Harry and Meghan to soak up Indigenous culture on tour
Prince Harry and Meghan’s unofficial royal tour has entered day three, with visits to a mental health charity, an Aboriginal heritage walk and a pricey speaking event on the agenda.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex returned to explore Melbourne together on Wednesday after spending the second day of their four-day trip apart.
The first part of the day is a “guided cultural experience” exploring the city’s scarred trees; Living heritage sites created when Melbourne’s original Wurundjeri inhabitants stripped bark from trees to make canoes and other items.
The duo will then visit Batyr, a mental health organization whose work aligns with Harry’s mental health advocacy, before attending the InterEdge Summit.
The duke will deliver the keynote address at the event, which is billed as “a professional development summit designed to equip leaders, practitioners and change-makers with the knowledge and tools to create mentally healthy, safe and high-performing workplaces”.
Tickets range from $1000 to $2400.
Harry and Meghan, who are no longer working as royals following their much-publicised split with Buckingham Palace, are visiting in a private capacity.
Rather than openly meet and greet with the public, the pair opted to stick to “managed environments to minimize disruption to members of the public and host organisations.”
Harry spent Wednesday visiting the Australian War Memorial in Canberra; where he attended a solemn Last Message ceremony and delivered a speech to former sports organization Invictus Australia.
About 100 members of the public greeted the Duke and watched him arrive at the monument to lay a wreath in front of a statue commemorating Indigenous soldiers.
He was then taken on a private tour of the monument, without stopping to chat to the assembled crowd.
The pair will fly to Sydney later on Thursday, where Meghan will headline a special three-day women’s retreat dubbed “a girls’ weekend like no other” with tickets starting at $2,699.
The duke and duchess will end their trip in Sydney, where they will sail around the harbor and attend a rugby match.
Australia’s Associated Press is the beating heart of Australian news. AAP is Australia’s only independent national news channel and has been providing accurate, reliable and fast-paced news content to the media industry, government and corporate sector for 85 years. We inform Australia.
