Not since the First Fleet arrived at Botany Bay in 1788 has a visit to Australia been so eagerly awaited as that of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Their quasi-royal tour seems mostly designed to bolster the publicity for a ‘girls weekend’ hosted by Meghan. The event, taking place in Sydney in a few days, still has tickets available – shock – at a mere £1,675 for a VIP pass. Perhaps unsurprisingly, then, the couple’s visit is receiving what those in Meghan’s former trade of acting euphemistically refer to as ‘mixed notices’.
On the one hand, most observers acknowledge that Prince Harry is generally at his best when he is allowed to go off the leash and meet ordinary people and that his innate talent at connecting with well-wishers is reminiscent of his late mother. So it has proved ever since he arrived Down Under, with his off-the-cuff quips and slightly wacky cultural allusions endearing him to many he encounters. When one nurse handed him a toy meerkat, he joked: ‘Gifts for the kids, tick.’ And his wife added yet another catchphrase to her litany of utterances when, asked by the Australian poet laureate Steve Cotterill what the appropriate name to address her by was, she replied: ‘Call me Meg.’ And there we have it, as if by royal decree.
Set against the early PR success of the tour is a sense that it should never have taken place at all
Set against the early PR successes of the Sussexes’ tour is a sense among many that it should never have taken place at all. Some believe these quasi-state visits from private citizens set an unfortunate precedent. There is also a persistent rumour, firmly denied by the Sussex camp, that the pair’s security is being funded by the Australian state, rather than the couple themselves.
The Sydney Morning Herald, alive to the awkward juxtaposition between Harry and Meghan’s supposed good works and the money-making scheme at its centre, caustically wrote that ‘Australia was good to Harry and Meghan. Now they want to use us as an ATM’. Such criticisms of exploitation have already been levelled in Britain and America. Perhaps Australia, where the couple last visited in 2018 and where Meghan announced her pregnancy with Archie, will become the next place to express such unbridled distaste at the couple’s commercially driven antics.
Still, even as the ‘Her Best Life Retreat’ looms ever-closer – complete with an on-stage, no-phones interview with Meghan and ‘photo opportunities’ for VIP tables – it has not gone unnoticed that another, and rather more consequential, royal visit is also about to take place. The full itinerary for King Charles’s trip to the United States, commemorating 250 years since the country achieved its independence, has been released. It suggests that it will be an appropriately packed few days, including everything from affairs of state – including a royal address to Congress and a military review – to somewhat lighter activities, such as an event in New York that will celebrate the centenary of Winnie the Pooh.
Talking of the golden-haired wonder with little brain, the King will also be having private meetings with President Trump. Although he is not expected to exert any diplomatic or political pressure on the whimsical potentate, it is hoped that the visit will offer a reset of sorts on a special relationship that has been increasingly strained over recent months.
Charles and Queen Camilla have also faced some criticism for a decision not to meet the victims of Jeffrey Epstein during their tour. In the wake of the Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor scandal and ongoing investigations into matters relating to Epstein by UK authorities, a palace spokesperson said:
Anything that could potentially impact on ongoing police inquiries and assessments, and any potential legal action that could result from that, would be to the detriment of the survivors themselves in their pursuit of justice.
The contrast between Charles and Camilla’s official state visit – sober, ceremonial and highly attuned to current affairs – and Harry and Meghan’s informal and far more commercially minded one could not be greater. The royals will undoubtedly be watching the warm reception that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are receiving in some quarters in Australia and wishing that their undeniable star quality might have been harnessed more effectively. But the absence of dignity accompanying the couple’s keen-eyed furtherance of all things Brand Sussex also means that, when the King and Queen visit America next week, they will do so with a serious purpose, rather than with the aim of making bank out of a VIP wellness retreat.
Comments