Last week, I wondered why “royal sources” and “royal insiders” continue to provide quotes about the Duchess of Sussex’s Instagram and her business in America. I understand why the palace/royal rota WhatsApp lights up with talking points when Prince Harry is doing or saying something about his family. But I cannot understand why the royal courts or the royal reporters continue to believe that they have the right to snidely comment on an American woman’s anniversary Instagram, or continue to trash a woman who left the UK well over five years ago. But Richard Eden at the Daily Mail continues to get “palace insiders” to provide these Meghan-specific quotes. Well, Eden spoke to another palace insider about… Meghan’s Fast Company interview this week. Why in the world would anyone in Buckingham Palace read Meghan’s interview and then provide quotes to Eden?
On Meghan’s As Ever products selling out: I was among those who presumed that Meghan was using the oldest sales technique in the book: deliberately having only a tiny amount of supplies available for sale to create the illusion of huge demand. Soon, I presumed, the range would be replenished with stock that had been held back so that the new company could cash in with further sales. More than 50 days later, however, the online ‘shelves’ remain empty and her website is plastered with sad little ‘sold out’ signs. Despite reports that her raspberry jam ($14 or £10.80) will return to shelves imminently, this week Meghan made an astonishing announcement. It would, apparently, be too ‘easy’ to restock her brand. Instead, she is not going to sell anything more until next year – perhaps not for another ten months.
Netflix probably hates all of this! Goodness know what Netflix makes of it all. The streaming giant – which broadcast Series One of her lifestyle show With Love, Meghan, earlier this year – is a commercial partner in As Ever.
A royal insider comments on As Ever: But, back in London, a royal source tells me they are not surprised by the tortuous development of her brand. ‘Meghan made it clear that she did not always welcome advice,’ says my insider who worked at Buckingham Palace when she and Prince Harry were still working royals.
Harry in Shanghai: Given Meghan’s latest commercial manoeuvres, it is perhaps no surprise that Harry is developing new business connections of his own. This week, he made a surprise trip to China for a tourism conference in Shanghai – in support of his environmental initiative Travalyst, which he founded in 2019 – where he argued for sustainable travel. It was the duke’s first visit to the communist state, but may well not be his last. After all, if Meghan fails to make a fortune from As Ever, Harry could take a leaf out of his cousin Peter Phillips’s book. In 2020, Princess Anne’s son famously appeared in a milk advert on Chinese TV. He was filmed accepting a glass of milk brought to him by a butler, taking a sip and comparing it to the creamy Jersey milk from the royal herd at Windsor that he was ‘brought up on’.
Eden accidentally slamming the left-behinds wasn’t on my bingo card. “Haha, I bet Harry will have to do a milk advertisement, just like his tacky cousin!” Anyway, this story actually made me sad. Sad for those palace insiders, who are apparently still crying about Meghan refusing to take their gold-standard advice, seven years later. Advice like “don’t ever speak up” and “no, you cannot seek mental health services.” All that being said, I have to admit that I also think it’s a mistake for Meghan to not restock some of her As Ever products. Some “insiders” have suggested that she does plan to restock for summer, but she didn’t say that directly in the Fast Company interview.
Photos courtesy of Netflix, As Ever’s IG.
