King Charles' former butler has taken aim at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle ahead of their upcoming visit to Australia, accusing them of trying to reinvent themselves as celebrity royals.
The Duke and Duchess are set to touch down in Australia in mid-April for a "business focused" tour, with plans to visit Sydney and Melbourne.
News of the couple's trip has been met with mixed reactions from the Australian public.
A recent Change.org petition showed thousands of Australians believe the Montecito-based royals should not receive taxpayer funding or official support during their visit, with more than 10,000 signatures recorded.
A former royal butler has now criticised the pair's controversial shift from working royals to celebrity figures.
Grant Harrold, who worked as the butler to King Charles between 2004 and 2011, suggested an ulterior motive may be behind the couple's upcoming visit.
"It sounds like they are trying to crack Australia," Mr Harrold said, according to the Daily Express.
"It will be interesting to see how they are received when they arrive."
Mr Harrold added that although the tour may follow the format of traditional royal visits, it will be funded privately rather than organised through government channels.
"I imagine this tour would be similar to ones they've done since quitting the Royal Family - a kind of celebrity royal tour," he said.
"This means it looks very similar to a royal tour in all aspects - the same kind of engagements, the same meetings and photo ops - but it's not arranged through the governments."
The former butler claimed that while Meghan appears comfortable embracing the celebrity lifestyle - with a new season of With Love, Meghan on the horizon - the same may not be true for Harry.
"They want the celebrity lifestyle and the freedom that brings, but I think Harry misses his old lifestyle of regular engagements, shaking hands and meeting people."
This will be the couple's second visit to Australia together, eight years after their first trip in 2018, which followed the wedding that stopped the nation.
"I don't think the Royal Family or the household will try to stop it or get involved in any way, but it obviously won't have royal backing," Mr Harrold said.
"I think they'll just do their own thing."
The outspoken couple has long been leaning further into Meghan's pre-royal Hollywood career and stepping away from traditional royal duties.
The pair have appeared in a two-hour CBS special, Oprah with Meghan and Harry, released a Netflix documentary series Harry and Meghan, and attended a slew of Hollywood events, including celebrity birthdays such as Kris Jenner's celebrity-packed birthday bash.
The Duke and Duchess are scheduled for a mid-April touchdown in Australia.