Australia holds a special place in the hearts of Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. The last time they were here, the then-newlyweds announced they were pregnant with their first child as soon as they landed in Sydney on a rainy October day in 2018.
The announcement understandably created fever pitch attention surrounding their 16-day royal tour, which included dozens of engagements across Australia, NZ, Tonga and Fiji.
That tour was hailed a success and saw Meghan’s popularity soar, effusive headlines hailing them the faces of the modern monarchy and jubilant crowds welcoming them in scenes that drew comparisons to the 1983 honeymoon tour Prince Charles and Princess Diana.
Prince Harry recalled the Australian tour was a turning point for them, during his bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021 shortly after officially stepping down as a working member of the royal family. He added that it was after that tour that things “really changed” for the couple.
“It really changed after the Australia tour,” Prince Harry told Oprah. “It was also the first time that the family got to see how incredible [Meghan] is at the job. That brought back memories.”
The Duchess said that it was upon returning from the Australian tour that the couple first began to feel differently about their relationship with the royal family. That famously led to their 2020 departure as working royals and the years-long deep rift that still remains between Harry and his family.
“After we had gotten back from our Australia tour … we talked about things really started to turn, when I knew we weren’t being protected,” Meghan told Oprah.
Harry – who also spent a few months living here on attachment to the Australian Army in 2015 – added: “To see how effortless it was for Meghan to come into the family so quickly in Australia and across New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga, and just be able to connect with people.
“She was welcomed into the family not just by the family, but by the world.”
That was eight years ago. Next week the couple return in a different capacity and with a remarkably different life. They infamously relocated to the US in 2020 and carved out a new life for themselves in sunny California with their two children Archie and Lillibet.
The Duchess launched her own lifestyle brand, As Ever, while Prince Harry has continued his passion for the Invictus Games that he founded and carved out a niche as speaker on mental health issues, including in the workplace. As a couple they have had various TV podcasting and book deals and of course Harry wrote his tell-all best-selling memoir Spare.
Next week the Duke and Duchess return to Australia for a “number of private, business, and philanthropic engagements” according to a spokesperson. These include two formal engagements with Prince Harry scheduled to give a keynote address about mental health concerns in workplaces at the InterEdge Psychosocial Safety Summit in Melbourne alongside speakers such as Jelena Dokic and Hugh Van Cuylenberg; while the Duchess is the star attraction at the Her Best Life “girls weekend like no other” retreat at the InterContinental Sydney Coogee Beach next weekend.
The public sentiment towards the couple in 2026 may be different to that of 2018, but however you feel about them, the issues that Prince Harry and Meghan are expected to shine lights on during their upcoming tour – mental health, supporting women and families and veterans affairs – are all extremely important issues for the wider community.
At The Australian Women’s Weekly we will be covering every step of their tour, so follow our live coverage across womensweekly.com.au.
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