Meghan Sussex’s Australian Fans Broke the Daily Mail’s Anti Sussex Narrative

The Daily Mail has spent the better part of a decade stalking, smearing, and systematically trying to destroy Meghan Sussex, and it has now discovered a new frontier in its obsession: her fans. Specifically, the Australian ones who dared to buy tickets to Meghan’s $3,000 “Her Best Life Retreat” in Sydney. The absolute scandal of ordinary women spending their own money to attend an event where they might — gasp — enjoy themselves.

So the Mail did what the Mail does. It dispatched its attack dogs to scour social media for the most incendiary posts it could find, compiled them into an exclusive, and presented the world with a terrifying exposé: some of the women attending the retreat have said mean things about Kate Middleton. One of them, an account going by ZandiSussex, has even suggested that Kate’s cancer diagnosis was exaggerated or “fake.”

But here’s the thing the Daily Mail forgot in its haste to smear Meghan Sussex’s supporters: they just put an online speculation on a major international news outlet. They just took tweets from an account with 17,000 followers. tweets that would have otherwise existed in the obscure corners of social media, and broadcast them to millions of readers. They just gave Zandi the kind of platform she could only dream of.

And in doing so, they also broadcast everything else she has ever said. Among the content they amplified: her habit of calling William and Kate “the Macbeths.” Her description of Prince William as “violent” also made the cut. So did her mockery of King Charles’s reception in Australia, contrasted against the “warm welcome” Harry and Meghan received.

The Daily Mail has, in its desperation to manufacture a scandal, accidentally handed the Sussex Squad the largest megaphone they have ever held.

The Desperation Is Thick Enough to Cut

The Daily Mail’s headline calls Zandi a “Sussex Squad lieutenant” as if she were running a paramilitary organization rather than tweeting from her home. The article describes her as having been “handpicked” for the retreat, as if Meghan personally vets every attendee rather than the event being organized by an Australian events company that sold tickets to anyone who could afford them.

The Mail even felt compelled to include a disclaimer that it is “not suggesting the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are aware of these false claims or that they endorse them in any way.” Because even they know how absurd the connection is. But they published it anyway.

This is what happens when a newspaper has spent so many years cultivating hatred that it can no longer distinguish between a legitimate news story and a targeted harassment campaign. The Mail does not want Meghan’s Australian fans to be on the ground. It does not want anyone standing up for her. It does not want the “no one likes Meghan” narrative destroyed by the inconvenient fact that hundreds of women are paying to spend a weekend in her presence.

So they did what they always do. They tried to bully, intimidate and turn one woman’s tweets that they feel are offensive into a reason to cancel an entire event. And it backfired so spectacularly that it is almost beautiful.

The Hypocrisy They Cannot Escape

Here is the part the Daily Mail really hoped no one would notice. While they were busy building a story around a fan who called Kate’s cancer a “hoax,” they conveniently ignored the well-documented fact that Kate has her own history with online trolls. Specifically, the ones who target Meghan.

In May 2023, Christopher Bouzy of Bot Sentinel highlighted that Kate Middleton posed for a photo with the owner of Royal News Network, an account shown in Bot Sentinel material as part of the wider anti-Meghan hate network. There was no front-page scandal, no hand-wringing and no outrage from the British commentariat.

More recently, critics pointed to Vanessa Gillieo’s own post showing what appeared to be a mailed Wales family photograph. Gillieo, a vocal Wales supporter whose public posts include repeated hostility toward Meghan and Harry, became another example of how lightly Kate’s apparent engagement with anti-Meghan online voices is treated. And the response from the Daily Mail? Silence, because when Kate fans do it, it is not a story. When Meghan’s fans support her events, it is a negative exclusive story

The Irony of Amplification

ZandiSussex, for her part, seems to understand exactly what has happened. In a defiant thread responding to the Mail’s article, she wrote:

Things must be really desperate for the Daily Fail to put me & other Squaddies attending the Girls’ Retreat as their front page story. For the avoidance of doubt … I will not be bullied or intimidated into silence by British media, derangers & haters!!😩#AbolishTheMonarchy pic.twitter.com/Y4nrEjSdHd

— Senior Lieutenant Zandi Sussex (@ZandiSussex) March 31, 2026

She is right. She will not be bullied. And now millions of people who had never heard of her have read her tweets, seen her perspective, and watched the Mail tie itself in knots trying to manufacture outrage.

Prince Harry anticipated this dynamic years ago. In a January 2023 interview with ABC promoting his memoir Spare, he explained why Meghan’s fans were always going to be a problem for the tabloids: “Millions of people knew who she was because they’ve been following her, but this time fans and people who knew Meghan were pushing back saying that’s categorically false — you can’t say that based on the fact that we know she is.” Unlike previous women who married into the royal family, Meghan arrived with a public career, a built-in fanbase from Suits, and millions of people ready to challenge the false narratives. The Daily Mail has never forgiven her for that.

“Millions of people knew who she was because they’ve been following her, but this time fans and people who knew Meghan were pushing back saying that’s categorically false you can’t say that based on the fact that we know she is” – Prince Harry #MeghanMarkIe #PrinceHarry #Spare pic.twitter.com/AKYFvwpkXJ

— Dani (@ArchLiliHazMeg) January 10, 2023

What makes this episode truly absurd is the underlying premise: that a private citizen purchasing a ticket to a commercial event constitutes newsworthy behavior requiring media coverage. The Daily Mail’s journalists scoured social media for content, compiled screenshots of personal opinions, and presented them as a scandal.

Yet here we are, with a major international publication treating one woman’s social media activity as a threat to the monarchy. The reality is simpler: the event sold out. Hundreds of women paid to attend. The Mail wanted it to fail, and when it did not, they turned their attention to attacking the attendees.

In doing so, they have revealed more about themselves than about the women they sought to vilify. The desperation is unmistakable. The pettiness is undeniable. And the result is not a scandal, but a spectacle of a media outlet so detached from its purpose that it now confuses Twitter outrage with news.

The Real Story They Missed

Here is what the Daily Mail could have written, if it were capable of honest journalism: a former working royal is returning to Australia for the first time since 2018. She is doing so as a private citizen, funding the trip herself, speaking at an event organized by Australian women for Australian women. Hundreds of fans have paid significant money to attend, demonstrating that her popularity in the country remains strong despite years of negative press. The event sold out, and the enthusiasm is genuine.

That is a good and positive story. One that would have acknowledged the reality on the ground: that not everyone in Australia buys the Mail’s version of events, that there are women who admire Meghan, who want to support her, who are willing to pay money for the privilege of spending a weekend in her orbit.

Instead, the Mail chose to write about a woman with 17,000 followers who said something that they deem offensive about Kate Middleton. They chose to amplify opinions to millions of readers. They chose to turn a non-story into a front-page “exclusive” because the alternative, admitting that Meghan Sussex remains popular in Australia, was simply unbearable.

And now, because of their own desperation, the entire world has seen the Sussex Squad’s arguments. The claims about William being “violent” have now reached millions. So have the Macbeth comparisons. And the critiques of Charles’s reception in Australia? Those too. The Mail has broadcast these messages to an audience far larger than Zandi Sussex could ever have reached on her own. To borrow from DJ Khaled: congratulations, Daily Mail, you played yourself.