Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are in Australia on a four-day tour as non-working royals and used a meeting on Thursday with representatives of a mental health programme to voice their support for the country's under-16 social media ban. On the same day, Prince Harry gave a keynote speech at a workplace culture summit, with tickets costing up to A$2,400 (£1,260) per person.

Earlier this week, it was announced the Duchess of Sussex, 44, will be making an appearance as a guest judge in MasterChef Australia. But the move has sparked a mixed reaction with some fans praising the move while others claimed it was "embarrassing".

One social media user complained: "You have got to be joking!", while another questioned why MasterChef would extend the invitation. "Australia is getting worse and worse by the day. We’re paying so much money for her to be here, while some families don’t even have food on the table," they wrote.

Australian TV and radio host, Peter Ford, addressed the critics as he reminded royal fans, King Charles, formerly prince, also made appeared on the programme in 2018.

Taking to X on Thursday, he wrote: "Harry & Meghan aren’t on my ‘favourites list’. But for everyone saying her appearing on Masterchef is ‘tacky’ & ‘embarrassing’ it’s worth noting (now) King Charles & (now) Queen Camilla appeared on the show in 2018."

He added: "They didn’t pocket an appearance fee like Meghan though!"

The Australian reports the duchess was not paid anything for her appearance and was approached by the show producers to take part.

In a follow up tweet, Peter said: "My observation: The people who loathe Harry & Meghan are just as obsessed & vicious as the Sussex Squad who adore them. Both sides need to get a grip. Maybe it's not all black and white. It's not worth losing sleep about them."

King Charles appeared on MasterChef Australia during a July 2018 episode.

Then-Prince Charles had appeared in the episode, Royal Reception Catering Team Challenge, where contestants were asked to prepare canapés for a royal reception attended by him and Queen Camilla.

Elsewhere, Meghan opened up in a candid sit-down chat at Melbourne's Swinburne University of Technology. The Duchess of Sussex said that for 10 years she was the "most trolled person in the entire world" online.

Speaking in Melbourne about the harms of social media, alongside the Duke of Sussex, Meghan said she was "bullied" every day for a decade and that tech companies were "not incentivised to stop" their platforms being misused.