The usual suspects are still trying to “take down” the Duchess of Sussex’s As Ever brand. They want As Ever to fail and it’s killing them that AE was probably one of the most successful startups of 2025. Well, this week, As Ever’s Instagram posted a sweet “hosting tips” reel from influencer Olivia McDowell. Olivia has highlighted As Ever’s products on her social media before, and this has the feel of As Ever contacting her specifically for her brand of sponsored content. Well, Tom Sykes is on the case! From The Royalist’s “Meghan Markle appears to be shifting strategy with her As Ever brand, slowly stepping back from putting herself at its center… Kind of.”
The Duchess of Sussex made a different kind of post this week on the brand’s Instagram. Instead of featuring herself, a video showed lifestyle influencer Olivia McDowell assembling perfect cucumber sandwiches, spreading As Ever jam on a croissant, drinking As Ever tea, and lighting an As Ever candle, all in what was captioned her “3 summer hosting tips.”
At the same time, As Ever’s Instagram Story couldn’t quite stay away from its founder. Meghan linked to her personal account, where she shared a “photo dump” captioned “Springing into summer,” including images of her lying on the grass, nature shots, Archie playing with Prince Harry, onion-cutting, Lilibet’s T-shirt, and a hug with her husband, but, notably, no As Ever content.
This appears to be the first time the Duchess has featured someone other than herself using the products she sells, and it comes just a few days after a report suggested that website traffic has not kept pace with inventory levels this year.
“Bringing in other personalities to carry your brand is running the classic playbook,” Warren Johnson, founder of PR and influencer agency W Communications, told The Royalist, adding that “the team need to stop the As Ever brand from being a personality cult.”
Johnson noted that similar strategies have been used by Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop and Jessica Alba’s The Honest Company. “It’s a smart move. The question will be whether the team stick with the strategy for long enough to see the benefits, or whether we see another erratic pivot feed the ‘Diva Duchess’ tag that they are desperate to overcome,” he added.
…While a brand like Goop has collaborated with figures including Kourtney Kardashian and Stella McCartney, Meghan has chosen Olivia McDowell as one of the first personalities to represent her brand. McDowell has around 295,000 Instagram followers (fewer than As Ever and Meghan) and regularly encourages her audience to shop items she herself purchases, with her most popular recommendations including a shoulder bag priced at $1,920 and a tote bag for $570.
In a way, this aligns with Meghan’s own product inventory, which is also far from inexpensive. While a decade ago the Duchess described $100 candles as “obnoxious,” As Ever now sells a set of four candles for $256. The Sussexes’ “favorite” jams are available as a $36 bundle of three, while flower sprinkles are priced at $15. Maybe the Duchess is trying to find an appropriate market for these products, and McDowell, who has quite expensive tastes and an aesthetic lifestyle, fits that narrative.
“This appears to be the first time the Duchess has featured someone other than herself using the products she sells…” No it isn’t? While Olivia’s video might be the first one which is explicitly some kind of sponcon collaboration with As Ever, both Meghan and As Ever have highlighted other people using AE products or tips learned from With Love, Meghan. Those photos and videos were usually posted on Instagram Stories last year, because I remember that the As Ever team highlighted a bunch of really good ones of normal women trying out various products and one-pan pasta and what have you. Basically, they’re desperate to use every single Instagram post as evidence of Meghan’s “failure” when really, this is just business as usual for a growing brand. Meghan isn’t “stepping back” – she’s the face of her brand, she’s running the show and she’s the one choosing the aesthetics and the sponcon. Also, it looks like Sykes needs to get his eyes checked because Meghan did include a jar of jam in her photo dump on Tuesday as well (see below).
Olivia McDowell x As ever
Olivia’s summer hosting tips with Meghan’s As ever brand!
#AsEverByMeghan pic.twitter.com/o0IYgxNPiD — ChrisBaronSmith (@ChrisBaronSmit1) June 8, 2026
Photos courtesy of As Ever’s Instagram.
