Meghan Markle to join Sydney ‘girls’ weekend’ costing £1,440 per ticket – UK Times

The Duchess of Sussex will join an “intimate girls’ weekend” retreat in Sydney during her trip to Australia next month with husband Harry.

Meghan is expected to attend the three-day retreat hosted by Her Best Life podcast at the InterContinental Sydney Coogee Beach from 17 April. The event, according to the organisers, will include “meaningful speakers” and culminate in “a gala dinner featuring in-person conversation with Meghan”.

Her Best Life was founded by Australian media personality Jackie “O” Henderson and entrepreneur Gemma O’Neill. O’Neill explained on the podcast that she and the duchess shared a mutual friend who helped connect the two, and said Meghan agreed to participate in the event because she wanted to support “women trying to grow, trying to be their best selves and trying to help other women”.

“I’ve admired this woman, and what she has endured, how she’s risen above it, and how she has demonstrated, how a woman can be pushed down and she can still rise,” O’Neill said of Meghan.

The organisers say the retreat will offer “a girls’ weekend like no other,” inviting attendees to spend several days by the ocean for discussions, wellness sessions, and social gatherings designed to bring women together for what they describe as “powerful conversations, relaxation, laughter, and unforgettable experiences”.

The retreat is limited to 300 people.

The early bird tickets to the event are set at A$2,699 (£1,440) per person, and include two nights at the five-star InterContinental Sydney Coogee Beach, access to the gala dinner, meals and alcohol as well as entry to speaker sessions and wellness activities.

A more expensive VIP package costs A$3,199 (£1,707) per person and includes seating in the front two rows for the gala dinner with the duchess, a group table photograph with her, an exclusive gift bag, and a premium ocean-view hotel room, along with the other weekend inclusions.

The Sydney event will be part of a broader visit to Australia by Meghan and Harry, scheduled for mid-April, where they will “take part in a number of private, business and philanthropic engagements”.

The visit will be their first to the country in more than seven years. The couple last travelled there in October 2018 on an official royal tour that coincided with the Invictus Games in Sydney and took them across Australia, Fiji, Tonga, and New Zealand shortly after their wedding.

Their children, Prince Archie, 6, and Princess Lilibet, 4, are not expected to accompany them.

During the visit, Harry is expected to speak at the InterEdge Psychosocial Safety Summit in Melbourne on 15-16 April, an event focused on workplace mental health and wellbeing.

The Australian tour announcement came days after Netflix confirmed it had stepped back from its investment partnership in Meghan’s lifestyle brand, As Ever, allowing the venture to continue independently.

Last year, ahead of Netflix’s release of season two of Meghan’s cooking series, With Love, Meghan, the streamer announced that it had signed a multi-year contract with Meghan and Harry to create “thoughtful” content.