🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
Prince Harry has squashed claims that Meghan Markle "hated" the couple's 2018 tour of the South Pacific, praising "amazing" New Zealand, in a new video released to promote his sustainable tourism non-profit, Travalyst.
Author Tina Brown, the former editor of Vanity Fair, wrote in her newly released book, The Palace Papers: Inside the House of Windsor, the truth and the turmoil, that Meghan "apparently hated every second" of her 2018 South Pacific tour during which the royals won favorable headlines around the world.
"She found the itinerary of engagements 'pointless'," Brown writes a former palace employee informed her, with the source adding that: "'She didn't understand why things were set up in that way. Instead of being excited when thousands of people showed up at the Opera House [in Sydney on the Australian leg of the tour], it was very much like, "what's the purpose? I don't understand this.'"
The "this," Brown explains, "being the representational role of the British monarchy and its traditional agenda, rather than the focus on causes she wanted to spotlight."
These claims were called into question on Monday with the release of a new video from Travalyst announcing the organization's new eco-rating initiative—which will be launched in New Zealand. The new program allows resorts and guests to rate each other using a five-star system based on how travelers affect "the business, the community, and the planet" during their trips.
In the humorous skit which shows the prince accosted by two of Travalyst's "rating agents" while out on a jog wearing a "girl dad" t-shirt in honor of his 11-month-old daughter, Lilibet, Harry mentions his 2018 visit to New Zealand with Meghan as part of their tour.
"It was an incredible time. We had an amazing time in New Zealand. It's beautiful," the prince told the "rating agent" regarding the couple's visit to the country.
In a press release published by Travalyst to coincide with the launch of the initiative Harry said:
"We created the non-profit Travalyst to rethink how travel can continue to expand our global understanding, to break down barriers, and to create cultural connections through experiences we otherwise wouldn't have. We do this while, at the same time, ensuring local communities truly feel benefit from tourism and safeguarding essential ecosystems.
"In a world where we're tasked with rating so many things, we're now asking: what if your destination rated you? Starting in beautiful Aotearoa, New Zealand, we're launching our first campaign. There is a well-known Māori proverb: Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, ēngari he toa takitini (Success is not the work of an individual. But the work of many) – we invite you to be a part of our many," Harry continued.
This is not the first time that Harry and Meghan's admiration for New Zealand has been shown.
In 2021 Sky News reported comments made by Dame Patsy Reddy, the country's Governor General, the queen's representative on the island, that during their tour the couple "said that they could imagine living in a place like this and wondered whether we thought it would be theoretically possible."
"Of course, we said, 'Sure. It would be fine'," she said according to Sky News. "There are lots of opportunities to live in New Zealand, but that would be something that they'd have to explore. They were looking at how they might raise their family. And obviously, they've made some decisions since."
Harry and Meghan stepped down as full-time working members of the royal family in 2020 after a painful period of negotiation which saw the couple leave the U.K, first to live in Canada and then to settle in California.
During the couple's landmark interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021 in which damning claims were made against the royal family and household, the couple discussed their potential plan to move to New Zealand.
"We were saying," Meghan explained about the couple's struggles to forge a unique path within the confines of the royal family, "'OK, if this isn't working for everyone, we're in a lot of pain, you can't provide us with the help we need, we can just take a step back. We can do it in a Commonwealth country'. We suggested New Zealand."
The couple's move to the US was not pre-planned they told Winfrey but was made out of necessity after it was announced they would no longer receive the level of close protection security they had been allocated as working royals.
"While we were in Canada, in someone else's house, I then got told at short notice security was going to be removed," Harry told the host.
"By this point, courtesy of the Daily Mail, the world knew exact . . . our exact location. So suddenly it dawned on me, 'Hang on a second. The borders could be closed. We're going to have our security removed. Who knows how long lockdown's going to be? The world knows where we are. It's not safe. It's not secure'."
The couple was offered the use of movie star Tyler Perry's home, who also offered to pay for their security. "it gave us breathing room to try to figure out what we are going to do," Meghan said.
Since moving away from the royal family the couple has signed multimedia deals with platforms such as Netflix and Spotify, as well as promoting their charitable endeavors.
Travalyst is among the initiatives championed by Harry since his royal departure and in his capacity as 'executive patron' advocates for ways to help travel companies offer their customers more sustainable ways to explore the world.
About the writer
James Crawford-Smith is a Newsweek Royal Reporter, based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on the British royal family ... Read more