The Duke and Duchess of Sussex might be 10,000 miles away, but their quasi-royal tour of Australia is meant to be a preview of what we can expect when they return to Britain this summer for their first joint trip in four years.
Prince Harry hopes to bring his wife with him when he attends events in Birmingham this July to publicise the Invictus Games due to take place there in 2027.
Their trip Down Under this week is part of his plans to ease Meghan’s return to his homeland.
Last year, I disclosed that there was an ‘Establishment plot’ to bring back the Sussexes, which was given the codename Project Thaw due to its aims of improving the ‘frosty’ relationships between the couple and the Royal Family, as well as with the British public.
This Australian tour is the latest stage of Project Thaw because it aims to highlight both the popularity of Harry and Meghan as well as their devotion to public duty.
And it seems to be having the desired effect – at least among some of the more gullible sections of the media. One British royal correspondent claimed breathlessly yesterday that the tour ‘shows just what the Royal Family is missing’.
From Melbourne, this reporter gushed: ‘I watched as the Duchess of Sussex hugged sick children, declared a hospital garden “serene”, and was laden with handmade drawings and knitted flowers.’
The tour’s itinerary has been carefully designed to give the impression that Harry and Meghan are still royal – despite the fact they chose to abandon royal duties six years ago.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been on a quasi-royal tour of Australia (pictured during a visit to the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne)
Prince Harry and Meghan arrive at the Australian National Veterans Arts Museum this week
It’s no coincidence that they chose the Royal Children’s Hospital during their visit to Melbourne. Not only does it have ‘royal’ in the title, but it was opened by Harry’s grandparents, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, during their 1963 tour.
To emphasise Harry’s commitment to the Armed Forces, they later attended the Australian National Veterans Arts Museum, where they met former military personnel and their families, who were taking part in a pottery class.
With such a schedule, the Sussexes might have fooled some Australians into forgetting that they were no longer working royals.
Such philanthropic engagements also helped obscure the fact that the trip Down Under is to make money.
The clothes that Meghan wore to the hospital are available to buy via a new Artificial Intelligence fashion portal in which she is now investing.
Last night, Harry gave a keynote speech at the InterEdge Psychosocial Safety Summit in Melbourne, where tickets cost as much as A$2,400 (£1,268). Some profits go to the charity Lifeline.
Returning to his favourite theme, Harry waxed lyrical about his state of mind, declaring he had felt ‘lost, betrayed, or completely powerless’ at times during his life. His wife, meanwhile, told the audience she had been bullied online every day for a decade, becoming ‘the most trolled person in the world’.
It’s not clear what share of the ticket receipts – if any – the Sussexes will have received. However, they have been accused of using their royal links to treat Australia ‘like an ATM’ – due to the mix of charity events and private, money-making engagements they have planned.
On Saturday, Meghan will hold an ‘in-person conversation’ at a wellness retreat in a five-star Sydney hotel beside the beach.
Guests have to shell out up to A$3,199 (£1,690) to attend a ‘girls’ weekend’, with a VIP package including the chance to secure a group table photograph with the former actress.
Australia is also being considered as a market for the American’s As Ever lifestyle brand, which registered trademarks in 12 different product categories in the country last year, according to a government intellectual property database.
Project Thaw isn’t just wishful thinking on the part of the Sussexes and their friends, it is supported by some senior politicians in Britain and key figures at Buckingham Palace.
Meghan takes part in a model making activity with veterans and their families at a museum
Harry delivers the keynote speech at the InterEdge Summit in Melbourne Park, Australia
That said, some concerns remain. Last month, it was disclosed that officials were trying to block the couple from having their automatic, taxpayer-funded security restored over fears of a public backlash.
Civil servants from the Home Office, the Cabinet Office and the Foreign Office who sit on the royal and VIP executive committee, which authorises security for senior royals, were reported to be against granting the Sussexes taxpayer-funded protection whenever they are in Britain because it carries too much political risk.
This tour of Australia, with its poignant images of Meghan comforting children suffering from cancer, is designed to help change perceptions of her in Britain. Yet friends of the Prince and Princess of Wales are not so easily convinced.
‘What we are seeing shows why the Queen [Elizabeth] was right not to allow Harry and Meghan to mix money-making with royal duties,’ one friend of William and Catherine tells me.
In my own opinion, young cancer victims can end up looking like props to help the Sussexes make money. It’s extremely dangerous for the Monarchy.
The public need to know that royals are carrying out engagements out of a sense of duty, not to provide window-dressing for a lucrative foreign tour.
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