The couple is expected to participate in several private, business and philanthropic events
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have touched down in Australia.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex landed in Melbourne on April 14, local time, for their first visit to Australia in more than seven years.
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The pair last visited Australia in October 2018, on an official royal tour that included attending Harry’s Invictus Games in Sydney. On that trip, the couple announced Meghan’s pregnancy with Archie. They stepped back as working members of the royal family in early 2020, and their current trip to Australia is not on behalf of the royal family.
During their 2018 trip to Australia, Meghan and Harry arrived to the continent hand-in-hand, touching down after flying in a Qantas private suite to Sydney.
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However, this time around, Harry, 41, and Meghan, 44, opted to fly business class on Qantas, surprising some of their fellow fliers on the flight from Los Angeles to Melbourne.
“It wasn’t until we got off the plane that we realized it was them,” an American passenger told Australian outlet The Age.
Another passenger said they chatted briefly with the couple. “I said, ‘I hope you have a lovely time in Melbourne and I’m sure you’ll enjoy Sydney,’ ” the passenger told reporters. “We spoke about their children and that they were here for a couple of days.”
Meghan and Harry also opted out of an arrival photo-op. Instead, leaving in a convoy of vehicles without stopping to pose for the assembled media.
The couple’s 16-day tour of Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand in 2018 included stops in Sydney, Dubbo (in New South Wales), Melbourne, Fraser Island (off Australia’s Queensland coast) and the lakeside town of Rotorua in New Zealand.
