The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will undertake their first long-distance royal tour as a married couple in October. I mean, they’ve traveled together before, and they did a short trip to Ireland this summer, but this will be the first proper “tour.” Meghan and Harry (I literally almost wrote “Kate and Meghan”) will be traveling nonstop for more than two solid weeks, through Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga. As some have pointed out, just the bare-bones travel itinerary is so much different than William and Kate’s tour of the same countries – when Will and Kate made their trip, they built in all of these rest and vacation days. I understand the jetlag argument, but it did feel like that tour (and other tours they’ve undertaken) are more like taxpayer-funded vacations with a handful of events. In Meghan and Harry’s case, they actually have a lot of stuff to do with the Invictus Games and all of that. You can read more details at the Kensington Palace Twitter. Here’s the travel itinerary:
Tuesday 16th October: Sydney, Australia
Wednesday 17th October: Dubbo, Australia
Thursday 18th October: Melbourne, Australia
Friday 19th October: Sydney, Australia
Saturday 20th October: Sydney, Australia
Sunday 21st October: Sydney, Australia
Monday 22nd October: Fraser Island, Australia
Tuesday 23rd October: Suva, Fiji
Wednesday 24th October: Suva, Fiji
Thursday 25th October: Nadi, Fiji and Nuku’alofa, Tonga
Friday 26th October: Nuku’alofa, Tonga and Sydney, Australia
Saturday 27th October: Sydney, Australia
Sunday 28th October: Wellington, New Zealand
Monday 29th October: Wellington and Abel Tasman, New Zealand
Tuesday 30th October: Auckland, New Zealand
Wednesday 31st October: Rotorua, New Zealand
I hope Meghan isn’t pregnant already because that sounds like the most hectic travel schedule for a pregnant woman. Maybe she’s not and she’ll GET pregnant on this crazy tour? I don’t know. We’ll see. What are you expecting from her fashion choices? I haven’t really thought about it, but Meghan does seem to not feel any pressure to wear certain designers because of their nationality. I mean, yes, she’s been wearing some British stuff in Britain, but she’s also highlights Canadian and American and Italian designers. My guess is that she won’t wear Aussie and Kiwi designers exclusively, but she’ll wear *some* of it.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
That’s a breakneck schedule.
I have no idea how these people deal with jet lag. It absolutely necessary for me to take two-three days to first get settl s when I go to other countries. And I never have to be “On” all the time after that and perform anyway…
They travel first class or in private planes
You can sleep on comfy beds in business class itself.
And some first classes even have gyms.
@Ty it’s not like you just sleep on a plane, take a shower and ready to go about your day. Your body lives by the clock of the city you leave behind and you can’t help falling asleep in the middle of the day because it’s 2AM back home.
For me I just sleep a bit on the plane if it’s a super long flight (benadryl helps) then force myself to stay awake until night time in the new country, it’s never steered me wrong. If anything I get worse when I get home.
It’s busy but keep in mind all the Australian locations are a short journey from one another. Less than an hour by plane from one to the next. (except Fraser Is. – that’s closer to 2 hours).
They are not going coast to coast. It’s entirely east coast and close proximity. I can’t believe they’re going to Dubbo! haha you bloody beauty!
What’s in Dubbo? Are they going to a special event?
I love them together. Hope if she’s pregnant all that travel won’t be too hard on her.
That said, I can’t wait for the daily fashion report while they’re on tour.
If she does do some Aussie designers, I could definitely see some Zimmerman & some Camilla & Marc making an appearance.
Am praying she does some local designers that will be so cool.
That would be the BEST!
Meh. Totally depends on the woman and the pregnancy. For my first, never felt sick at all and was completely normal in the first and second trimesters. For my second, sick as a dog for the whole 9 months, could barely get out of bed the first 4 months.
If Meghan is already pregnant and not having too hard a time, she could do this trip, easy.
This.
I agree. Plus, she’ll be with Harry the whole time.
LOL this comment made me laugh. Isn’t she always “with Harry the whole time”? LOL.
These 2 mean business and they always have – a tour is not a holiday *cough* W&K*cough* although rest days are built in. Plus am not on the ‘she’s pregnant’ train, if she was then there is no way they would have this schedule.
It will be interesting to see how they will be received – will it be better than William and Katie Keen? I wonder if they will pull the usual W&K stunt and ban press from a scheduled public event so they can spend some ‘alone time’ together – remember the mountain hike in Bhutan?!?!
