the privately funded trip has come about after they were invited to Australia by a number of groups.

The busy itinerary does not include any opportunities for Harry and Meghan to stop and greet members of the public due to “security and costs associated with keeping public order”.

It comes after more than 45,000 people have signed a petition demanding that no taxpayers’ money be spent on their visit.

Advocacy group Beyond Australia write: “At a time when Australians are facing significant cost-of-living pressures, including rising grocery bills, fuel prices, mortgage stress driven by interest rate hikes, and increasing energy costs, public resources must be used responsibly and applied fairly, without special treatment for high-profile individuals.”

Responding to the petition last month, the couple’s spokesperson said, “It’s a moot point” as the trip is privately funded.

But authorities in New South Wales and Victoria confirmed last week that public funds will cover part of the security for Harry and Meghan’s trip.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were pictured on the weekend (Image: Getty)

Beginning in Melbourne on Tuesday, the couple will kickstart their trip by visiting the Royal Children’s Hospital, one of the country’s leading paediatric centres, which the late Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip visited in 1963 and 2011 and the then-Prince and Princess of Wales visited in 1985.

The first day of their trip will also see them engage with leading organisations that deliver frontline services to young people and vulnerable women.

Meghan will undertake a dedicated engagement highlighting community-led support for women at a local Homeless Services for Women Centre.

Their trip will place particular emphasis on the veteran community, joining families and artists connected to the Australian National Veteran’s Art Museum and supporting Invictus Australia, reflecting the Duke and Duchess’s longstanding commitment to servicemen and women.

Harry will travel to Canberra alone on Wednesday, attending engagements at the Australian War Memorial, including the Last Post Ceremony, as the Duchess undertakes private meetings in Melbourne.

But the pair will reunite on Thursday, undertaking engagements in Melbourne and Sydney, where they will join members of the Invictus community on the water in Sydney Harbour.

The visit will conclude at a major rugby fixture in Sydney, where the NSW Waratahs take on the visiting Moana Pasifika.

Over the weekend, Meghan will headline a women-only three-day retreat in Sydney, promising yoga, sound healing, meditation and a psychologist-led session. Her involvement at the retreat is not part of the couple’s trip to Australia.

Harry and Meghan’s visit to Australia marks the first time they have returned Down Under since their official royal tour to the country in 2018, following their wedding earlier that year.

Considered hugely successful at the time, Harry and Meghan admitted in their infamous interview with Oprah Winfrey that it was one of the key turning points in their decision to quit the Royal Family.

The King’s youngest son believed that the rest of the Royal Family were jealous of his wife’s performance on the world stage, drawing parallels to how his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, had won the public’s affection.

Harry said: “It really changed after the Australia tour, after our South Pacific tour. It was the first time that the family got to see how incredible she is at the job.”

He added, “I just wish that we would all learn from the past.”