The Dukes of Sussex keep making headlines during their four-day tour of Australia. This Wednesday, April 15, on the third day of their trip, both Prince Harry of England and Meghan Markle made very personal statements, knowing they would not go unnoticed. First was Meghan, during a talk with students at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne about the dangers of social media and its impact on mental health, which her husband also attended. “I can speak about this very personally,” she warned. “For 10 years, every day, I have suffered harassment and attacks. I was the most harassed person on the internet in the whole world,” the duchess assured, referring to the exposure she faced after beginning her relationship with the prince, whom she married in 2018.
For years, the couple has campaigned against the dangers of the digital realm, accusing big tech companies of prioritizing profits over the well-being of young people. “That multi-billion-dollar industry, based on cruelty to get clicks, is not going to change. We have to be stronger than them,” Meghan commented. Harry, for his part, took the floor to acknowledge that there are “many good things” on social media, but warned that “the problem is that once you open that door, you also expose yourself to all the bad.”
Mental health has been one of the key topics of their trip to Australia and also featured in part of the fiery speech that King Charles III’s youngest son gave later at the InterEdge summit. The duke stated that he had been “burying his head for years and years” until he gave up his role as an active member of the royal family and moved to the United States with his wife, suggesting that this is also what his mother, the late Princess Diana, would have wanted for him. “After my mother died just before I turned 13, I thought: ‘I don’t want this job. I don’t want this position, whatever direction this takes, I don’t like it,” he shared with the audience. “That killed my mother, and I was totally against it, and I refused to accept it for years and years. Finally, I realized: what would my mother want me to do? And that really changed my perspective,” he pointed out about the exposure that comes with being a member of the royal family.
The duke explained that this thought also helped him make the determination to use the platform he has by being who he is to help others. “Helping people also helps me. And that service for me is a cure in itself because it is really incredibly energizing. Both my wife and I really enjoy the work we do. It allows us to spend time together, meet incredible people, and visit wonderful places,” he said.
Harry and Meghan have received a mixed reception in Australia, where King Charles III is the head of state. The couple’s trip is being funded with private funds, but local media reported that some police and security costs associated with the visit would be paid by Australian taxpayers, prompting a protest petition signed by more than 45,000 people.
Unlike their previous visit to the country in 2018, the Dukes of Sussex are also undertaking what their office called “private meetings and special projects” during their stay in Australia. For example, while Harry met with military veterans on Tuesday, Meghan recorded an episode of the cooking show MasterChef Australia, where she has appeared as a guest judge. Additionally, the duchess has co-organized a controversial luxury wellness retreat in Sydney scheduled for the weekend. Tickets for the event, which includes yoga or sound healing, are priced from 2,699 Australian dollars (about 1,600 euros) per person.
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