‘Meeting of two worlds’ as Prince Harry joins Wiggles and Australian football stars to put men’s mental health in spotlight

It was an unusual sight. As a group of children were rocking out to the Wiggles, Prince Harry kicked a football on Whitten Oval in Melbourne, home of Australian rules team the Western Bulldogs.

“Just a regular Wednesday,” a member of the crowd, dressed mainly in suits and from the advocacy and academic fields, said.

“A meeting of two worlds,” said another to widespread laughter.

On day two of what has been dubbed the “faux-royal tour”, Harry went without his wife to chat about men’s mental health.

Those watching the tour with a more cynical eye have accused the Duke and Duchess of Sussex of using this trip as an attempt to boost their bank balances and their brand.

Prince Harry spent the morning in Melbourne’s western suburbs on the second day of his four-day visit to Australia with his wife, Meghan, who did not attend. Photograph: Joel Carrett/EPA

The pair are reportedly struggling to fund their extravagant lifestyle, despite Harry reportedly inheriting roughly £10m (US$13m) from his late mother, Diana, and another £7-8m (US$10.5m) from the queen mother. Some of the events the couple are appearing at cost thousands for attenders.

But for those in the room on Wednesday, Harry’s presence was the perfect excuse to draw attention to an overlooked topic – the mental health of new fathers.

And it clearly worked. While the Wiggles sang Hot Potato to a crowd of kids, Harry kicked a ball across the field. The star power was palpable. A pack of media crews stood to the side, rolling cameras, doing live crosses, while print journalists ran around the duke. Everywhere Harry went, the crowd went.

Earlier, two attenders had been asked to stop recording. The idea was that only having one camera in the room would help create a more intimate setting – so the prince could talk more freely. At a more poignant moment of his talk, one woman managed to sneak in a selfie, fixing her hair as he riffed about his children.

The prince, who has been very public about seeing a therapist, talked about the changing ideas around fatherhood at the event held by the Movember charity in Melbourne. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/AP

Harry talked about the changing ideas around fatherhood, how more fathers want to be involved but often struggle, especially in the first few weeks, to find their purpose.

“My therapist in the UK said to me: ‘Just be aware of how you feel once the baby is born, because there is a huge excitement when the child comes into this earth,’” he said. “But after that, there are hours, days, weeks, for some men months, where you are wondering what to do.”

‘Just a regular Wednesday’ … crowds watch as the prince leaves Whitten Oval in Melbourne. Photograph: Joel Carrett/EPA

The global director of research at Movember, Zac Seidler, led the Q&A. Speaking about the charity’s new report into Australian fathers’ health, identity and experiences of parenthood, he told the audience the report found many men fall into depression, struggling to find their place and support their partners once their child is born.

The prince, who has been very public about seeing a therapist and named-dropped Brene Brown within the first few minutes, touched on the complications and loss in his upbringing.

“I knew I had stuff from the past I had to deal with,” he said. “For me, it became about doing the work on myself – almost cleansing the past – so I could show up as the best version of myself for my kids. You don’t have to wait for a crisis to do that work; it can be about getting ahead of it.”

Outside, parents dropping their children off at the childcare centre next door watched on, hoping to catch the prince’s arrival.

Diehard Bulldogs supporter Rose Dennis doesn’t consider herself a royal enthusiast, but was delighted the prince chose to visit her club.

“I was coming here for training anyway, so having Harry here is an extra bonus,” she said.

She pushed back against critics of the duke and duchess, claiming they were using their profiles for the right reasons.

“I heard someone say it’s just a publicity thing, but it’s not, he’s really interested in men’s mental health,” Dennis said.

“By him being here, it gives a much higher profile to the organisation of Movember and gives him something to focus on.”

Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, and Indigenous veteran Lt Col Joseph West lay a wreath at the Australian War Memorial. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA

After the event, Harry left for Canberra where he visited the Australian War Memorial. The long-time champion of veterans’ issues attended a welcome to country and smoking ceremony outside the memorial on Wednesday afternoon.

About 100 members of the public greeted the duke and watched on as he laid a wreath in front of the For Our Country sculpture, honouring the military service of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander soldiers.

Harry walked through the sculpture, a long passageway behind a reflective facade adorned with thousands of small circular mirrors, before being escorted into the memorial proper.

Harry will return to Melbourne later on Wednesday and will join Meghan on Thursday for the Scar Tree Walk, a cultural journey connecting traditional and contemporary Aboriginal cultures in Melbourne.

The couple’s commitments over the next few days will take a more commercial focus, with Harry due to deliver a keynote speech at the InterEdge Psychosocial Safety Summit in Melbourne on Thursday, where tickets range from about $1,000 to $2,400.

The duke and duchess will fly to Sydney later on Thursday, where Meghan will headline an exclusive three-day women’s retreat pitched as a “girls’ weekend like no other”, with tickets starting at $2,699.

The pair will end their trip in Sydney where they will sail around the harbour and attend a rugby match.