The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s whirlwind Australian tour had everything expected in a royal visit except for the official label, making the trip controversial as they mixed charitable work with commercial interests.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were just newlyweds when they visited Australia in 2018, as part of a 16-day tour of the Pacific, which was met with excitement by much of the nation.

The announcement of their first pregnancy while in Sydney added an extra special note to the trip.

Cut to eight years later and the Sussexes came back to Australia without their statuses as royals — moving to California in 2020 as they stepped back from royal duties.

However, many Australians wouldn’t be remiss to think it was a royal tour with aspects of the couple’s visit reflecting everything in an official tour — charitable work, hospital visits, and selfies with the public.

A visit that resembles their royal duties while cashing in on private business deals caused backlash in the days ahead of their arrival in Australia.

Meghan will headline an exclusive three-day women’s retreat called Her Best Life in Sydney pitched as a “girls weekend like no other” with tickets starting at $2699.

Tickets to the in-conversation event are stamped at a maximum of $3,199.

Promotional content has also started to trickle in of Meghan guest judging MasterChef in an episode set to air later this year, which could see her take home six figures according to experts.

The news drew the ire from some viewers when it was announced by Channel 10 on Wednesday.

“Megs will do anything for a buck. I think she things the show’s called MasterCard not MasterChef,” one commenter said.

It is also reported Prince Harry could have received a hefty pay packet for his keynote speech at the InterEdge summit in Melbourne, in which he was discussing work leadership.

Despite the online trolling, it was a different story as the couple were greeted with hugs, flowers and even cheers when they visited Melbourne, Sydney, and Canberra during their whistle-stop tour.

Their first stop to the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne very much resembled a royal tour as it has become a tradition for members of the royal family to visit the facility.

Queen Elizabeth II, officially opened the hospital in Parkville in 1963, and returned to the facility in 2011 to open another wing.

Harry’s parents, the then-Prince and Princess of Wales, also attended the hospital in 1985, where they met sick and injured kids.

The Duke and Duchess participated in a garden therapy session at the hospital on Tuesday, in which the Duke was asked if he would take a gum tree home.

Harry joked he “would, but I think I’d probably get arrested at some point”.

The welcoming energy continued through day one of their visit as Meghan chatted about how her “jet lag hasn’t quite hit yet” as she donned an apron to serve frittatas at a Melbourne refuge run by McAuley Community Services for Women.

A crowd gathered on the street also cheered as the couple left the Australian National Veterans Art Museum later in the day.

The couple decided to focus their attention on services promoting mental health, community resilience, and Australian veterans throughout the tour.

There’s no better way to win over Australians than playing a bit of footy and Harry made sure to do this on day two.

He rubbed shoulders with Western Bulldogs players Tom Liberatore, Adam Treloar, and Matthew Kennedy as they kicked the footy with some kids.

The Duke then boarded a commercial flight to Canberra sitting in the front row.

Him and the Duchess have been flanked by security ever since they stepped off the plane in Australia, which has also sparked controversy.

While the couple said their tour is privately funded with their own security, police were deployed for public safety, prompting criticism that taxpayers would be footing the bill for those resources.

Harry’s good efforts continued in Canberra, visiting the Australian War Memorial to pay respects to the military service of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

He was quickly back in Melbourne on Thursday for a keynote speech at a summit on workplace leadership, becoming candid about how the death of his mother, Princess Diana, shaped his thoughts about being a royal.

“After my mum died just before my 13th birthday — I was like: ‘I don’t want this job. I don’t want this role — wherever this is headed, I don’t like it’,” he said on Thursday.

“It killed my mum and I was very much against it, and I stuck my head in the sand for years and years.”

Much of the nation still has a soft spot for Harry as the son of the ‘people’s Princess’, who is still beloved to this day in Australia.

The opposite can be said for the Duchess, who opened up about being the “most trolled person in the entire world” for a decade as she spoke at a mental health program.

Meghan said she was relentlessly “bullied and attacked” on social media.

The couple also spoke to a group of young people at Swinburne University about Australia’s under-16s social media ban with the Duchess offering up some advice amidst her own turmoil with online trolling.

“That industry, that billion-dollar industry, that is completely anchored and predicated on cruelty to get clicks — that’s not going to change. So you have to be stronger than that,” she said.

More excited crowds met the couple as they visited Melbourne’s Scar Tree Walk with many wanting to take selfies with the Duke and Duchess.

Courtney Higlett and her son Zaya shared a special moment with the pair, grabbing a selfie.

“A lot’s gone on with Harry and Meghan, and we choose to ignore it and just look up to them as role models for what they do,” Ms Higlett told AAP.

The pair were once again swarmed by masses of people at Bondi Beach as they paid a visit to some of the heroes of the Bondi terror attack on Friday.

Meghan and Harry were greeted by a throng of onlookers and posed for photos before speaking with first responders at the Bondi massacre.

In a moment that resembled their welcome at the Sydney Opera House in 2018, the couple were met with a large ecstatic crowd as they visited the iconic spot on the final day of their tour.

To finish up their Australian itinerary, Harry and Meghan got amongst some Super Rugby and watched the Waratahs take on Moana Pasifika at Allianz Stadium on Friday night.

As the couple’s whirlwind tour wrapped up on Friday, it was clear they won over those they met on the ground but online backlash continues to tell a different story.

Many watching the four-day visit from home were still left with a bitter taste in their mouths over the Duke and Duchess cashing in during their controversial stop Down Under.