Meghan Markle spent just two hours with female fans who paid up to £1,700 to ask her questions and pose for pictures at a money-spinning ‘ultimate girls’ weekend’ in Sydney where she bemoaned her ‘very hard’ life.Prince Harry Secretly Plotting To Return To U.K. On A Regular Basis
The Duchess of Sussex will reportedly net up to £130,000 for turning up to the women-only Her Best Life retreat on the final day of her Australian tour with Prince Harry.
After 120 minutes at the gala dubbed ‘Megstock’ due to its guest of honour, Meghan departed the InterContinental Coogee with her husband shortly after 7pm, in the back of a luxury Range Rover.
Excited paying guests had started turning up at the five-star beachside hotel in Sydney‘s eastern suburbs from 3pm due to the strict security arrangements, with the official event kicking off at 5pm.
On stage at the gala dinner, where paying guests ate kingfish, beef tenderloin and coconut crumble, Meghan bemoaned her ‘very hard’ life in the public eye, claiming she has been ‘attacked’ ever since marrying Prince Harry.
The duchess said she had enjoyed ‘amazing moments’ since meeting the British royal, including getting married and having two children, but insisted she had also ‘endured’ constant attacks for a decade.
Before she began speaking, Prince Harry, who was one of the few men in the audience, reportedly gave his wife a standing ovation as she arrived in the room.
He apparently gave her a kiss and then helped her on to a stage that looked remarkably like an Oprah-style US TV set. Harry then sat and watched in the front row.
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Gemma O’ Neill, speak on stage at the £1,700-a-head Megstock event in Sydney today
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Gemma O’ Neill, speak on stage at the £1,700-a-head Megstock event in Sydney today
The duchess told Ms O’Neill that her life had been ‘very hard’ at times over the past ten years
The duchess told Ms O’Neill that her life had been ‘very hard’ at times over the past ten years
Harry (right) watches his wife from the table, where guests ate kingfish, beef tenderloin and coconut crumble
A smiling Meghan leaves the InterContinental Coogee hotel with Harry after being the star guest at an ‘ultimate girls’ weekend’ retreat where guests paid £1,700 to hear her speak and get a photo
A smiling Meghan leaves the InterContinental Coogee hotel with Harry after being the star guest at an ‘ultimate girls’ weekend’ retreat where guests paid £1,700 to hear her speak and get a photo
Meghan, who enjoyed vocal support from the audience, said Archie and Lilibet are her ‘inspiration’ and said criticisms of her were based on ‘projections.’
Meghan admitted that becoming a parent had taught her patience, adding this skill was something important ‘given what our life is like.’
The Sydney Daily Telegraph managed to get a reporter inside and wrote a piece entitled: ‘Meghan Markle bemoans public life at exclusive Sydney retreat with $2600 tickets.’
People at the event, who had already been asked to have a bag search and body scan to enter, were told there was a ‘no recording policy for the duration of her interview’, calling it a ‘non-negotiable security requirement’.
But attendees had also paid an extra $500 for the ‘VIP experience’, which included a picture with Meghan at the event organised by broadcaster Jackie ‘O’ Henderson and Gemma O’Neill’s Besties company.
Participants at the women’s retreat were left to enjoy an evening without the duchess, and will spend the weekend relaxing at the hotel where they can lounge by the pool, do yoga, meditate, try ‘sound healing’ and listen to inspirational guest speakers.
After leaving the gala on Friday evening, the Sussexes made their way to a match between the NSW Waratahs and Moana Pasifika.
They sat in the VIP section and Meghan smiled as she placed her hand on Harry’s knee at the Allianz Stadium as her rugby-mad husband took in the game.
Meghan’s lucrative meet-and-greet came on a day where the Duke and Duchess of Sussex spoke to and hugged survivors of the Bondi terrorist attack in December.
They then sailed around Sydney Harbour at an event to promote Invictus Australia next to the Opera House.
The tour, which ended on Friday, mixed lucrative events and charity visits.
A source close to the Sussexes insisted that the Australian adventure has been a success – and that the ‘half in, half out model’ opposed by the late Queen and the Royal Family can work.
‘We’ve tested the playbook, it worked,’ a source close to the Sussexes told The Daily Telegraph in Sydney as the couple head back to LA.
‘They’re doing the right thing. Whether you want to call it half in, half out or – as they would probably describe it – just doing what they want to do and doing it in a really positive way, this week has given us reassurance that it is the right course of action. This could absolutely act as a blueprint for the future.”
A member of Harry’s close circle added that he is ‘philosophical’ about some of the criticism he and Meghan have received Down Under.
‘One thing that Harry often says is that the truth will always out’, they said.
‘The more they do of this, the more that people see them, interact with them, the more they see that there isn’t an agenda here’.
The Duchess of Sussex rests her hand on Harry’s knee at the Super Rugby match between the NSW Waratahs and Moana Pasifika at Sydney’s Allianz Stadium
The Duchess of Sussex rests her hand on Harry’s knee at the Super Rugby match between the NSW Waratahs and Moana Pasifika at Sydney’s Allianz Stadium
The couple share a laugh as they enjoy some quiet time to enjoy the Waratahs’ hospitality
The couple share a laugh as they enjoy some quiet time to enjoy the Waratahs’ hospitality
As the couple departed the InterContinental Coogee, a young Aussie man rushed at their car armed with a longneck beer bottle and a workman’s boot, asking Harry to ‘do a shoey’ – an Australian tradition where booze is necked from a shoe.
A plainclothes police officer forcefully pushed him away, so the man did the ‘shoey’ himself.
VIP tickets for the Her Best Life event at the five-star InterContinental Coogee Beach hotel cost £1,670 and included a group table photo with the duchess.
Meghan spoke at the event on Friday on the final day of her trip to Australia with the Duke of Sussex.
There was extensive security at the hotel for the duchess’s visit, with media access to the event strictly limited.
Event staff gathered in the hotel’s reception as the venue prepared to welcome guests to the exclusive retreat on Friday afternoon.
The event’s website described the retreat as ‘an unforgettable weekend for women ready to reconnect, recharge and have some serious fun’.
A profile of Meghan described the duchess as a ‘mother, wife, entrepreneur, and humanitarian’ and ‘one of the world’s most influential women’.
The retreat also included a ‘women’s coaching session with renowned therapist Dr Justine Corry, yoga, sound healing, time by the pool, lunch, beautiful dinners and a dance-floor-filled disco night’.
Meghan’s appearance was announced last month by Gemma O’Neill, host of the Her Best Life podcast which is organising the 300-person event.
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£1,700 to hear Meghan’s “hard life” – fair or ridiculous?
All the women had to have enhanced security checks before seeing the duchess
All the women had to have enhanced security checks before seeing the duchess
