Meghan Markle’s new luxury lifestyle brand is yet another attempt to ‘cash in’ on her royal status and could breach the agreement she and Prince Harry made with the late queen, royal experts said today.
The Duchess of Sussex launched American Riviera Orchard in a glitzy video on social media last night, with the ‘word salad’ business set to sell home products and luxury food items including jam, butter and coffee.
Publicity material makes no attempt to hide Meghan’s royal ties or the purely commercial nature of her brand, with the Instagram profile captioned ‘by Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex’. In the meantime, visitors to the website are asked to provide their email address for updates on ‘products’ and ‘availability’.
Meghan’s biographer Tom Bower said the move contradicts the Sussexes’ promise to the former queen not to trade their royal connections after the so-called ‘Sandringham Summit’ in 2022.
He told MailOnline: ‘Meghan and Harry promised they would not use their titles as company vehicles and they have broken that understanding. The only solution is for the king to strip the Sussexes of their titles. Hopefully he finds the resilience.”
Visitors to the American Riviera Orchard website are asked to enter their email address for updates on ‘products’ and ‘availability’
Publicity material makes no attempt to hide Meghan’s royal ties, with the Instagram profile captioned ‘by Meghan, Duchess of Sussex’
The brand’s launch video shows Meghan cooking in a beautiful kitchen, holding copper pans above her head as she waves
Phil Dampier, who wrote a book about Harry and Meghan’s romance in 2018, agreed that the “Gwyneth Paltrow-style lifestyle range” is “contrary” to the couple’s agreement with Elizabeth II.
But he suggested King Charles’ preoccupation with his own battle with cancer and the Princess of Wales’s recovery from abdominal surgery meant the monarch was unlikely to take action.
‘It is difficult to believe that Harry and Meghan would have used their titles so blatantly for commercial gain if Queen Elizabeth were still alive. Now that she is no longer with us, they sense a weakness and exploit it,” he told MailOnline.
‘The King will not have the will or energy to fight this at this time and so will let it go, but it only shows the hypocrisy of the Sussexes who criticize Harry’s family yet cling to their royal titles for commercial gain.’
The Duchess of Sussex’s new project is said to have been in the works for more than a year – and will feature ‘all the things that are close to her heart’.
It coincides with a new cooking show with Meghan on Netflix, where she will make and sell her own products.
‘This will lead to a book and blog in addition to her cooking shows.
Meanwhile, a trademark application has been filed for cutlery, mugs, jam, tablecloths and recipe books, as well as pantry items including coffee, jam and butter.
The Sussexes’ most lucrative commercial deal after Megxit was a five-year deal with Netflix in 2020, estimated to be worth $100 million (£80 million).
Meghan and Harry’s £15 million Spotify contract ended in early June last year
Last night’s launch caused particular controversy due to its timing: Meghan’s Instagram video was published just 45 minutes before Prince William took the stage. Diana Legacy Awards.
It was also on the fourth anniversary of what Prince Harry called their ‘freedom flight’, filming himself celebrating the official emigration to the US.
The Sussexes are looking for new ways to earn money to pay for their expensive security needs and a $9.5 million (£7.5 million) mortgage for their mansion in Montecito, California.
Their most lucrative commercial deal after Megxit was a five-year deal with Netflix in 2020, estimated to be worth $100 million.
They’re said to be working on “a bunch” of new Netflix projects, including a movie and two other “unscripted” projects, but there was uncertainty over whether the deal will be renewed next year, especially after their £15 million Spotify contract expired in early June last year.
This decision was also the subject of considerable controversy, with SPotify’s head of podcast innovation and monetization branded the pair “damn scammers” after seeing Meghan produce just 13 episodes of her podcast series Archetypes during the entire collaboration.
Last night’s launch caused particular controversy due to its timing, with Meghan’s Instagram video published just 45 minutes before Prince William took the stage at the Diana Legacy Awards. In the photo, William is greeted by Tessy Oho at the event
Royal expert Phil Dampier said: ‘It is difficult to believe that Harry and Meghan would have used their titles so blatantly for commercial gain if Queen Elizabeth were still alive’
Harry and Meghan’s decision to relaunch their ‘Sussex.com’ website last month was seen by the California-based royals as part of a wider ‘relaunch’.
The new homepage features Meghan’s coat of arms and stunning biographies for the couple, as well as the latest news about the couple.
Many close to the royal family saw it as a blatant breach of the supposedly ironclad guarantees Harry and Meghan gave the late queen when they bitterly quit as working royals in 2020, and are coming dangerously close to using their royal status for commercial gain.
Others describe it as a betrayal of the agreement, ‘if not in the letter, then certainly in the spirit’.
But a source close to the couple dismissed the claims and defended the use of their royal titles for the website. They said: ‘Prince Harry and Meghan are the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. That’s a fact. It’s their last name and family name.’
While American Riviera Orchard may yet prove to be a money-spinning venture, the Sussexes will likely continue to seek work in the world of media and entertainment to supplement their post-Megxit income.
The couple made a surprise visit to Jamaica in January to attend the premiere of Bob Marley: One Love and support the Marley family, and were guests of Paramount Pictures, which distributed the film.
This led to fears that Harry and Meghan’s could become ‘Royals for hire’, with insiders reportedly saying a deal with the film studio could be in the pipeline.
Archewell has been contacted for comment.
Harry and Meghan’s decision to relaunch their ‘Sussex.com’ website last month was seen by the California-based royals as part of a wider ‘relaunch’
The Duchess of Sussex’s coat of arms can be found on the recently launched website Sussex.com