Evil Pap Smurf has raised his mug again – he’s been bleating to the Mirror about his fears of being kidnapped and how ‘boo hoo’ he can’t afford to move. He has a nice property in Los Feliz in LA which is a VERY VERY nice and safe area to live. Someone has been triggered by the stories of Doria’s secret visits to the UK, Meghan’s closeness to Charles and this tour.
Ugh.
HA! Back when he began his sh!tshow (complete with matinee performances and two on Sundays), I SAID he’d pull this crap about being a target of kidnapping!! A$$wipe!
Frankly, I wouldn’t put it past Scammy and him to put this out, have him “disappear” for a while and cry “Who took Meghan’s Daddy???” “Why aren’t you looking for him???” “IT’S ALL ON MEGHAN’S HEAD” bullish!t.
Hilarious. Who would kidnap him? He’s so obnoxious after a few hours they kidnappers would be trying to pay people to take him off their hands so they didn’t have to hear him endlessly repeateding his sad little repertoire of Meghan stories.
Lol. If you’ve never read “The Ransom of Red Chief” by O Henry, that’s basically the plot. Except “Red Chief” was an obnoxious little boy instead of a fame-thirsty old troll. (Great story btw, very funny.)
I’m sure if he were kidnapped the Daily Fail would put up the ransom. They need him around to create trouble.
Wasn’t there a Bette Midler movie with this plot? Ruthless People?
And no one pay his ransom, anyway. Why bother?
Ugh, I’ll bet he hasn’t mentioned any names, has he, heh heh. With all the money he’s making off his daughter’s back, of course he’d be able to afford to move. If he’d cut down on the beer and smokes he could save even more money, lol. If the tabloids want to continue to pay this miserable excuse of a man to lie, that’s their problem.
Ugh and Sammy has just come out with her very own Twitter storm. I just wish they would go away.
And it’s nasty, and I hope she’s gone too far so that she’ll be shut down. She’s completely out of control and utterly blind to why Meghan won’t and can’t react. No wonder no one in her family speaks to her. I think she also lies through her teeth about how often she speaks with her father herself.
Hahaha @DU, that’s exactly what I thought. Doria reported summer with the Sussexes and how Doria is so thick as thieves with PH set this Markle Sr. off and he wants a piece of the pie, LOL.
It is a massive trip!! But they’ve got a lot of days in Sydney so they will at least be in the one spot for a few days whilst the games are on!
So glad they’re sneaking into Melbourne for the day… I will be keeping my ears and eyes open so that I can bump into them somewhere!!! It’s a great time of year to be here. Weather should be nice and spring is in the air! Good for baby making 😝
I don’t go gaga over the Royals or their fashion choices, but am quite looking forward to their visit. It will be a pleasant distraction from the whole ongoing Turnbull-Morrison-Dutton debacle and its aftermath! Spring is a great time to visit Australia, and October will be even warmer, but the school holidays will be over. (Teacher here.) I hope I bump into them in Sydney, as my mission will be to cadge a lift to New Zealand!
Meghan looks lovely that blue hue, and those shoes…!
Kids will be back at school which means they can be easily herded to make up the crowds, just as kids in the UK are used for the same purposes. If they were on holidays, less likely for kids en masse to be assembled.
If they are worried if zika they won’t try for 6 months post possible exposure. It is suspected to live within sperm for 6 months.
DEET to the preventative rescue!
We went to zika area for our honeymoon. I was DEET every day, I ruined my sandals because leather didn’t agree with the spray. But i got bit still. Imagine if i didn’t. We waited months before trying. Didn’t want to risk it.
Eliza, the Zika hype really annoys the heck out of me. There are MILLIONS of HEALTHY babies born in countries like mine (Uganda) where the Zika virus was first reported in 1947. Its foolish to put one’s life on hold over something that’s in God’ s hands. If Meghan and Harry are meant to have a healthy baby, they will and if not whatever will be will be.
Yes, it’s a busy schedule and they have to be “on” all the time. But it’s not the way peasants travel, in cramped economy and missed connections that makes travel a drag for the rest of us. They have “people” to smooth things out. That being said. I enjoy seeing them as a couple, they seem really good together and it warms my heart.
This isn’t crazy, it’s just how a royal tour’s meant to be.
Philip and Charles used to fit more in when they were younger.
This is a good point. Our expectations have shifted lol.
