The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Family, News and Events 9: August 2023 - July 2024

It’s sad. And of all things. If she wants to start some kind of preserve business sure but this is all over the place. And there is no real start do it, just friends socials. I mean you build a business like anyone else. You make pitches to store franchises…or even independents and you see how it goes. You need a physical space to get things noticed and then that picks up the virtual selling space. I was in a tiny little store and saw a company who make curd…love curd…bought some and then found them online.

Magnolia471 said:

Yes Meghan had a moment of glory during "Suits" in which she was however a secondary character with few lines during the episode.
But for over years she was a struggling actor while her father and her first husband supported her financially which she herself admitted. Honestly not even the main actors of Suits had relevant roles afterwards, I doubt Meghan would have done who knows what career especially considering her age, given that all her characters were based more on her physical appearance, not so much on her perfomative skills.
In most of previous gigs she was referred as the "Hot girl" and even on Suits she had perform explicit s*x acts to keep the public interest that type of career doesn't last in your 40s unless you are super famous.
I used to watched CSIA religiously back in the days. Yet I cannot even name one actor and I've never seen them after in any production.

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True; Meghan was quickly aging out of the "Hot girl" niche.
And the USA differs from the UK in that ageism is rampant in Hollywood.
I believe her days as an actress were numbered.

She does the tag to royal events for the SEO. If you do a search for Trooping the Colour, she gets a mention for the jam and dog biscuits. It’s her way of inserting herself to the event. That’s the purpose of her timing, but I still don’t get the point when nothing is set up for actual sales.

I think her problem is wants to live like a royal but she doesn't want to do any of the hard work, she wants it all on a plate straight away, and no-one wants to work for her because of her reputation and how she treats people. Same pretty much applies to PH, but in fairness to him the royal life was the only life he ever knew before he left. The reality of "finding freedom" must be crushing IMO.

To maintain the lifestyle he's always known and she wants, they need a hell of a lot of money. I can't see how they are going to find it. Flogging jam and dog biscuits isn't going to fly. There's only one thing they can sell, they've already done it and it didn't have the success they hoped for. It's closed a lot of doors to them.

In a nutshell, they're stuck.

Meghan is sending out gifts obviously with the intention that her friends promote on their social media feeds that they have received etc etc. but if Joe Public is then inspired to buy these products there is nothing there to buy. I can see the building up an interest but if it is too long will people not become fed up with it all, or are they going for the really long build up so people are desperate to buy, then the next move will be limited stock so there will be a rush to buy. Too much like hard work for me.

shady lady said:

I think her problem is wants to live like a royal but she doesn't want to do any of the hard work, she wants it all on a plate straight away, and no-one wants to work for her because of her reputation and how she treats people. Same pretty much applies to PH, but in fairness to him the royal life was the only life he ever knew before he left. The reality of "finding freedom" must be crushing IMO.

To maintain the lifestyle he's always known and she wants, they need a hell of a lot of money. I can't see how they are going to find it. Flogging jam and dog biscuits isn't going to fly. There's only one thing they can sell, they've already done it and it didn't have the success they hoped for. It's closed a lot of doors to them.

In a nutshell, they're stuck.

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This in a nutshell. They gave in to the lifestyle she wanted, but oh well.

As for Harry, he made a bad choice in life, and a series of misguided decisions at best and terrible at worst. Now that he’s between a rock and a hard place, he seems hell bent on making everyone pay for him/with him for those decisions. In my opinion of course.

He better start making lemonade with the lemon because well, c’est la vie…

If Meghan wants to sell jam or dog biscuits or anything else, that's a lot better than trying to get attention by telling lies about her in-laws on chat shows, but there isn't a lot of point in getting people to promote them on social media if they aren't actually available to buy. If I want to buy Duchy Originals jam, I can go to the Waitrose website and order as many jars as I like (although you'd think that an upmarket supermarket like Waitrose would realise that "jarred goods" is absolutely terrible English!).

I don’t particularly get the point in the lifestyle brand. I mean, if they had plenty of land to grow and sell their own produce, great. If they don’t they could always do like the Duchy Originals do and focus on being a brand that can use produce from local suppliers, but there seems a big focus so far on everything being “homemade” as if made by Meghan (though it wouldn’t at all surprise me if they just take the Duchy idea and copy that) That will come unstuck when they scale up leaving produce sourced from elsewhere being marked up and sold on at premium on the basis its Meghans name /brand. Unless she comes up with new innovative products I’m not sure that is going to be enough.

The core of the matter is that H&M cannot compete with the BRF, no matter what narrative, product or project they wish to present. They have no future with let alone in the BRF. The bridge has not only been burned, it's blown up as well.
I present to you a number of pictures:
Here we have a cancer patient in his 70s still working: https://imgix.billedbladet.dk/2024-...op=faces,entropy&ar=1050:750&fill=blur&w=1900
Here we have a another cancer patient, more or less right out of bed: https://imgix.billedbladet.dk/2024-...fit=crop&ar=394:221&crop=faces,entropy&w=1020
Here we have her again with her two cute children, all dressed up. The adorable factor is off the scale!
Here we have a photo of a doting father and at present no doubt a very concerned husband as well:
And finally here we have a photo of the core BRF members, the present and the future in one photo:

Now, can anyone tell me how H&M can compete with, let alone match, such images?
What can H&M come up with that can possibly be comparable to that?

Answer: They can't.

It's game over. Whatever feud they had with the BRF, they lost. - It's not even a question of whether H&M had a point or not in that feud. They lost. And they are losing even more for every day.

H&M needs to reinvent themselves in their own right. They need to realize that they are now mere socialites, jet setters, celebs, curiosities, influencers - you take your pick. And move on from there.

