The big red flag in Meghan Markle’s retreat guest list
Meghan Markle‘s upcoming Sydney ‘Her Best Life’ wellness retreat may promise serenity, sound healing and a carefully curated escape – but one detail is proving harder to ignore: the guest list is looking surprisingly thin on familiar names.
For an event commanding $3000 (AUD) a ticket, industry watchers say the usual signals of social interest simply aren’t there.
In a city where attendance is often telegraphed well in advance, the silence has been notable.
‘We’ve been keeping an eye on it, and there’s no real traction among the usual crowd of celebrities and socialites,’ one eastern suburbs insider said.
‘No one’s hinting they’re going, no one’s posting about it. That’s very unusual for something positioned as this exclusive.’
Even among influencers, typically quick to align themselves with high-end wellness experiences, enthusiasm appears muted.
Fans pay thousands for chance to meet Meghan
The Duchess of Sussex will be the headline guest at the inaugural Her Best Life Retreat, organised by the events company Besties, founded by former radio queen Jackie ‘O’ Henderson and her manager Gemma O’Neill.
Guests are being charged around $2,699(AUD) for a standard ticket or up to $3,199 (AUD) for VIP premium packages offering more direct access to the Duchess.
The event will take place from April 17 to April 19 at the Intercontinental in Coogee.
Around 300 guests are expected to attend the three-day event, and the website states the ticket allocation has been ‘exhausted’.
However, there have been separate claims that not all tickets have been sold yet.
One celebrity who may not be making an appearance is Jackie, who has reportedly been ‘banned’ from Meghan’s keynote appearance.
Meghan ‘didn’t want Jackie stealing spotlight’ at retreat
A source told Woman’s Day that Meghan did not want Jackie – whose high-profile legal battle against ARN has dominated headlines – to steal her thunder.
And while those involved in the event spent Thursday at the Intercontinental preparing for Meghan’s arrival, Jackie was busy elsewhere.
The mother-of-one spent the day in Clovelly checking out the construction site for her three-storey mansion.
Dressed in a breezy white sundress, the former KIIS FM breakfast host, 51, looked relaxed as she strolled around and inspected the rebuild’s progress.
She completed her look with brown sandals, sunglasses and a silver bangle.
Jackie splashed $13.25 million (AUD) on the blue-chip property in 2023, before lodging plans for a reported $5 million (AUD) transformation.
The site – located in a scenic position featuring sweeping oceanside views – was cleared of the original 1960s-era six-bedroom home, leaving a vast, open canvas for the huge job.
The house is set back from the road, offering Henderson the privacy she didn’t have on the narrow streets of her former address.
Jackie has certainly been taking a hands-on approach to her rebuild, being pictured on site on a number of occasions in the midst of her legal dramas.
She bought her new home after pocketing a tidy $2 million (AUD) in profit on the sale of her old home in Woollahra, after paying $11 million (AUD) for it in 2020.
Last year, she shared snapshots of herself alongside the construction team, jokingly captioning one photo: ‘Site meeting’.
Meghan’s $1,900-per-person ‘girls weekend’ retreat overshadowed by security concerns
The Duchess of Sussex‘s latest commercial venture has been overshadowed by growing security concerns after an online troll claimed they were attempting to gain access to one of her upcoming appearances.
Meghan is set to headline a women-only three-day retreat in Sydney later this month organised by the Her Best Life podcast.
The event promises yoga, sound healing, meditation, a psychologist-led session, a disco evening and a ‘fireside chat’ Q&A with Meghan alongside a gala dinner which she will attend.
The event is described as a £1,400 ($1,900)-per-person ‘girls weekend’.
As it is a commercial lifestyle retreat rather than a formal royal-style engagement it is open to anyone who wants to attend – even hostile trolls.
Guests are being charged around £1,400 ($1.9k) for a standard ticket or up to £2,000 ($2,685) for premium packages offering more direct access to the Duchess.
The event is being held at the Inter Continental Sydney Coogee Beach, where rooms typically cost between £250 ($335) and £450 ($605) per night.
The relatively cheap hotel part of the fee is understood to be included in the ticket price, meaning that the remaining ticket cost is likely to line the pockets of Meghan and the event organisers.
Around 300 guests expected to attend the three-day event and the website states the ticket allocation has been ‘exhausted’.
But there have been separate claims that not all tickets have been sold yet.
Now, social media users have begun openly discussing their plans to attend, with one suggesting they hoped to test security arrangements or gain entry under false pretences.
One wrote, ‘Just in case if Meghan Markle didn’t despise me enough she’s about to HATE ME even more.
‘I hatched a plan with a friend who lives in Sydney to attend the best life weekend, they have been accepted & has a spot secured.
‘Good luck figuring out who it is, Meghan’.
Hinting that they plan to ‘secretly record’, the user added, ‘There are button cameras, meta glasses, we got all the bases covered.
‘Now that they’ve been accepted. Let the games begin!!!’
One user predicted Meghan would have to cancel the event or pull out of her appearance due to security concerns combined with poor ticket sales.
Another warned that Australians will be hostile to former Royals coming into town and said menacingly, ‘I know there will be people heckling her and protesting outside the event … us Aussies have lots of surprises for her.’
The claims, which have circulated widely on X, raise fresh questions about the safety of the Sussexes privately organised appearances, where attendee lists are not subject to the same scrutiny as official royal engagements.
It comes at a particularly sensitive time for Prince Harry, who is currently attempting to have his UK police protection reinstated, arguing that his family faces ongoing security risks when travelling to the UK.
In recent days, he has faced criticism after sources close to him said he would be willing to spend time in the UK with his children, including a possible visit to Sandringham, if he was invited and if adequate security arrangements were put in place.
