Meghan Markle & Prince Harry’s brand is over-hyped & under-delivers – their jam business is desperate, says expert
MEGHAN Markle and Prince Harry’s brand “over-promised” and “under-delivered”, slammed an expert.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have tried their hand at several business ventures but author Mark Borkowski told The Sun’s Royal Exclusive show it’s “like trying to brand snow in a hail storm”.
The couple raised eyebrows when they ‘reinvented’ themselves and controversially changed the Archewell website using their royal titles.
Their personal projects have since swirled in drama, from Megan’s promise of a cooking show about love and friendship – to Harry’s series on the elite sport polo.
Talking to The Sun’s royal editor, Matt Wilkinson, Mr Borkowski said: “They stuck together and didn’t take advice, and it became a catalogue of these things, they over-promised a lot of their products they were going to bring.
“It started off being this brand that was going to set up a well-meaning foundation, they’re going to do this great work.
“It was over-hyped and over-promised, and when you over-promise, then under-deliver, then you become the story.
“There’s a feeding frenzy around the negativity, there was never any positivity.”
He added: “They cannot carry on doing the same thing, what’s happened to this new jam brand that she’s bringing out? I mean how ridiculous is that, who does she want to be? The next Martha Stewart?
“I think you see desperation slipping in now and that should be an indication to say ‘let’s start again and learn from the royal family, post Diana‘, bring people in who know their stuff.
“Build a team out of that, instead of ‘yes people’ to do what you want, backed up by some Rottweiler of a lawyer who’s going to send out letters to every last person.
“The way they’re going about it is akin to trying to brand snow in a hail storm.”
Mr Borkowski previously claimed on the Royal Exclusive show he believed Meghan thought married life with Prince Harry would be that of a Disney Princess – rather than dutiful royal.
He said the Duchess of Sussex didn’t get the “tiaras and ballrooms” she’d bargained for.
“It’s a job and I think that was the first thing that came apart,” said the expert.
It comes after Meghan’s lifestyle brand American Riviera Orchard suffered a fresh blow earlier this month.
Harry and Meghan have NO idea what they’re doing now they’ve lost their power
By Matt Wilkinson and Summer Raemason
PRINCE Harry and Meghan Markle ‘haven’t got a clue what they’re doing now they’ve lost all their power’, slammed a royal expert.
Victoria Murphy alleged the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who jetted to Colombia yesterday, have no clear purpose to be on the controversial trip.
The royal expert spoke to The Sun’s Royal Editor Matt Wilkinson on the Royal Exclusive show.
It comes as Harry and Meghan put on a loved-up display on the first day of their tour as they were welcomed in the capital Bogota by Colombia‘s Vice President Francia Márquez and her husband Rafael Yerney Pinillo.
The couple beamed as they watched a performance at the Delia Zapata National Centre for the Arts in Bogotá.
Mrs Murphy told The Sun: “We don’t know who they’re going to meet. When Sophie Duchess of Edinburgh met Francia Márquez, she was there representing Britain so it was very clear what Sophie represented, and it was not the interest of the Colombian government.
“That’s what the working royals have, their message, their purpose, their representation is very clear when they go to other countries.
“With Harry and Meghan it’s not clear what Archewell’s stance is on a lot of things, in the same way.
“There’s no doubt it will draw attention, but what is the purpose of that attention and how well thought through is it being channeled?”
The Sussexes spent around half-an-hour at the Vice President’s residence, where they exchanged welcome gifts and were offered tea, coffee and traditional pandebono – Colombian cheese bread.
Ms Márquez said she was inspired to ask Harry and Meghan to visit the country after being moved by their Netflix documentary.
The vice-president described their trip as a “very special visit” aimed at building bridges and joining forces against cyber-bullying, as well as promoting women’s leadership in Colombia.
Mr Wilkinson highlighted Harry and Meghan’s new project The Parents Network and the couple’s CBS sit down interview last week.
“This cause is absolutely brilliant. I think it’s a really important cause for them to be championing but will it get the attention it deserves?,” said Ms Murphy.
