Meghan Markle filmed a guest appearance as a judge on MasterChef Australia during the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's ongoing four-day visit to the country, broadcaster Network Ten confirmed on Wednesday. A preview clip shared on social media shows Meghan entering the studio to enthusiastic applause, introduced as a "food lover" arriving "directly from sunny California." The episode will air as part of the show's eighteenth season, which premieres on 19 April.
The appearance carries clear commercial undertones. Meghan's Netflix lifestyle series With Love, Meghan — in which she shares cooking and entertaining tips — has aired two seasons and a Christmas special, establishing her public profile as a culinary personality. Her Australian brand, As Ever, has also registered trademarks across 12 product categories in Australia, signalling the country as a potential market for her growing lifestyle business. While Meghan filmed her MasterChef segment, Prince Harry was speaking at a mental health event in Melbourne, where he opened up about the anxieties of becoming a father and his commitment to breaking generational cycles. "I knew I had stuff from the past that I needed to deal with, and therefore I needed to prepare myself to essentially free myself of that past before becoming a parent," he told the audience, adding that he was not pointing fingers at his own parents, King Charles III and the late Diana, Princess of Wales.
The visit — the couple's first to Australia since a 2018 royal tour just months after their wedding — blends charitable engagements with commercial events. Harry is due to deliver a keynote address at the InterEdge Psychosocial Safety Summit, with tickets priced between A$1,000 and A$2,400, all proceeds going to Australian crisis support charity Lifeline. In Sydney, Meghan will appear at a women's weekend retreat where guests are paying up to A$3,199 for access. The couple, who stepped back from royal duties in 2020, are travelling in a private capacity and have opted for commercial flights, a choice noted positively by some Australians, though political debate has emerged over the potential use of public resources for their security.
Earlier in the week, the pair visited the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne and Meghan served food at a local women's refuge. Harry also travelled to Canberra to attend a ceremony honouring the military service of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples — Indigenous Australians whose communities have distinct cultural traditions — at the Australian War Memorial. The tour will conclude with further engagements in Sydney focused on Indigenous communities, mental health, and social initiatives. The visit arrives against the backdrop of an ongoing Australian debate about the monarchy: the country, a Commonwealth nation where King Charles III serves as head of state, has periodically revisited questions of republicanism, lending an added layer of significance to any high-profile royal-adjacent presence on its shores.