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Down Under and Out: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's 2018 Australia Tour Left Their Royal Ambitions in the Bush

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's 2018 down under tour 'broke' the royal couple, and is said to have led to their desire to ditch the Crown.

With King Charles III and Queen Camilla headed to Australia from October 18 to 26, the last major down-under royal tour from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle comes back into focus. Too bad the jaunt reportedly "broke" the pair.

"In those early days of Meghan and Harry, Meghan got an incredible reaction from the public," royal historian Tim Ewart told an outlet.

The royal tour took place from October 16 to October 31, covering Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga. The couple's itinerary revolved around official engagements, including the Invictus Games in Sydney, a cause close to Harry's heart. Their schedule was packed with events, such as public walkabouts, youth programs, environmental initiatives, and meetings with leaders and local communities.

But there was something at the core of the trip that just seemed "off" to some analysts.

Despite the trip being a public relations success with enthusiastic crowds, Harry and Meghan later revealed that it also marked the beginning of deeper tensions within the royal family.

The couple suggested that the positive media attention they received during the tour caused discomfort among senior royals, which planted the seeds for the eventual fallout leading to their departure from royal life in 2020.

In Meghan and Harry's March 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey, the Duke shared, "It really changed after the Australia tour, after our South Pacific tour. It was the first time that the family got to see how incredible she is at the job. And that brought back memories.

HRH added, "To see how effortless it was for Meghan to come into the family so quickly in Australia and across New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga, and just be able to connect with people."

Some analysts claim that although the Duchess of Sussex was a "rousing success down under," Meghan felt that the Crown's "keep your feelings to yourself," including "praise and platitudes" was not something she could stomach for the rest of her life.

"She apparently hated every second of it. She found the itinerary of engagements 'pointless,' a former palace employee told me," Tina Brown wrote in her book The Palace Papers. "She didn't understand why things were set up in that way. Instead of being excited when thousands of people showed up at the [Sydney] Opera House, it was very much like, 'What's the purpose? I don't understand this,'" an ex-staffer told the author in prep for her tome.

Brown added, "The 'this' being the representational role of the British monarchy and its traditional agenda, rather than the focus on causes she wanted to spotlight. Such engagements are old school, yes, but create classic royal ties that bind."

A little over 1-year later, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex became the Duke and Duchess of Montecito.

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The Sun reported on Ewart's remarks.