TQ’s tours when she was younger were longer as were Chuck’s. They are also very expensive with the host country picking up much if not all of the tab, so there is reason to keep the trips short esp in today’s economic environment.
Invictus Games are in Sydney, right? that’s why all the time there? So it looks like they are there for the opening of the games, then stop back for a few days, and then will be there for the closing ceremonies?
That looks like a busy schedule. I know they don’t travel the way peasants do, lol, but it still seems hectic and exhausting.
It’s a busy schedule. I wouldn’t like it. Not because I mind working, but because a royal tour is so public. There will be endless photos, news coverage, screaming crowds, fashion scrutiny, etc etc. I’m introverted and two weeks of non stop scrutiny would just kill me.
That being said, I’m happy they are out working, being visible and engaged with the public all over. It’s kind of infuriating how Will and Kate, who will actually inherit the throne, have gotten away with so little work over the years. And the spare and his wife are out there doing these kinds of heavy tours just a few months into their marriage. I really hope Harry is conscious of his and Meghan’s boundaries, and won’t accept putting in tons of work just to cover for Will and Kate while they are lazying at Anmer Hall.
To be fair to William and Kate, they went on a tour of Canada two months into their marriage
Which also included days off and a private overnight visit to a remote cabin, requiring the RCMP to camp out days ahead and be on alert in the middle of the woods. So Bill and Kate could have a little taxpayer-funded vacation in the middle of the tour.
Add in the silly Hollywood made-up event because Katie wanted to meet celebrities and the charity polo match where the guy handling the money has been disappeared from royal circles? I wouldn’t say it was a big success.
To be fair, it should be mentioned that during the April 2014 tour of New Zealand and Australia, George was with William and Kate.
I’m sure bringing your first infant overseas would of changed things for them a bit.
Maybe? Hard to give the benefit of the doubt with these two.
so I partly agree, but I also think they built in some significant rest time/private time on other tours as well, like their first tour of Canada (which was a pretty big tour IIRC) and their tour of India and Bhutan.
Which would be valid if they didn’t also treat their other tours as holidays with a tiny bit of work sprinkled in along the way
We also don’t have the actual events yet. It could just be a gala dinner and a performance, or a hike at each 1 day visit. When the events are recorded then we will know if fluff or not. There’s good expectation they will deliver, so fingers crossed.
I only wish they did the tour bits br/after IG because they’re taking the press with them, so that will be days when there would be coverage but now it’ll be in NZ. But given the length of the games and how much each host country has to pay it makes sense to double up.
I just finished catching up on The Crown– I know, I am late to the party. This is very busy but it hardly seems epic when you consider Elizabeth and Phillip’s Australia tour.
I don’t think they would take Zika the risk on Fiji and Tonga if she were already pregnant.
I am excited to see her wardrobe though! I am sure Harry will bring a number of blue suits. 🙂
They will miss most of Invictus, so I don’t like how the tour was planned.
The Invictus games will be overshadowed by H&M visiting other places, since the press will focus on them.
I don’t like it
They would have been dragged over hot coals if they had gone to Invictus and *only* Invictus for the duration. This is a compromise that works.
It could also end up drawing more attention to the games due to being linked to the tour and the additional attention from the press. Harry can still comment on how he feels about each day’s events while on tour .
If they had gone to Invictus – a private event – and tacked on a few days for a royal tour, it would have been fine. Just going to IG would have been fine since the tour, such as it is, was tacked on after H’s attendance in Sydney was known. The games will be overshadowed when the pair are elsewhere, and sadly, the cult of celebrity will see the athletes overshadowed even when they are there. Add in Beckham and the Danish dude, plus a host of Australian sporting ‘ambassadors’ and there’s a whole bunch of photo ops, from royal down, taking away air from the wounded athletes. So the whole thing is ill-thought through IF the focus is meant to be on the athletes. Too many band-wagon people on board to up their profiles.
Royal tours have next to no significance to the host country – except the financial drain, meaning millions of dollars; they are a promotional device for the royals. Meaningless but I guess it fills in the royals’ time. Oz has had two royal visits this year by RF members; zero impact/ care from the population. They are nothing more than pretty shallow meet and greets. The younger members get more publicity since we are in a youth-oriented society. Their profiles are revved up to screeching point to get the easily influenced into a state of hysteria, but let’s face it, the royals want to be seen more as celebrities than anything else, and people do get a kick out of seeing them in the flesh after viewing them in the media. But impact on people’s lives? Nah. Their work is mainly a PR invention, simply piggybacking off real work done by anonymous hard workers in the community already.
