How a purple folder stole the show during Meghan and Harry’s last tour,
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex had a successful first day of their 2026 tour in Australia as large crowds of well-wishers turned out to greet to couple, but one sweet interaction has Aussies remembering their last visit.
The couple travelled to Australia for their first major international tour shortly after their wedding in October 2018
Meghan clutched a pair of large purple folders in front of her stomach as she stepped off the plane in Sydney, quickly leading to speculation she was hiding a baby bump.
The rumours had been swirling following their globally televised royal wedding and then Meghan wearing a large blue coat to Princess Eugenie’s nuptials the week prior to their trip.
And just hours after the pair landed in Sydney, an official announcement was released by Kensington Palace that Meghan was indeed expecting their first child.
On Tuesday, it seems it wasn’t just Australians feeling the nostalgia, with Meghan bringing up her first pregnancy, with Archie, while doing a craft session with veterans and their children at the Australian National Veterans Art Museum.
‘We were here when we announced we were pregnant … and now (Archie) is seven,’ she told the group.
At the same event, Kat Baldwin – the director of ANVAM – told Harry they’d previously met back in October 2013, during his first official trip to Australia as a royal representative.
‘That was my shortest trip to Australia,’ Harry said of the 2013 visit.
‘My grandmother (the late Queen Elizabeth II) said to me, ‘Will you go and do the fleet review?’ and I said, ‘Absolutely!’ and then she goes, ‘Oh, it’s in Australia’.’
Harry earlier on Tuesday elicited laughter from a group of children and their parents during a trip to Melbourne’s Royal children’s hospital just after midday.
He and Meghan visited a garden attached to the Kelpie Ward, which hosts ‘Garden Therapy Sessions’ for patients, one of which the couple were invited to join.
During the session, Harry picked up a piece of bark to use in an exercise and joked that while he wanted to keep it, it wouldn’t make it through customs.
‘I’d be arrested at some point,’ he said.
The Sussex’s spent almost 45 minutes chatting to children and their parents in the atrium and on a ward.
They landed from LA early on Tuesday and their itinerary this week will include charity and business events in Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney.
The four-day trip will also see Harry and Meghan attend an Invictus Australia event in Sydney before Meghan stars at the ‘Her Best Life’ retreat at nearby Coogee Beach.
Tickets for the weekend cost up to $3,199 AUD (£1,400) and include a chance to have a photo with the Duchess and ask her questions at a gala dinner in a five-star hotel.
Meghan’s fee has been described as a ‘fat one’, and is apparently in the region of $250,000.
Harry is the star speaker at the InterEdge Summit in Melbourne on Thursday, where tickets range from $1,000 to $2,400 with a ‘virtual ticket’ for Harry’s speech costing costing $498 alone.
The couple insist their 2026 trip is ‘privately-funded’ but there is some disquiet because Australian taxpayers are due to foot the bill for some police security.
Tens of thousands of people have signed a petition demanding the Sussexes cover all the costs themselves.
As they arrived Harry was asked if he had a message for Australia and said: ‘It’s wonderful. It’s great to be back. Thanks for having us back.’
