Prince Harry and Meghan Markle just wrapped a successful visit to Australia, and now Prince William and Kate Middleton are reportedly considering making a similar move.
While the British tabloids criticized the Sussexes for their “quasi-royal tour,” the truth is, it was a great success. The couple was warmly greeted down under, and crowds showed up to see Harry and Meghan on their own terms. William and Kate haven’t visited Australia since Prince George was a baby in 2014, so the duo, who are often side-eyed for their limited royal engagements, might be pushed into a visit later this year, per New Idea magazine.
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A trip with 12-year-old George, Princess Charlotte, 10, and Prince Louis, 8, could be quite a PR move, especially since sources are telling the Australian publication that “an official tour by them will take any gloss off Prince Harry and Meghan’s recent, controversial visit.”
The only reason it seems “controversial” to royalists is that the Sussexes took on paid speaking engagements, which they are free to do as self-supporting members of the royal family. They proved that their wish for “half-in, half-out” status at the palace could have worked if only Prince William and King Charles had approved their plan.
Prince Harry, Meghan Markle
Emmanuel Osodi/Anadolu via Getty Images.
Insiders at the palace still think that a possible William and Kate trip to Australia would likely be viewed as a “revenge tour.”
“William and Kate both know that they need to give Australia a real ‘bells and whistles’ royal tour as soon as their schedule allows,” the source added. Besides the Sussex-Wales rivalry, though, William and Kate need to shake off their reputations as “particularly lazy” royals, an insult hurled at them in October 2025.
Graham Smith, the chief executive of the anti-monarchy group Republic, slammed the Prince and Princess of Wales in an interview with the Scottish media outlet, The National.
“The palace likes to paint a picture of busy royals supporting good causes,” he said. “The reality is a work-shy family who occasionally patronize charities – usually a short drive from Windsor – to give an entirely false impression.”
Smith has been getting louder with his criticism, recently showing up at King Charles’ Easter service event at St. Asaph Cathedral in North Wales on April 2. The group protested his appearance and made sure that Charles and Queen Camilla knew that they would not forget about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s Jeffrey Epstein scandal.
“We can keep raising awareness of the problems and scandals of the monarchy, getting people to understand why it’s worth caring about getting rid of it. That includes connecting the institution to issues of identity, social justice, and democratic reform,” Smith explained in a March 2023 interview with Yahoo U.K.
So, William and Kate might want to hit the road sooner or later, not because of Harry and Meghan, but because Smith is tracking their work calendar.
More on the royal family:
Click here to see a complete timeline of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s feud with the royal family.