The celebrities bring more attention to these games, they don’t overshadow nor take nothing away from these games. I know people like to think/pretend that these Invictus games are such a popular well known event worldwide but in reality, they aren’t. When they were hosted here last year, I met tons of people that knew absolutely nothing about them and if it were not for prince Harry and Meghan Markle, they would have come and gone unnoticed by the majority of people here in Toronto. These people (the royals etc) did their marketing research and decided that adding people like David Beckham to the mix would bring more focus and attention to the games rather than take anything away or overshadow them.
In terms of host countries spending tons of money on the royals, lets bear in mind that the royals (Harry and Meghan and etc) are in those countries on invitation. They are not forcing themselves on anyone, they are invited guests to your countries. If they are not wanted there or not welcome, its up to each individual country to NOT invite them and they will stay put in their country. Hosting the IG is bid upon and the winner gets to host them, so to knock the royals for how much what countries spend on them when they visit is just absurd. I find it really irritating when some people project their biases on an entire country/population etc. You might not like the royals and maybe loath their visits but they do have lots of fans that want to see/meet them. I have read here some posting how “nobody in Britain likes Meghan” and yet everywhere she goes people are lining the streets and turning up in cold bad weather just to meet her. It just shows how one’s meat is another’s poison.
I can’t wait for this tour. Harry and Meghan have a lot of charisma
I feel bad when people talk about pregnancy. I mean, I wish that’s not the case with Meghan, but from Jennifer Aniston’s last interview I got the feeling it wasn’t that she didn’t want children like her ex made seem, but that she medically couldn’t have a baby later and everybody was just waiting for it to happen.
I know that they talked about having kids and Harry loves children, but to always speculate must put a lot of pressure on the poor woman.
Agreed, I’ve said that before on here and it didn’t get positive responses. Lol.
And let’s be real, fertility issues can get you at ANY age, it isn’t just her age. There are rumors that she told her ex husband she could not have kids. Mind you, I have told some stories like that as well to ‘call the dogs off the hunt.’
Or gasp of all gasps! Maybe they just want to live their lives together and don’t want kids. I know I’m talking crazy talk but there are people out there like that (ME!) and they’re not sociopaths.
Exactly, this woman has been married for less than a year and everybody has put a time stamp on her eggs. Funny how people cry feminism all the time but can’t lay off the baby talk.
How about installing a policy where we just wait and see? If and when she gets pregnant, we can talk about it. Is just unfair to expect things like this to happen because just makes the person feel pressured and inadequate.
“Or gasp of all gasps! Maybe they just want to live their lives together and don’t want kids. I know I’m talking crazy talk but there are people out there like that (ME!) and they’re not sociopaths.”
I was talking with a friend the other day who was like, I really don’t understand why Harry married her… she’s so old…too old for having babies …
And I was like MAYBE HE MARRIED HER BECAUSE HE LOVES HER OMG JUST LAY OFF IT ALREADY
Because regardless of gender, society is brought up to think that marriage=babies, that is there is no other reason to get married. It is an outdated way of thinking.
Less than a year? how about less that 6 months
@swp This is the first time im hearing those rumours
@ Sam, because it’s a rumor, that keeps getting repeated by people that like to spread rumors.
The listing is of what cities the Sussexs will be in on what days, we don’t know yet if each day of the tour is packed with engagements or if rest breaks are built in. Personally I don’t begrudge them if personal / rest time is built into the schedule.
Would feel incredibly conflicted going there after that cartoon in the Herald Sun. Yesterday on Twitter on the Herald Sun’s feed the news of their trip preceded the tweet of the cartoon. If I was her, at that point I would just feel so fucking tired of it all. That’s my friend, she was at my wedding and that the best Australia can do. Harry was going by himself.
ugh yeah, I didn’t even think about that. Times like that would be hard to be a royal where it’s your job to make these appearances.
That cartoon was hideous. Hopefully there’ll be some backlash. And surely it doesn’t represent the Australian people’s opinion as a whole.
I know it doesn’t rep the country as a whole, you’re right. It’s just exhausting. I read alot of comments yesterday on the entire situation and the amount of people that don’t get the cartoon or even pause to think for a moment why Serena did what she did is incredibly sad. I know Megan has her responsibilities but in this moment I imagine she’s in her friend’s corner too. But everyone has to get into their big girl panties right? @SWP I hope my response clarifies.
