Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, will headline a weekend retreat in April, hosted by the Her Best Life podcast, founded by Gemma O’Neill and Jackie “O” Henderson.
The Sydney event will be held during a visit to Australia by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, described by their office as a “series of private, business, and philanthropic engagements”.
The engagement was confirmed by Her Best Life podcast host O’Neill on Wednesday and comes after several local news outlets speculated about the rumoured appearance. Henderson co-hosted the show alongside O’Neill until recently, when Henderson announced she would “step away” from the podcast in an episode that aired on February 3.
The event will be held from April 17 to 19 at the InterContinental Sydney Coogee Beach.
The price tag to attend? Early bird tickets start at an eye-watering $2,699 per person, while the VIP experience, which includes a group table photo with Meghan, costs $3,199.
Meghan will be the event’s headline guest speaker.
On the podcast episode where she announced the news, O’Neill revealed the event came together thanks to a mutual friend she shares with Meghan, who had connected her with Meghan’s team. “I feel so flattered because she’s effectively doing this as a favour because of our mutual friend, and she’s doing it because she really loves what our community is about,” O’Neill said.
O’Neill confirmed in Wednesday’s episode that Henderson would not join her to interview the duchess. “I spoke to Jackie about it, this was a few months ago now, and I tried to beg her to come and do it, or I tried to beg her to take over the event, and she was adamant, she said, ‘No, Gemma, you need to do this yourself, this is meant to be for you,’” O’Neill explained.
Henderson has engaged lawyers over a separate issue, after KIIS FM’s owners terminated her $10 million-a-year contract, with the radio host declaring she did not resign from her show with Kyle Sandilands. Last week, she released a statement via her manager, O’Neill, saying: “I am deeply saddened by the events of the past week and the possibility of the show ending. This has come as a shock to me, as it has to everyone else.
“The current media narrative does not reflect what actually occurred, and it has been truly heartbreaking to see how this has unfolded. At this stage, I am unable to say anything further, as I am addressing this through the appropriate legal channels.”
Harry and Meghan’s visit is the first time the couple has been in Australia since 2018. They will visit Sydney and Melbourne during the trip. Their children, Prince Archie, 6, and Princess Lilibet, 4, are not expected to accompany them on the journey.
The event is described as a retreat for “dynamic women”, during which Meghan and O’Neill will “talk about life, parenting, relationships, building a global business and navigating a public persona.”
O’Neill is uniquely positioned to explore those layers of Meghan’s life; for more than a decade, O’Neill was based in the US working for Australian actress Nicole Kidman, as both her assistant and, later, a creative executive at Kidman’s production company Blossom Films.
Returning to Australia, O’Neill worked briefly in radio again before moving into management and business development. She and Henderson, best known as Jackie O, are partners in the Her Best Life podcast and its associated ventures.
The Australian tour announcement comes a few days after Netflix confirmed it had withdrawn as a “passive partner” in Meghan’s lifestyle brand, As Ever. The duchess launched the brand a year ago, with a line of food products, including jam, honey, tea and baking mixes.
Netflix aired two seasons of a related television series, With Love, fronted by the duchess, in 2025. A holiday special was aired in December. No additional episodes are expected.
“We are glad to have played a role in bringing that vision to life,” a Netflix spokesperson said. “As it was always intended, Meghan will continue growing the brand and take it into its next chapter independently.”
The Sussexes’ visit to Australia will come in the wake of another royal tour: King Frederik X and Queen Mary of Denmark will be here for a six-day state visit from March 14, including stops in the Northern Territory, ACT, Victoria, and Tasmania.
There is also persistent speculation that the Prince and Princess of Wales, from whom the Sussexes are notably estranged, are also planning a visit to Australia with their children later in 2026.
The Sussexes last visited Australia in October 2018. In his memoir, Spare, Prince Harry wrote about the intense reaction to his wife. “Everywhere we went, enormous crowds turned out, and she didn’t disappoint them. All across Australia, Tonga, Fiji, New Zealand, she dazzled.”
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Michael Idato is the culture editor-at-large of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X or email.
