One of the best parts about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Australian tour last week is the fact that Australians refuse to engage with the royalist media’s Sussex Tax. I started using “Sussex Tax” to describe the British media’s obsession with asking every single person about what they think about Harry and Meghan, and then slanting every comment about the Sussexes until they can say “so-and-so slams/mocks/denigrates Harry & Meghan.” Australians aren’t playing those stupid reindeer games. Aussie fashion designers have given interviews about their joy at seeing Meghan wear their designs. The families who met Harry and Meghan at the Melbourne hospital all went on camera to say that their visit meant the world to a lot of sick kids. And now, the people who worked with Meghan for a day on MasterChef Australia are singing her praises too.
Sorry haters, but despite the noise, the MasterChef Australia judges and crew couldn't stop raving about how delightful, genuine, & down-to-earth Meghan actually was. I know, seeing her thrive & be so well-accepted on set is clearly a tough pill to swallow! #MasterChefAU pic.twitter.com/phsDRmkoMR
— Julie (@Julie_In_The_OC) April 20, 2026
Former @MasterChefAu post-producer got the tea from a current producer on what Meghan, Duchess of Sussex was like on set 👩🏽🍳
As always, everyone loved her, she was so nice, a good judge, & better than the regular judges at being consise w her answers 🩷
TikTok: alexandriafunnell pic.twitter.com/utKMvViEqQ
— montecito royals (@house_of_sussex) April 20, 2026
It may sound really obvious to all of us because we’ve paid attention to this saga for a decade. But every so often, I’m reminded of the fact that people who aren’t paying close attention sometimes absorb the billion-dollar hate campaign and start to wonder if some of the stories are true. I remember when Meghan joined Harry at the Dusseldorf Invictus Games in 2023, there were comments from Germans saying variations of “we heard their marriage was in trouble, so we came out to see for ourselves and they looked loved-up and happy.” It really only takes one appearance or one interview (like the ones above) to completely blow up a carefully-constructed false narrative. And again, kudos to Australians for not playing stupid games. Here’s another interview about their visit, and once again, a first-hand account of how great Harry and Meghan are at these kinds of events.
This guy is so sweet,
Just love that Harry and Meghan brings out the joy in everyone they encounter. pic.twitter.com/TKqamn0FNB
— 🇨🇦💗 Breaking News 💗🇨🇦 (@H_M_Today) April 21, 2026
Photos courtesy of Cover Images, MasterChef’s Instagram.
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- The Duchess of Sussex, alongside staff members, serves lunch to a resident during a visit to McAuley Community Services for Women, a women’s homeless and family violence shelter in Footscray, in Melbourne, Victoria, on day one of the royal trip to Australia. Featuring: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex Where: Footscray, Australia When: 14 Apr 2026 Credit: Jonathan Brady/PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Duchess of Sussex serves lunch to a resident during a visit to McAuley Community Services for Women, a women’s homeless and family violence shelter in Footscray, in Melbourne, Victoria, on day one of the royal trip to Australia. Featuring: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex Where: Footscray, Australia When: 14 Apr 2026 Credit: Jonathan Brady/PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Duchess of Sussex takes part in the Scar Tree Walk in Melbourne, Victoria, on day three of the royal trip to Australia. The Scar Tree Walk is a journey connecting traditional and contemporary Aboriginal cultures and histories of the Kulin Nation Featuring: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex Where: Melbourne, Australia When: 16 Apr 2026 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Duchess of Sussex meets young advocates during a visit to Batyr, a mental health engagement programme, at Swinburne University of Technology in Hawthorn, Melbourne, Victoria, on day three of the royal trip to Australia Featuring: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex Where: Melbourne, Australia When: 16 Apr 2026 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Duke and Duchess of Sussex leave the Bondi Surf Bathers’ Life Saving Club after meeting volunteer first responders, during a visit to Bondi Beach, on day four of the royal trip to Australia. Volunteers from the organisation, founded in 1907, played an integral role in protecting beachgoers and saving lives during the terrorist attack at Bondi Beach on December 14 Featuring: Prince Harry, Meghan Markle Where: Bondi, Australia When: 17 Apr 2026 Credit: Jonathan Brady/PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
Goodness, the royal rota must be suffering from acid indigestion. Nice to see some good reporting!
Pretty sure the royal rota have a permanent case of acid indignation in addition to the indigestion!