She continued: “I wonder whether they could have made more impact with it talking as working royals.
“I feel sometimes it’s hard to see how everything fits together.
“With Harry and Meghan I feel they would benefit from being more focused on certain things and hammering home to the public ‘this is what we represent’.”
During Harry and Meg’s chat with Ms Marquez, the Colombian leader said she shared the same ideals amid their campaign to make the digital world safer for children.
The Sussexes also visited a local school, the Colegio Cultura Popular, yesterday and joined a summit, in collaboration with their Archewell Foundation, about forging a healthier online space.
They spoke to children in a session where the class talked about their favourite and least favourite parts of social media and technology.
Meghan said the group should aim to be “self-reliant and not tech-reliant” while Harry questioned them on the conversations they have with their families about managing their social media platforms.
Since announcing the company, the former Suits actress is yet to roll out anything other than jams and dog biscuits – products that have only been gifted to her A-lister pals so far.
Meghan has also faced multiple hurdles in her launch, including ‘struggling’ to secure a CEO, her team filling in the official forms incorrectly, and failing to send enough cash.
These issues came in addition to a bitter dispute over exclusive rights to the name American Riviera Orchard.
Her team, led by top US attorney Marjorie Witter Norman under Meghan’s fledgling Mama Knows Best LLC firm, applied to the Patent and Trademark Office in the States for legal protection to exclusively trade using the name ‘American Riviera Orchard’.
But the application, filed in March, has been rejected and now she has three months to amend the request – or it will be removed from the register.
She has been told she can’t have exclusive rights to ‘American Riviera’ because it is a commonly used place name to describe the California coast.
Correspondence from the US trade arm, seen by The Sun, states: “The following wording in the identification of goods is indefinite and must be amended to further specify they goods: Garden tool gift set, comprised of hand tools for gardening International….Stationery sets; Embossers for paper stationery; Blank journals …. Kits comprised of edible oils, fats, preserves, spreads, and butters; Kits comprised of ingredients for making baked goods.”
Other goods deemed ‘too broad’ are: “cocktail napkins, pans, cooking utensils, namely, strainers, spoons, forks, spatulas, tongs, spreaders, whisks, soap dispensers.”
The document also points out errors with applications for “gift wrap of fabric or textile” and “meditation blankets; yoga blankets”.
The couple also faced backlash last month in amid their Colombia tour – after moaning about security fears while travelling in the UK.
During their visit they discussed their new project, The Parents Network, which aims to support families who have lost their children to online harm.
On their final engagement of the tour, the Sussexes also toured the Centro de Rehabilitación Inclusiva for a training session with the Invictus Games’ Team Colombia.
The priceless work the duke’s Invictus Games achieves has always been highly praised, and he is set to return to the UK in 2027 for the next official ceremony.
Harry is currently in New York and was pictured during a high-level dinner organised by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Sunday.
The event was to honour survivors of childhood violence and discuss its impact on mental health.
He is due to appear with an African conservation group, a young people’s charity named after his mum Diana and the Halo Trust, a landmine charity which was close to Di’s heart.
A spokesperson for the Sussexes was approached for comment.
Harry & Meg's business flops
Despite the relentless media coverage and hype generated by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle through their projects, some ventures haven't gone as well as others.
- Meghan had her upcoming animated series Pearl chucked out by Netflix while in the development stage.
- Then 42-year-old was said to have been “uncharacteristically quiet” following the loss of her £18million Spotify deal in June last year.
- While Spare initially sold a staggering number of copies demand soon dwindled and a year on its popularity has plummeted with major retailers slashing prices in half.
- Meanwhile, their Netflix documentary also took a hit and the Duke and Duchess are believed to have been paid only half of their reported £78million contract.
- The pair were poked fun at by comedian Jo Koy at the Golden Globes for “being paid millions by Netflix for doing nothing“.
- Harry’s series, Heart of Invictus, shedding light on the Olympic-style games he started for wounded ex-service competitors also flopped.
- Archewell figures in December last year revealed a hole in the accounts after it received almost £9million less in donations than in a previous year.