{"id":855187,"date":"2026-03-28T03:08:47","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T03:08:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/855187\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T03:08:47","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T03:08:47","slug":"petition-against-prince-harry-and-meghan-markles-upcoming-trip-gathers-over-38k-signatures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/855187\/","title":{"rendered":"Petition Against Prince Harry And Meghan Markle\u2019s Upcoming Trip Gathers Over 38k Signatures"},"content":{"rendered":"

Meghan Markle<\/b> and Prince Harry<\/b> might not be receiving the warmest of welcomes during their upcoming visit to Australia<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Thousands have signed a petition voicing their concerns, as the couple gears up for their trip planned for mid-April.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The petition triggered a response from the couple\u2019s team, which said people were making a \u201cstupid assertion\u201d regarding the trip.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry might not be receiving the warmest of welcomes during their upcoming visit to Australia<\/b>\"\"<\/p>\n

<<\/p>\n

Image credits: Aaron Chown\/PA Images\/Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n

Within a few weeks, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry will touch down in Australia roughly seven years after their last visit to the country.<\/p>\n

Instead of applause and fanfare, a group of Aussies voiced their disdain about their trip.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Image credits: Pool\/Samir Hussein\/Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

They demanded that the Australian Government ensures no taxpayer-funded support or official resources are offered to the ex-working royals.<\/p>\n

Markle\u2019s agenda in Australia includes headlining a women\u2019s retreat in Sydney, with attendees paying about $3,000 AUD ($2,068 USD) for one ticket.<\/p>\n

Prince Harry is also expected to speak at a mental health summit in Melbourne during the trip.<\/p>\n

About 39,150 people have so far signed the petition, voicing their concerns about the couple\u2019s trip<\/b>\"\"<\/p>\n

Image credits: change.org<\/a><\/p>\n

Nearly 39,150 people have so far signed the change.org<\/a> petition, decorated with an image of the couple with the text: \u201cWe don\u2019t want you here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs this is a private visit, Australian taxpayers must not fund security, logistics or government coordination,\u201d read the petition.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Image credits: Aaron Chown\/PA Images\/Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cSince stepping down from royal duties in 2020, they no longer represent the Crown and now operate private commercial ventures based in the United States,\u201d the message continued.<\/p>\n

The petition pointed out how Australians were grappling with rising grocery bills and fuel prices, in addition to mortgage stress and other cost-of-living pressures.<\/p>\n

Hence, the petitioners voiced their disapproval over offering taxpayer-funded support to the couple.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex said people were making a \u201cstupid assertion\u201d<\/b>\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

As numbers on the petition continued to grow, a spokesperson for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex clarified that the trip would be privately funded.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a moot point,\u201d a spokesperson told the Daily Mail. \u201cThe trip is being funded privately, so I\u2019m not sure what this petition hopes to achieve.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Image credits: Kristina Bumphrey\/Variety\/Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n

Calling the petition \u201cridiculous,\u201d the spokesperson pointed out that the number of Australians willing to offer their signatures was a small portion of the country\u2019s population.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, if you wanted to dive into the ridiculousness of this petition as an agenda for spreading misinformation, then one could equally hypothesise that there are approximately 26.5 million Australians (99.98 per cent of the population) who haven\u2019t signed it,\u201d the statement continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho must therefore agree with the taxpayer picking up the tab for their visit,\u201d the statement concluded. \u201cOf course, that is another equally stupid assertion to make.\u201d<\/p>\n

Royal experts said the couple see the trip as a \u201ccash grab\u201d but would face intense backlash <\/b>\"\"<\/p>\n

Image credits: BBC News<\/a><\/p>\n

The Sussex\u2019s last trip to Australia was in 2018, before they officially stepped down from their roles as senior working members of the royal family in 2020.<\/p>\n

They stayed at the Governor-General\u2019s official Sydney residence, Kirribilli House and had taxpayer-funded police escort them throughout the trip.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Royal commentators said the couple can expect backlash over the upcoming visit to Australia.<\/p>\n

Describing the trip as a \u201ccash grab,\u201d royal author Tom Bower told The Daily Telegraph, \u201cMeghan is doing it for money, it\u2019s rather grubby \u2026 she\u2019s monetising her royalty which I think is pretty shabby because she promised the Queen she wouldn\u2019t do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Betrayal: Power, Deceit and the Fight for the Future of the Royal Family author asserted that the trip was \u201cclearly to make money to raise their profile,\u201d but the couple would find it \u201crougher than they anticipated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their trip to Australia is like \u201cheading into the hornets\u2019 nest \u2013 covered in sticky honey,\u201d one expert said <\/b>\"\"<\/p>\n

Image credits: ABC News<\/a><\/p>\n

Journalist Chris Riches said Prince Harry and Markle\u2019s upcoming trip was like \u201cheading into the hornets\u2019 nest \u2013 covered in sticky honey.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPrince Harry and Meghan Markle think they will get a red carpet as \u2018welcomed Royals,\u2019\u201d the expert said, as quoted by Mirror<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Image credits: The Royal Family Channel<\/a><\/p>\n

He also said the controversy surrounding Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor<\/a>, who was arrested and released last month as part of the investigation into his Jeffrey Epstein ties, was doing no favors to the the Sussex couple\u2019s image.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf ever there was a time for one of their faux-Royals to jet into a country that\u2019s expressed the desire to axe Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor from the Line of Succession, it\u2019s not now,\u201d Riches added.<\/p>\n

Netizens did not hold back while sharing their thoughts on the Sussex couple\u2019s trip to Australia <\/b>\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Meghan Markle and Prince Harry might not be receiving the warmest of welcomes during their upcoming visit to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":855188,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7708],"tags":[186,243828,1281,447,5105,7710,519,448],"class_list":["post-855187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-royals","tag-australia","tag-image-credits","tag-meghan-markle","tag-prince-harry","tag-royal","tag-royal-families","tag-royal-family","tag-royals"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116304609085527472","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=855187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855187\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/855188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=855187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=855187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=855187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}