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MELBOURNE, Australia — <\/span>Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, arrived in Melbourne on Tuesday for their first Australian visit since their official royal tour<\/a> in 2018.<\/p>\n The lower-key four-day Australian visit comes after the couple announced in 2020 they planned to \u201cstep back\u201d as senior royals and to become financially independent in their Californian base.<\/p>\n The Sussexes describe their visit as privately funded, and they flew to Melbourne business class from Los Angeles on a commercial Qantas Airways flight. But there have been public complaints about the added security costs for police agencies as the couple visits Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney.<\/p>\n The cost of security explains why the couple won\u2019t be greeted by thousands of people at public events as they were during their 16-day tour as newlyweds in 2018 to Australia, New Zealand,<\/a> Fiji and Tonga.<\/p>\n The couple\u2019s children Prince Archie, 6, and Princess Lilibet, 4, are not traveling with them. Meghan announced she was pregnant with their first child while she was in Sydney in 2018<\/a>.<\/p>\n Melbourne\u2019s Herald Sun newspaper descried the latest visit as a \u201dfaux royal tour to shore up Brand Sussex.\u201d<\/p>\n There have been criticisms of the couple attending paid ticketed events while in Australia.<\/p>\n The Sussexes reject criticisms that the visit is a publicity tour.<\/p>\n \u201cThe program is rooted in long-standing areas of work for the Duke and the Duchess, with a clear focus on amplifying organizations delivering measurable impact. The visit prioritises listening, learning and supporting communities rather than promotion,\u201d the Sussexes’ office said in a statement.<\/p>\n There were also \u201ca small number of private engagements\u201d to \u201csupport broader commercial, charitable and commercial objectives,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n Afua Hagan, a media commentator on the British royal family, said the news media typically portrayed the Sussexes as \u201cvillains.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a privately funded trip. To pay for that, they\u2019re going to have to have some commercial interest,\u201d Hagan told Australian Broadcasting Corp.<\/p>\n \u201cIf they didn\u2019t have commercial interest, the problem would be: \u2018Oh my goodness, these people are leeching off the Royal Family and the taxpayers whether or not they\u2019re making their own money. How dare they make their own money.\u2019 They can\u2019t do right for doing wrong,\u201d Hagan added.<\/p>\n Giselle Bastin, a Flinders University expert on the British royals, said the Sussexes\u2019 decision to use their titles to pursue private interests will be perceived by many as a conflict of interest.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s well known that the Sussexes are in dire need of income and so a staging of a quasi-royal tour to Australia is being regarded as a rather desperate attempt to monetise their status as royalty,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Their first public engagement was at Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital. Harry’s grandmother Queen Elizabeth II<\/a> opened the facility in 1963 and his parents, Princess Diana and the then-Prince Charles, visited in 1985.<\/p>\n The Sussexes shook hands with dozens of well-wishers and were filmed by hundreds of onlookers’ phones as they entered the hospital foyer.<\/p>\n When asked by a reporter what he looked forward to most about his Australian visit, Harry replied: \u201cEverything.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s good to be back,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Also in Melbourne, Meghan is scheduled to visit a women\u2019s shelter and Harry a veterans\u2019 art museum.<\/p>\n