Confused. Please clarify? Offensive to Meghan? From Australia?
Racist and sexist cartoon of Serena Williams from an Australia cartoonist.
So it looks like the Invictus Games won’t get the attention they deserve – the press and hoopla of this tour will take away from it. Splitting coverage – great planning.
This was my thought, too. I almost think it would have made more sense for them to do the bulk of the tour the week before Invictus started, but maybe there was some other conflict?
They have to work around Eugenie’s wedding October 12th.
If they had only gone to Invictus for the duration of it, all we would have read about was a taxpayer-funded vacation down under. If they’d gone to all of Invictus then done a two week tour after, same criticism. This tour is a compromise position. Some of Invictus with plenty of royal duties around it.
Now Harry doesn’t have to pay for anything concerning Invictus as he has managed to piggy back it with the official tour.
I believe the OP was saying that the grand tour will detract from Invictus in terms of publicity and enthusiasm..
Well isn’t that a nice change, then, seeing as the first few years of Invictus were not official work? If he had flown all the way to Australia for the whole set of events, he would have been dragged. If he had skipped it entirely, he would have been dragged.
Now they are getting dragged for only attending some events, even though this is the best possible compromise.
Invictus has always been categorised by BP as Harry’s private activity (among others). It hasn’t appeared as official work as determined by the Palace nor has been funded by the taxpayer. Why would he have been dragged for attending IG, an event he founded and has attended each time it’s been run? It’s a good event. No-one has said otherwise. If Hazza gets dragged at all is that he has been reluctant to step up to full-time royal duties since leaving the army, preferring personal projects – all of them under the radar in terms of time and commitment, though al with a photo op to ‘prove’ he’s doing something.
By weaving a royal tour through IG, Harry shifts the cost to the taxpayer, just like William did by meeting up with a government official on his way to Jecca’s wedding in Africa. The ‘royal duties’ are flimsy and non-taxing activities, more for appearances than anything else. As a result these tours have zero impact on the host country, are quickly forgotten, and financially wasteful, rerouting taxpayer money from things that need doing. The cost of the tour could go a long way to helping farmers feed stock in drought-ridden areas. To be clear: farmers are shooting stock they can’t feed, then turning the gun on themselves. That’s the brutal context.
Weren’t IG Orlando and Toronto all counted for Harry appearances in the CC? Meanwhile, the host country pays the biggest share of these games, the British people pay very little if anything more than to sponsor their team. And remember that the teams’ family members just pay a portion of their tickets, the other portion comes from the Invictus account. These games have sponsors from all over the face of each, UK taxpayer isn’t being bled to pay for PH. I don’t know what makes some British people think that they are footing all the IG bills, as if the host countries and everybody else just sit back and mooch off of the UK.
Masamf, the excuse made by fans for Harry’s appallingly low CC numbers since leaving the army is that his personal work doesn’t count and that if it did his numbers would be much larger. They always mention IG and the Botswana gigs. To gee up his numbers, I recall IG may have been recently added. The Oz govt gave $10,000 to H+M for Invictus as a wedding gift, but that’s a drop in the bucket. Wonder what actual running costs were for London, Orlando, Toronto.
IG was counted as one engagement. One. Not all of the events, the behind the scenes meetings, at which his attendance was admitted to by multiple people on the planning team. One engagement total. Nor were his his 3 days a week volunteering at MOD rehab for a few years counted. Just like Heads Together is co-opting the work Harry had already been doing, the BRF now “claiming” his IG work is much the same.
Now he is getting credit but now he’s getting slammed for also doing a royal tour at the same time? SMH
Yeah, the flight from the uk is damn long but the travel they are doing once they start the tour is not epic as the flights aren’t significantly long. They might fly in a day early to shake any jetlag so they can hit the ground running on day one. Considering they use to see each other every two weeks between london and Toronto when they were dating, I’m guessing these two have air travel down pat.
Flight lengths :
Sydney to Dubbo 1 hr flight
Dubbo to Melbourne 3hrs 30mins (with 1 stop)
Melbourne to Sydney 1.30 hrs
Sydney to Fraser island For us non-royals, you normally fly to Brisbane (1.30hrs) then get a boat/ferry, I’m guessing they will fly private direct from Sydney
Fraser Island (Brisbane) to Suva 5.20hrs
Suva to Nadi 30 mins
Nadi to Tonga 1 hr 20 mins
Tonga to Sydney 5 hrs 45 mins
Sydney to Wellington 3 hrs 15 mins
Wellington to Auckland 1 hr 5 mins
Auckland to Rotorua 45 mins
Yeah the constant airports would be a hassle for us but 1. It’s the job of which they seems to be happy to accept the perks of; and 2. It’s not like they aren’t getting vip service with road closures and sections of the airport not being accessible to the public to facilitate their trip more smoothly then in first class all the way with the entourage taking care of everything on their behalf. They aren’t having to check in then hang around for hours before their flight.