Happy to see Australians speaking truth, Something so rare in the Sussexes universe. I completely understand why Meghan stated her love for Australians and the cute video of their trip she published. The gutter rats are left with dissecting looks by Meghan to create a talking point. What a sad life the gutter rats are left with.
How much do you want to bet that KP will try to flex its muscles and request an advance copy of the episode that Meghan appears in so that they can craft and circulate negative talking points before the episode actually airs? Bonus points if they manage to get the participants to say anything which can be construed as criticism. Because that’s how they roll. I hope the Aussie producers, etc. keep everything under TIGHT wraps until it airs, so that people see and hear from M onscreen first before they see the “analyses”.
I saw lots of lovely comments about Meghan’s appearance on MasterChef Australia over the weekend. There was a report that her episode would air later, but I know that many supporters were excitedly checking in on Sunday to see whether she would make an appearance in the first episode.
KP has no muscles to flex with Australian media. Since the infamous ‘frankenphoto’ and subsequent ‘kill order’ it has lost credibility in the UK as well as internationally. KP now relies on the dregs of UK media and manipulated polls.
From the media perspective this is why they don’t want them traveling anywhere, or having any celebrity connections. It’s hard to sell your narrative when every time someone sees someone is the exact opposite.
And, the more people that they interact with and do business with, and the more regular (for lack of a better term) people that they meet one on one, that then relay this information to their friends and family, it just becomes one of those things where everyone I’ve ever spoken to had a great time with them.
I’m glad they’re more and more people aren’t playing the shady game. I do feel like in the beginning there are a lot of people even celebrities that played into that, because they didn’t realize how bad it was. I think that they thought it was just regular gossip. I’m thinking the most recent case was with Gwyneth paltrow. But then they see how over the top and ridiculous it is, and how hateful and they are like whoa.
This is it, exactly, @Dee(2). And what really really grinds my gears with this type of recycled stale misogynist innuendo is that it plays on a sexist fixation: that women are two-faced, that no matter how “nice” you are, you must be harbouring some secret destructive malicious energy. It’s like they *want* it to be true. Which is bonkers. And if you’ve ever been targeted by this brand of underhanded sneering and imaginative projection, you see how many people nod along, as if sagely, as if, *they know* and many of those people are flying monkeys for hideous characters with twisted agendas, I’m thinking the Epsteins / Weinsteins of the world. There are some real malignant narcissists out there and a lot of men look the other way and let it slide, because, you know, reasons. And a lot of women buy into the BS around this type of patriarchy because it eliminates their competition, which is usually composed of women who are more intelligent, more attractive, or more principled than they are. It’s sour grapes blended with acid. That’s why what happened to Meghan triggers me so much — if you’ve ever seen it happen, it’s just an amplified version of what happens day to day. It’s awful.
When will we find out about the Daily Mail trial? I never did hear anything about Elton John & others. When is a decision likely? Also, when will there be a decision about Harry’s security in the UK? What’s taking so long?
“When you really drill down to it, people can’t say why…”
She’s black.
Say it again!☝🏾
This is to reply to @Tuesday, I don’t know what it’s like to present as other, insofar as my outsider status here in the UK is purely accent-based, it’s not visual, I’m Caucasian, I blend in, and no one seems to care if you’re American, at least, I’ve never noticed that moment when the penny drops and they realise you’re not one of them. But I would wager half of it is simply being female. If she were a black British woman, or a black American, who was anxious to please, to the point of being submissive, they would lap it up. To cite SATC: she’s just not that into them. She’s unimpressed. Their whole scene is kind of over-rated, like a club that was trendy twenty years ago. And this happens to be a nation suffering from a sense of terminal decline, identity crisis, lashing out, trying to decide whose fault it is — and it’s like most dysfunctional working environments, it’s everyone’s and no one’s. It’s the culture of expecting less, doing less, phoning it in, then nitpicking the stuff that doesn’t matter. So they have a raw nerve, which she inadvertently hit. It’s a perfect storm.
Australians know authenticity when they encounter it in someone. Must be all that fresh air that makes them appreciate more fresh air.
I’m happy to see positive articles about the Sussexes, particularly Princess Meghan. ☀️🌸🌿
This is wonderful to hear! The BM will now have to work even harder and lose even more credibility. People are waking up and are tired of being fed the same diatribes of vile bile, bitterness and concern trolling. Those tired narratives and hate bait just aren’t selling anymore. Read the room RRs!.