The Duchess of Sussex waited five years to launch her lifestyle show and brand. She hasn’t labeled anything “royal” and she’s not telling British secrets to the world. This whole WLM/As Ever venture is the most organic to Meghan’s longtime interests in food, entertaining and homemaking. And the Windsors, the British media and the British aristocracy are still freaking out about all of it, this gentle little venture into lifestyle branding. Makes you think, huh? That maybe it was never about what Meghan said or did or revealed, they were always going to treat all of it as a five-alarm fire. Well, one of King Charles’s good friends, an actual married-in aristocrat, has run to Richard Eden at the Daily Mail to insult Meghan.
Eschewing the life of carefree relaxation which was hers for the asking, she’s demonstrated that she’s a businesswoman with a gimlet eye for detail – hence her insistence that her cheddars are wrapped in organic muslin and her fruit and vegetables should be ‘not so much displayed as curated’. And now Carole Bamford, founder of Daylesford Organic and wife of JCB diggers billionaire Lord Bamford, has demonstrated that she doesn’t mince her words either – as was evident when the Duchess of Sussex launched her brand As Ever yesterday.
‘I think she’s crazy,’ says Carole, a friend of King Charles, with a devastating ‘off-with-her-head’ bluntness. ‘Why? Because she hasn’t got any history. Or authenticity.’
Lest anyone conclude her assessment is just sour grapes from an older, if still glamorous woman, Cotswolds ‘queen’ Carole, who turns 79 this month, explains: ‘Before you launch anything, you have to do the hard work and get everything in place.’
Her sentiment underscores claims by Netflix staff who helped Meghan with As Ever’s debut, one of whom alleged there had been ‘so much drama’ that ‘the team [were] over it before it even launched’. Detailing what exactly she means by hard work, Carole, pictured, who dislikes being known as Lady Bamford, recalls that Daylesford Organic emerged very, very gradually, and only after creating conditions in which organic food could be either harvested or reared on the family’s 1,700-acre Gloucestershire estate.
‘It was the farm animals and soil. For the first 20 years, we didn’t make or sell any of our own products,’ explains Carole, in an interview with an Australian publication. Daylesford Organic isn’t noted for modest prices, but its raspberry jam – one of its 36 organic jams and honeys, ‘made in small batches using traditional methods’ – is £5.25 for an 8oz jar. Meanwhile, As Ever’s factory-made ‘raspberry spread’ is $9 or £6.94 for a 7.6oz jar.
Perhaps Meghan, who has nine products in her entire ‘collection’, should invest in some B Silent Night-Time Pillow Mist – a blend of ‘spiritual frankincense with calming lavender and marjoram’ which prepares ‘the body and mind for a deep peaceful sleep’, £24 for 50ml. From Bamford.com, Carole’s wellness and lifestyle brand…
The gatekeeping here is amazing. How dare Meghan not marry a titled aristocrat with a 1700-acre estate! How dare Meghan not wait two decades to monetize that estate!! Incidentally, the whole reason why Lady Bamford started HER lifestyle brand is likely to support her husband’s estate. The majority of those grand British estates are in a sorry state because most of the aristocrats are cash-poor. That’s why many of them sell their estates as soon as they inherit them too, because they don’t have the money to pay the taxes, because all of the “money” is in real estate. But god help us all if Meghan makes jam too and starts a lifestyle brand, right?
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, As Ever IG.