They are working which is great but let’s actually see if there is real work involved and not just fluff with visits to beaches, zoos and fun events instead of reasonably serious events in regards to being representatives of the head of state. It would undermine their claim at seriousness if they primarily do fluff engagements and harry’s pet project only. Too many royal tours recently have been holidays under the guise of work – I do hope they buck that trend. Also it would be great if Meghan does solo events in Sydney whilst harry is at Invictus (outside of opening and closing).
Maybe I am cynical but I worry they are being set up to fail. They are being put on a pedestal of overcoming great obstacles to win / her outfits are always perfect / never has a royal being more in love / they are the people’s couple / they will change the world, etc. Maybe that is necessary to counteract all the racism bs that they have dealt with but when the fawning is so heavy and the projection is perfection 24/7, there is no way they can live up to it. I just hope they actually work instead of talking about hitting the ground running then disappear for extended periods, who try to at least earn some of the ridiculous wealth & influence they get due to a fluke in dna, that they don’t need for excessive multiple vacations a year or refuse to undertake the work they don’t consider fun / pr friendly to promote the image / narrative that Kensington Royal is pushing that week, they limit the obscenely expensive toys – be it some of her fashion, the multiple houses, his cars/bikes, etc as the optics look bad whether it was paid for by the public purse or not. Be interested and informed when they do undertake engagements (which they both do really well currently but as we have seem with others, it can drop off after a period).
It looks like a tough itinerary, all those hours add up when you have to be on show. The Queens tours may have been longer but they were at an easy going pace.
Birdy, I think you have unrealistic expectations of the nature of work royals do. I mean, they all visit zoos and attend cultural events etc. Do you expect them, as reps of the head of state, to sit down with the PM of the respective countries they visit and discuss some policy? The expectation of royals is to go to these countries and get involved/attend in activities that the hosts expect them to involve in. The impact of benefit of their visits might not be visible to the naked eye, but if there was none as some want to make us believe, the host countries wouldn’t be inviting them over there. And to expect them to ” really work and not just visit zoos” is very unrealistic.
The tours are are mandatory courtesies expected of Commonwealth governments on a regular basis rather than them being purposeful visits. The events are geared to entertain the royals more than anything else – like you would an out of town guest – so you see them taken to beaches, exotic islands, wineries, expensive lodges, and given lovely gifts. Mix in a few serious events to justify the visit in the first place, plus the inevitable walkabouts and that’s it. There’s no real point to them. People generally are more savvy these days, demanding more accountability from governments who spend their money. They also know what a holitour is. I don’t expect them to “really work” because they have no purpose… except to live out some fantasy of being special.
For sure, for some, it’s fun to get up close to people they’ve seen on TV; it’s something to do a little bit out of the ordinary. I have no doubt that crowds will come out to greet them – some out of curiosity, some devoted royalists, kids brought in to make up numbers (afternoon off school, yay). Nothing will be left to chance.
All royal tours are essentially taxpayer funded vacations. Let’s not kid ourselves that this is hard gruelling work. The events they attend are mostly photo ops involving smiling, waving & shaking hands. They’re not being asked to work 10 hour shifts a day. It’s far from being hard labor!
Royals are known for their holitours, and many of Harry’s trips to Botswana fall under the holitour category. They are all guilty of it.
Royals are known for their holitours, and many of Harry’s trips to Botswana fall under the holitour category. They are all guilty of it.
I agree, royal tours were holitours long before William and Harry came of age. Sandringham is littered with “trophies” from hunts that took place during royal tours going back to when Edward VII was Prince of Wales.
Why have they not done a sustained grand tour of the UK? A city here or there doesn’t count.
IMO, holitours don’t cut it any longer.
I would actually like to see some of the younger royals do that – kind of like how Charles goes to Wales for two weeks every spring or summer and does events there. I would like to see either some sort of “grand” UK tour or sustained time in a certain region – go to Scotland for two weeks, etc. I think especially for Meghan, being an American, something like that could be informative and interesting .
