Rumours King Charles is competing with Meghan Markle’s lifestyle brand American Riviera Orchard have been branded as ‘nonsense’ by Jennie Bond
Meghan Markle and King Charles both have products to sell (Image: Getty Images)
Meghan Markle’s venture into the homeware market, with offerings such as bespoke jams and dog treats, has been causing quite a stir of late.
Rumours are swirling that Meghan is seeking an endorsement from King Charles for her lifestyle brand American Riviera Orchard. An insider revealed to OK! Magazine’s US edition that the Duchess of Sussex is “looking for support wherever she can get it.”
They added: “Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice are at the top of her list, but she is shooting even higher and would love to get King Charles to give his stamp of approval.”
Harry and Meghan fled to the US (Image: Getty Images)
This speculation arises amidst whispers of potential competition between the Royals, known for marketing similar home and gift items, and Meghan’s new enterprise. Despite King Charles’ Highgrove residence offering high-end organic delights like jams and honey, any notion of rivalry seems beneath Royal concern, says former BBC Royal correspondent Jennie Bond.
Jennie told OK!: “I absolutely refuse to buy into suggestions of a petty rivalry between Meghan’s products and the release of new products from the Highgrove estate,” She further added, “Highgrove has been coming up with new products for years now. The marketing might have become more sophisticated over time, but there has always been publicity about the organic produce from the farm and gardens.”
“I really don’t think that Charles or his marketing people would sink so low as to try to deliberately compete with or scupper Meghan and her team. Why would Charles want to make things worse than they already are? So I think it’s a load of old nonsense and would be beneath him.”
Meghan Markle is going her own way (Image: Getty Images)
Meghan Markle’s venture into the artisan jam market with her American Riviera Orchard lifestyle brand has caused quite a stir in Royal circles, with insiders reportedly breathing a sigh of relief, according to experts. The Duchess of Sussex’s latest business endeavour is viewed as a welcome departure from the much-anticipated “tell-all” book that had been eagerly awaited by Royal followers.
Emma Clifton, a journalist at Australian Women’s Weekly, suggested that this shift towards a more domestic enterprise could be seen as positive news for the Royals. She stated: “Considering how much anticipation there was for Meghan’s supposed ‘tell-all-novel’, her pivot into domestic goddess should surely mean there are a few sighs of relief around the palace…for now.”
Celebrity PR expert Waylon Tate spoke to Australian Women’s Weekly about Meghan’s unique approach to branding her new venture.
Commenting on the issue, Tate said: “What I’ve seen so far, although she’s been pretty clandestine about it – everything surrounding this new brand, is that it’s Meghan and it’s Meghan alone. You can even see it on Instagram. It’s not Meghan and Harry – it’s by Meghan,” This signalled an important moment: “This is the emancipation of Meghan. It’s her saying, ‘I’m a smart, savvy businesswoman. And here’s an introduction to my family on my terms’.”
Camilla challenged by Princess Anne
Queen Camilla was allegedly confronted by Princess Anne over her new title at a tense Coronation dinner with other members of the Royal Family.
The Princess Royal is alleged to have told her sister-in-law that her title is Queen Consort and not Queen, according to Princess Diana’s dressmaker, David Emanuel.
He claimed that the topic of Camilla’s new title is “highly charged” and that “a lot of people” are “unhappy” that she will be referred to as Queen rather than Queen Consort.
The King’s wife was reportedly confronted by Anne as the designer said the “whole situation” is “very difficult” amid claims that not everyone accepts Camilla’s new title.
Speaking to Dan Wootton on GB News, Mr Emanuel, who designed Princess Diana’s wedding dress in 1981, said: “I heard that there was a Coronation dinner with which obviously the King and Camila were there, and apparently the Princess Royal said, ‘You’re not Queen, you’re the Queen’s consort’.”
He added: “I understood from Her Majesty the Queen, she said she should be Queen Consort. Now suddenly she’s now going to be Queen.
“And it’s very difficult because a lot of people have told me they were unhappy about it.”
