Australians will be watching to see if Harry and Meghan make this one fatal mistake on their private tour… If it happens, it’s game over: SHARON HUNT

The land Down Under is the next stop on the Sussex world tour, after a spokesperson confirmed last week that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were headed for Australia.

When I heard the announcement, I had just one question: why now?

It’s been more than seven years since Harry and Meghan were last on our shores, which was an ostensibly successful visit.

This time around, the couple will ‘visit Australia in mid-April to take part in a number of private, business and philanthropic engagements,’ a spokesperson told a preferred outlet, adding that ‘further details will be shared in due course’.

There was no word on whether their two young children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, will join them on the pilgrimage to Oz.

Nevertheless, we already have one itinerary confirmation: Meghan will headline a weekend retreat in April, hosted by the ‘Her Best Life’ podcast, which was founded by radio personality Jackie ‘O’ Henderson and her manager Gemma O’Neill.

Australian readers will know there’s a fascinating side story here. Henderson is neck-deep in a contract dispute with radio station KIIS FM after an on-air falling-out with her long-time co-host Kyle Sandilands.

Henderson – an A-lister Down Under – is actually no longer involved in ‘Her Best Life’, making the retreat a curious partnership for Meghan. Did no one tell her the celebrity had left the building?

Still, it’s been a source of great interest for Aussies that the Duchess of Sussex has become a sideshow in the biggest media story of the year. It seems she just can’t stay away from controversy. 

Anyhow, Meghan will appear as a keynote speaker at the live event, which runs from April 17 to 19 at the InterContinental Sydney Coogee Beach.

(There has been loose speculation that Henderson might return for Meghan’s retreat despite her earlier announcement she was stepping away from the joint venture with O’Neill. Whether that actually happens remains to be seen.)

Meghan’s appearance as a VIP speaker follows in the well-heeled footsteps of fellow lifestyle entrepreneur Gwyneth Paltrow, who in 2023 appeared at a similar ‘Besties’ event hosted by Henderson and O’Neill and held at the ICC in Darling Harbour before a 3,000-strong crowd.

Meanwhile, Harry has also been busily locking in plans of his own. It’s just been announced he will appear as a keynote speaker at the InterEdge Psychosocial Safety Summit, which takes place in Melbourne from April 15 to 16. 

The visit might also be a good chance for Harry to catch up with old pals. In his memoir ‘Spare’, he wrote about how much he enjoyed living in Australia as a 19-year-old in 2003. Reflecting on his time working as a jackaroo on a rural Queensland farm, he says they were ‘some of the best’ weeks of his life.

To understand the significance of this upcoming Australia trip, we need to look back at what happened during their last visit.

In 2018, the appetite for the royal family’s latest golden couple was at its peak when they made the almost 23-hour journey from London to Sydney.

You’ll remember crowds greeting Meg and Hazza – their fitting Australian nicknames – with warmth and excitement. Enraptured fans cheered their arrival on the steps of the Sydney Opera House, along Bondi Beach, and even at a farm in regional NSW.

The fact that the then-newlywed Sussexes used their tour as the perfect moment to confirm they were expecting their first child only added to the sense of jubilation.

But a lot has changed since Meghan and Harry famously took a stroll around the koala sanctuary at Taronga Zoo.

To cut a long story short: they stepped back as senior royals, became parents to two children, relocated to the US and have remained on frosty terms with key members of the Firm for the past five years, firing off a series of tell-all missives via Netflix shows, a memoir, podcasts and a range of media interviews.

In Australia, there’s a term called the ‘pub test’ – a common-sense assessment of whether an action or policy would be considered fair and acceptable to the average person.

In 2018, the Sussexes unquestionably passed the pub test. In 2026? I wouldn’t bet on it.

As reported by the Mail earlier this week, the feeling is that Meghan and Harry may be in for a mixed reception when they fly to Australia, and they have been warned to have ‘thick skins’ because they are ‘no longer assured of a warm welcome’.

Another sticky point: the last time Harry and Meghan came to Australia was in their official capacity as working royals, meaning their trip was funded by the Commonwealth and royal dollary-doos.

With their upcoming visit being a private trip, theoretically they should not receive any publicly funded support or security.

There will be a great deal of scrutiny of this, mark my words, with politicians and the press pouncing on any perceived dipping into the public purse. 

Indeed, I predict the trip will go swimmingly and Aussies may even get behind them – unless there’s even the faintest whiff it cost us anything.

If that happens, it’s game over. 

Which brings me back to my original query: why now?

Lately, there’s been a small but subtle shift in the public image of Team Sussex.

There’s a feeling that the so-called sins of the Sussexes – their whingeing, their tell-all interviews while asking for ‘privacy’, their self-indulgence – is small fry compared to endless shame Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor is heaping on the Royal Family.

What’s more, Harry and Meghan seem to be winding down their royal-bashing. Perhaps they’ve had a change of heart, but it seems the more likely scenario is that, given their estrangement from the family, there really isn’t any more to say.

In the background of this is a renewed push by the Sussexes to do good work, rather than simply dwell on how terrible things were in the past.

Take their recent humanitarian trip to Jordan with the World Health Organization.

Although the visit wasn’t entirely without criticism, it ultimately generated the type of coverage that more closely aligns with what we would expect to see from royalty.

Think visiting schools and interacting with local children, shaking hands with dignitaries, earnestly listening to the work being done by charitable organisations and finding moments of levity amid the seriousness.

These are the kind of photo ops ripped straight from the royal-tour handbook.

And it was certainly a stark contrast to the arrest picture of a de-titled Prince Andrew.

So, with momentum on their side, could Meghan and Harry see this as the perfect moment to accept an Australian invitation?

Is their trip Down Under a bid to recapture the unbridled enthusiasm and positive PR that defined their first visit?

In all likelihood, large crowds will show up to cheer (and maybe a few to chastise) the royal couple. Remember, it’s not every day we have visitors of this fame and magnitude on our shores.

Whatever the reception, if the masses do turn out, the end result will be an image that delivers a powerful PR message: Meghan and Harry, surrounded by a sea of Aussies.

The trip to Australia is often pinpointed by royal experts as the turning point in Harry and Meghan’s time as senior royals, sparking the beginning of the end of their tenure.

But coming here to huge crowds could be the beginning of a new cycle – a chance to recapture some of the sparkle and magic of their landmark visit, and keep the recent positive PR trail rolling in their favour.

Could this be the real reason behind the tour?