MTF, they have been engaged and married for just 10 moths and they have visited quite a number of places in the UK. the Australia tour was gonna happen regardless, Australia is hosting the IG and Harry as the patron has to be there regardless. Even if he were still single, he would still have gone to Australia.
Agree, Maven. They should be really taking over from the very elderly royal relatives and doing the regional work in the UK. As minor royals in the scheme of things their fate is to take up the slack for the less visible aspects of local community building. It’s not sexy but it’s the people in all the areas other than the Home Counties that provide support for the monarchy. It’s certainly not holitours to countries that want to give the monarchy the flick sooner than later.
@Alexx… have you ever tried smiling for hours on end an trying to look engaged by totally boring conversation, with long lenses trained on you? Making sure you look picture perfect all of the time. The stress must be overwhelming.
PRINCESSDESK, can you imagine how irrelevant royals would become if for one year they don’t get media coverage? People would forget about them and the monarchy would be threatened. This media coverage is what keeps them relevant and sort of justify tax payer funds. That’s why they spend heavily on PR. Every.single. royal. loves.good.PR
The younger royals have huge swathes of private time with intermittent public appearances of short duration. Engagements last about 30 minutes and certainly less than an hour. There are not many engagements over a year, and many are tailored around the royal’s interests anyway.
Boring conversations? People they meet are usually very accomplished and actually do things for people that matter to their lives. What’s boring about that? Trouble is, many of these royals are spoiled and don’t have much of a work ethic; pity that granny and daddy let them run wild. If it’s all too much they should retire from public life and live on their own funds. It would mean a more modest existence and no deference but they could have all the privacy they want.
@Hulda….But still your comments do not negate what l said.
Let’s be honest, they’re not flying coach, packing and lugging their own bags and doing manual labor on this “work” trip. Pregnant or not, I think they can handle it.
I’ve traveled from the US to Asia and Africa a few times and, for me, with jetlag, it was always easier to just keep going. Go to sleep at a normal time, work a normal schedule, yes it meant I sometimes woke up at 5 am but I wasn’t overly exhausted. Maybe this schedule is what works for them. Shrug.
Kate and William had a baby with them, I think that made the difference.
And these two will be flying in luxury and staying in luxury. I’m really not too worried about them, the poor dears.
But I AM excited to see her clothes and can barely contain myself to see them!
Wow, that schedule is a lot. Hopefully they have beds on the plane.
As someone who has been through it I’m fairly confident that they have their healthy embryos on ice and ready to go. She’s getting older and I don’t see them leaving that stuff to chance. It will be right on their schedule.
Looking forward to the tour and I don’t think Meghan is pregnant. Sam’s Twitter screed? She’s mad that Doria got to stay with Meghan and Harry over the summer, Meghan’s beagle Guy got a book deal before she did; and her two plus year smear campaign using Bad Days as a cudgel backfired. Harry hasn’t dumped Meghan, the royal family hasn’t Fergied her and a big swath of the public still admires her.
“Guy got a book deal before her. ” Haha am screaming
Lol:-) Her sister is just crazy with jealousy. Sad to see jealousy eat someone up like that.. I think and hope Meghan and Harry have a long, happy, married life..
You have to remember that Will and Kate had a 1 year old along during their big trip to Australia and New Zealand. Travel is very different once you have a child in the picture. I admire that Will and Kate planned time to be with George and also tried to not be gone overnight too much. It’s much easier to plan travel when you are dealing with 2 adults and no kids.
I sincerely hope Meghan isn’t pregnant and with a trip this busy, she won’t be getting pregnant. Best wishes to them in the baby department but at her age, they better not wait too long.
Here’s hoping Meghan gets her fashion mojo back. She’s been so hit and miss since she got married. I hope she finally found a tailor. She needs to learn that she can’t wear things off the rack. Say what you will about Kate and her fashion choices but her clothes fit. I still can’t believe Meghan’s wedding dress was at least 2 sizes too big. I understand not wanting a super tight dress but she was swimming in that dress.
And yet fashion experts say her dress was elegant, the perfect look, and skimmed her figure deliberately for style and ease of movement.
W&K took several kid-free mini-vacations in the middle of their Australia/NZ trip. That’s right, dumped Georgie on the nanny and went off alone – with dozens of military security staff having to secure remote areas like a camping site in the Outback.
