This seemingly innocent photo of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle masks a disturbing truth.
During the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s royal tour of Australia, Harry and Meghan paid a visit to Taronga Zoo in Sydney.
While Harry cosied up with one of the zoo’s resident koalas, Meghan seemed to keep her distance.
The reason? The pregnant Duchess was likely advised to avoid touching the koalas due to the species battling a devastating illness, according to News.com.au.
Australian koalas are infected with koala chlamydia, a sexually-transmitted disease which has reached epidemic levels.
Koala chlamydia can cause infertility, blindness, urinary tract infections and kidney failure in the loveable marsupials.
In some wild populations in Queensland, koalas suffer a devastating 100% infection rate.
Even though they cannot technically transmit chlamydia to humans, koalas can infect people with bacteria, C. pneumoniae.
This could be a reason why Meghan was quietly told by her royal advisors to avoid touching the koalas completely.
When the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited Taronga zoo in 2014 with Prince George, Kate cuddled with a koala and even leaned in to sniff him.
It wasn’t Prince Harry’s first time at Taronga either – as the royal visited the zoo in 2003 as a youngster and held a koala too.
The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall also held koalas at Government House in Adelaide in 2012.
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