During the Coronation, Princess Anne will feature in the procession as the prestigious “Gold-Stick-in-Waiting”, a position historically handed to a person entrusted with the personal safety of the sovereign.
As a “personal aide-de-camp” to His Majesty, Anne will travel on horseback behind the new King and Queen after they are crowned at Westminster Abbey on May 6.
As Charles and Camilla ride in the Gold State Coach back to Buckingham Palace, Anne will lead the larger procession featuring 6,000 armed services personnel.
The privilege dates back to the 15th century in Tudor times, when two officers – a Gold Stick and a Silver Stick, were placed close to the sovereign to protect him or her from danger.
One of the guests at the Coronation is Camilla’s former husband Andrew Parker Bowles, who was married to her for 22 years from 1973 to 1995.
Friends of the 83-year-old said he is “a bit of a rogue” and “very naughty with women”, according to a source who spoke to The Times.
HOT NEWS: Arthur Edwards reveals that King Charles kicked Meghan Markle out of the house after discovering she used a doll to impersonate Archie: “How dare she deceive!”
Hot news: Arthur Edwards reveals that Prince Charles kicked Meghan Markle out of the house after discovering she used a doll to impersonate Archie: “How dare she deceive!”
The arrival of Archie, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s eldest child, was deemed a disaster for the press by a royal photographer. Breaking with a long-standing royal tradition, the Sussexes opted out of the customary photo shoot on the steps outside London’s private Portland Hospital following Prince Archie’s birth on May 6, 2019. It wasn’t until two days later that photographers finally captured the first glimpse of the royal baby during a photocall at St. George’s Hall in Windsor Castle.
During an interview with The Sun’s Royal Exclusive, British photographer Arthur Edwards, known for his decades-long work capturing the Royals, criticized Prince Harry and Meghan Markle for stage-managing their son’s birth according to their preferences rather than adhering to the postpartum tradition believed to have originated with Princess Anne in the 80s.
“The whole thing was just stage-managed to suit them,” Edwards claimed about Archie’s birth. The well-known Sun photographer suggested that the press was given incorrect information about when Markle had gone into labor and given birth. “Archie was almost teething before we found out he was born, you know,” Edwards sarcastically told host Matt Wilkinson. “We were led to believe that she’d gone into labor at 2:00 when the baby had been born many hours earlier. We were led to believe it was going to be a home birth and it was in a hospital.”
According to Page Six, Markle had originally planned to give birth to Archie at their then-UK home, Frogmore Cottage, with the help of an all-female midwife team. However, when her son was a week overdue, doctors advised the former Suits star to go to the hospital and deliver there.
Twitter is buzzing with speculation that Lilibet and Archie might not be real, with some suggesting that other mothers are lending their children for photo opportunities. A YouTube video drawing over 77,000 views suggests that Archie could actually be a lifelike doll. On The Daily Empress YouTube channel, a video titled “Meghan Markle’s Fake Baby Exposed” has garnered tens of thousands of views. The channel presents the notion that baby Sussex is a doll, citing resemblances to doll-like features as evidence.
Another point of contention is that baby Archie appeared motionless in Prince Harry’s arms during the photo op, leading some to conclude that it must be a fake baby. Many viewers echoed this sentiment, with one royal fan commenting that Harry was holding a doll during the photo op, with Meghan allegedly strategically positioning herself to obscure the baby’s face from the camera.
In response to such speculation, others noted stark differences between videos of the Waleses introducing their newborns and Meghan and Harry introducing Archie. Observers pointed out that the Waleses’ babies were visibly active and the parents appeared relaxed, whereas Archie seemed inert, with Meghan showing discomfort and Harry holding onto him tightly. Building on this observation, others remarked that newborns typically move and make noise, unlike the seemingly still Archie.
Some even questioned the timing of Archie’s birth, suspecting that Harry’s comment in an interview indicated that Archie was actually two weeks old at the time of the introduction. During the interview, Harry’s response to a question about Archie’s appearance fueled speculation further. His diplomatic reply, suggesting that babies change rapidly and it’s difficult to determine resemblance early on, was interpreted by some as a slip-up revealing Archie’s true age.