What was the impact on Will and Kate’s last tour on either Britain or the host country? What was the impact of Harry and Meghan’s last tour on either Britain or the host country? Did it attract any investment? Has it helped brexit? What visible impact did their visit make? This is a disguised sight seeing/vacation. Their tours won’t make any long term or lasting impact on anyone or the country they will visit.
When I saw that H&M are going to Tonga, my first thought was, “Will Pita Taufatofua be there?” Pita’s the shirtless Tongan dude from the Rio and Pyeongchang Olympics. I wouldn’t mind if he put in a special appearance. Not one bit! 🙂
Eh, thousands of people do this for months on end, in economy flights, staying at cheap hotels and working 10-12 hours days at client sites. They will travel in luxury, stay in luxury, have private jets, have every need catered to and work 9 days out of 365. Where do I sign up??
+1
I love them. Just let them be.
So I don’t know what kind of vacation/sightseeing you guys are going to, but when I go on vacation I don’t have dozens of cameras and reporters recording my every move. I also don’t have to smile,wave and shake hundreds of hands. None of my vacations also involve talking to charities etc. Nor do I have to prepare months in advance my wardrobe or read up on people I have to meet. When I go on vacation, I RELAX, I’m not worried about saying the wrong things or insulting my host city and I don’t have to be ON all the time.
I’m sure if Harry and Meghan (or really any of the royals who go on tours), want to see a city or a country, they can plan to go there on their own private time without all the hassle of the world’s eye on them. So NO I don’t think this tour is a way for them to get a free vacation to Australia, NZ, Fiji, and Tonga. It most certainly is NOT A VACATION.
Finally, they combined tour of Australia with IG because they want to lessen the cost to Australia. IG is over a week long, add to that more days of just Aussie tour, and people will complain they are costing Aussie govt too much. Them leaving for a few days during the games will not pull all the media attention away. That’s why they have other celebrities going (beckham), they will make sure interest will still be there even if H&M are away.
MAE, Harry and Meghan WANT the paparazzi and the media coverage, so let’s stop acting like it’s huge work. They want the media coverage and if they didn’t, there won’t be coverage. The royals love positive media coverage, all of them.
No the whole Royal family NEED media coverage (not necessarily paparazzi because there is a difference), in order to promote awareness for their charities. It doesn’t mean they want or love the scrutiny or the limelight. They can do certain aspects of a job without loving it, like most people. And yes it can be a HUGE work. It’s not backbreaking labour but they arent exactly going on tours eating bonbons.
The MAIN point of my post is that tours are work for most royals and not a free vacation like some people are claiming.
Very well said Mae. And Huldah, your claim that if the royals don’t want the media to cover them they just have to say so and the media will vanish are so inaccurate. There have been multitudes of complaints from the media about how William and Harry are limiting or blocking access to them and their families. Case in point, Harry has been “punished” by the media for being closed off and not letting them have unrestricted access to Meghan after the wedding. And don’t even get me started on how William gets bashed for not giving unrestricted access to his kids and wife etc etc. Back in the day, it was always Charles that faced the media wrath for restricting access to his young sons. So, no the media need the royals as much as the royals need them (if not more on the media side) and no the royals don’t necessarily want nor court the media intrusion to be relevant.
MASMF, Harry and every other royal love GOOD PR and MEDIA coverage. What they don’t want is scrutiny and criticism of how they spend tax payers money. The charities you are referring to are avenues through which the royals remain relevant or else how can they justify tax payers funds? You can’t have it both ways. The media is rabid and sometimes terrible but the royals know that they need the media. If they don’t publisice the charities through the media, then it will mean doom for them because Britons would ask why the royals exist.
+1. Exactly right. The charities are used as a means to justify the public money but this kind of glad handing can be done on their own time. There is only one royal role – monarch – with the heir understudying. The rest of the fam should be in proper jobs paying their way.
The coverage of the royals can be terrible but the truth is that they can’t have the best of both worlds every single time. The royals need the media more than the media needs them to remain relevant. Many countries don’t have a monarchy (eg France) yet the media there is thriving and they generate the highest revenue from tourism. Why do the three Palaces have a huge media/ communication department if they don’t want coverage? The royals can’t live a life of luxury at tax payers expense and at the same time, don’t want scrutiny. You can’t have your cake and eat it. If they don’t want media coverage or scrutiny, they should become private citizens and get jobs.
Traditional print media is dying and dying fast. They need moneymakers, and they try to make the royals into them. Ultimately the media needs the royals more than the royals need them.