Aussies weigh in on Harry and Meghan’s Australian tour,
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are said to have concluded their ‘half-in, half-out’ pseudo-royal Australia tour was a major success.
But a poll Down Under has given a brutal verdict of their four-day visit, with the majority declaring that it did not improve their view of the couple at all.
The survey revealed that a crushing four out of five Aussies (81 per cent) felt their visit had not improved their opinion of the couple. Just one in five (19 per cent) said it had.
Despite Harry’s speech declaring he never wanted to be a working royal and Meghan calling herself the ‘most trolled person in the entire world’ since marrying her prince, two-thirds of Australians (69 per cent) said the couple had not been treated unfairly by the Royal Family.
And almost nine out of ten Australians (87 per cent) said that they believed that Harry’s decision to visit the country with his wife would not help mend his relationship with his father, King Charles III.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex departed Australia on Friday after taking part in a mix of charitable royal-style engagements and money-spinning commercial events.
The couple’s tour went from a stop at the Australian War Memorial and a visit to meet survivors of the Bondi terror attack to Meghan’s cameo on MasterChef Australia.
There was also her two-hour visit to the £1,700-a-head so-called ‘Megstock’ festival in Sydney, where she posed for photos with fans and told them about her ‘very hard life’ at an all-women event reported to be worth a ‘fat’ six-figure fee.
It came as an exclusive poll for The Mail on Sunday revealed how an overwhelming four-to-one majority of Britons are opposed to the Sussexes using their titles for commercial gain.
A poll suggests Australians remain largely unconvinced by Harry and Meghan, even after their high-profile trip Down Under, which included a visit to Melbourne’s Swinburne University of Technology on April 16
Despite the packed schedule and wall-to-wall attention Down Under and around the world, data from respected pollster Roy Morgan shows the trip did little to win over the public.
The research, based on a survey of 1,767 Australians aged 18 and over, found more than 80 per cent of the population – around 18.1 million people – were aware the couple had been in the country.
But awareness has not translated into admiration. When asked whether the trip improved their opinion of the pair, just 19 per cent said yes, while a striking 81 per cent said it had not.
Similarly, hopes of a royal reconciliation remain slim in the eyes of Australians.
Only 13 per cent believe the visit will help Harry mend ties with King Charles III, compared to 87 per cent who think it will make no difference.
Meghan fared slightly better on a personal level, with one in four respondents saying the trip showed them a more positive side of her.
However, a clear majority said their view of the duchess had not improved.
The question of whether Australians would welcome the couple more permanently revealed a more divided response.
While 41 per cent said they would support Prince Harry and Meghan relocating to Australia, 59 per cent were opposed.
The poll also touched on broader perceptions of the couple’s treatment by the Royal Family.
Around 31 per cent of respondents believe Harry and Meghan have been treated unfairly, though more than two-thirds (69 per cent) disagree.
When asked whether the trip improved their opinion of the pair, just 19 per cent said yes, while 81 per cent said it had not. Above, Meghan with a fan at Melbourne’s Scar Tree Walk on April 16
While 41 per cent said they would support Prince Harry and Meghan relocating to Australia, 59 per cent were opposed. Above, Meghan at the Her Best Life retreat in Sydney on April 17
Opinion was almost evenly split on how the late Queen Elizabeth II might have viewed the visit.
Just under half (49 per cent) think she would have approved, while 51 per cent believe she would not.
A source close to the Sussexes insisted that the Australian adventure has been a success – and that the ‘half in, half out model’ opposed by the late Queen and the Royal Family can work.
‘We’ve tested the playbook, it worked,’ a source close to the Sussexes told The Daily Telegraph in Sydney as the couple head back to Los Angeles.
‘They’re doing the right thing. Whether you want to call it half in, half out or – as they would probably describe it – just doing what they want to do and doing it in a really positive way, this week has given us reassurance that it is the right course of action. This could absolutely act as a blueprint for the future.’
A member of Harry’s close circle added that he is ‘philosophical’ about some of the criticism he and Meghan have received Down Under.
‘One thing that Harry often says is that the truth will always out’, they said.
‘The more they do of this, the more that people see them, interact with them, the more they see that there isn’t an agenda here.’
It comes after Meghan received backlash when the outfit she wore to meet survivors of the Bondi terror attack was immediately available for her fans to buy on a website where she is paid a percentage from sales.
Harry is also featured on the OneOff page advertising his wife’s ‘look’ at the Sydney beach, although he is largely covered by links to her $440 blue and white striped Matteau shirt, $139 white ‘sailor jeans’ and $298 Freda Salvador trainers.
Meghan’s $198 Brochu Walker sunglasses and $950 brown suede bag from her Bondi engagement are also being advertised.
Meghan is expected to earn a portion of OneOff’s sales commission, which ranges from 10 per cent to 25 per cent per item sold.
She is also an investor in the AI-powered fashion business.
Critics have said that the decision to advertise the duchess’s ‘look’ on a visit to meet terror attack survivors is ‘the starkest example yet of Harry and Meghan’s efforts to commercialise their royal brand’.
It comes after Meghan received backlash when the outfit she wore to meet survivors of the Bondi terror attack was immediately available for her fans to buy on a website where she is paid a percentage from sales
Meghan is expected to earn a portion of OneOff’s sales commission, which ranges from 10 per cent to 25 per cent per item sold
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Royal expert Richard Palmer said the sale of her Bondi outfit online reflects badly on the Sussexes – and will worry the Firm.
He said: ‘This is perhaps the starkest example yet of Harry and Meghan’s efforts to commercialise their royal brand.
‘I think this will have alarm bells ringing at the palace and may ultimately prompt further discussion about whether there is a need to strip them of their royal titles, now the King has shown it can be done in effect with Andrew.
‘The palace can say it’s nothing to do with the institution because Harry and Meghan aren’t publicly funded members of it – but they are the King’s son and daughter-in-law and any suggestion of cashing in on royal status reflects badly on the monarchy’.