No more semi-royal tours, they are fast becoming downright ridiculous.
No more posting something at the same time as a major BRF event/news, that is getting pathetic at best.
No more whining about the family. That's tedious. They left, they are out, they won't come back, accept it and get over it.

So from now on it's Harry and Meghan, two persons who happens to be well known by the public.
That's the basis they need to work from, that's their future - that's all they have.
So they better reinvent themselves and come up with something that is not in some way attached to the BRF (or riding on the coat tails of the BRF). And they need to take that very serious indeed! And really start thinking and get a real strategy in place. ASAP!
Their window of opportunity is closing and in my estimation they have only a few years left before they are forgotten.
So they need to start working. If anyone is under the illusion that being a top influencers is easy work, they are wrong. H&M better get used to working - hard.
- The alternative, the path they are currently on, leads to nowhere.

In my mind, it is different in America: Selling stuff does not give you a bad rep or has commoner's vibes to it.

But marmalade and dog biscuits? That is a strange mixture for sure! Besides: If the brother of Princess Catherine - he is really known for loving dogs - had an outlet for dog stuff, it would really makes sense, but the Sussexes? I don't get it!

Prince Harry and Meghan still have fans around the globe - why don't they combine their charity "business" and Meghan's merchant endavours and put something "alternative", something better chosen, onto the World Map?

victor1319 said:

In my mind, it is different in America: Selling stuff does not give you a bad rep or has commoner's vibes to it.

But marmalade and dog biscuits? That is a strange mixture for sure! Besides: If the brother of Princess Catherine - he is really known for loving dogs - had an outlet for dog stuff, it would really makes sense, but the Sussexes? I don't get it!

Prince Harry and Meghan still have fans around the globe - why don't they combine their charity "business" and Meghan's merchant endavours and put something "alternative", something better chosen, onto the World Map?

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Exactly. It's all over the place.
It's like Meghan woke up one morning: How about we sell dog-food?

Their future as I see it are either as influencers (i.e. private product testing and promotion of products and concepts) or as ambassadors for something, but that's usually non-profit, or at least don't create that much of an income. Or go into business. That means either investing in something, which is risky! Or producing something be that a product or a concept.
But... in order to start a business, you need a product or concept you can sell. And that means you have to produce or set something up. And that takes money and competent people to set it up and run it. - Even using my strongest binoculars I can't see that anywhere near H&M. - They don't have the knowledge, they don't have the education and they don't seem to have the drive - i.e. working non-stop to achieve their goal. And there are quite a few competitors out there, almost no matter what product they come up with. Also dog food...
So the only product they have left to sell are themselves - while they are still relevant or at least known. And that means some sort of influencer or rent-a-celeb business.

Muhler said:

So the only product they have left to sell are themselves - while they are still relevant or at least known. And that means some sort of influencer or rent-a-celeb business.

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Which means they really will be the modern Duke and Duchess of Windsor (who were still getting money from the BRF however).

Prinsara said:

Which means they really will be the modern Duke and Duchess of Windsor (who were still getting money from the BRF however).

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Depends.
The Windsors were shipped out of the way and told to stay quiet. They had problems doing even that. And they were still a kind of officially recognized royals.

H&M?
Can they stick to their part of the deal and stay quiet?
Will the British public accept that H&M are basically on welfare? Even if it's paid in full by the BRF.
It's also serious money to pay to H&M for the next what? 40 years? 50 years? Money the BRF really don't get anything in return for.

Everything Muhler wrote I agree with, and add to that Harry should stop wasting a HUGE amount of money on lawsuits he cannot win, just my opinion. Use all the money they still have in long term investments, or suitable stocks and shares, use the interest to live on, breed chickens, make jam, live a happy life.

That article suggests what I was thinking, that Figueras was trolling the British media with his post. I can't agree with this line however: "the American Riviera Orchard campaign has been phenomenally successful and cost Meghan nothing." Every attempt of this social media campaign for the brand has been met with widespread heavy criticism, which costs her respect. Having been in the business, I see them make so many classic fatal business mistakes (which I won't go over here because other posters have). I do wish the couple would take on some expert advice instead of thinking they know best. They clearly don't and it leaves them wide open to criticism, some of it is well-deserved. Just my opinion!

The article is laughable. It says ARO has been a huge success but then says there is nothing to sell so what has it all been for? Exactly.

However, The Daily Beast now understands from a source that Meghan did not order up the post from Figueras, and in fact had no input over when or if he would post.

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I wonder if this is the same source that told the Daily Beast last month that Catherine likely wouldn't be seen for the rest of the year and that she was spending all her time with her "birth family"?

Anyway, whether I believe Nacho was so moved by Meghan's thoughtful gift that he felt compelled to post about it on a Friday night, the funniest thing about this to me is that his jar of jam was labeled 2 of 2. I'm dying to know who jar 1 of 2 went to. And my sympathies to the 48 previous recipients of the strawberry jam who didn't make the cut for raspberry.

I was watching something on the Netflix Polo Show, and it was said H&M Made Nachos one of the producers of the Polo show, might be an incentive for advertising for Raspberry jam.

victor1319 said:

In my mind, it is different in America: Selling stuff does not give you a bad rep or has commoner's vibes to it.

But marmalade and dog biscuits? That is a strange mixture for sure! Besides: If the brother of Princess Catherine - he is really known for loving dogs - had an outlet for dog stuff, it would really makes sense, but the Sussexes? I don't get it!

Prince Harry and Meghan still have fans around the globe - why don't they combine their charity "business" and Meghan's merchant endavours and put something "alternative", something better chosen, onto the World Map?

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I do not think anybody has an issue with the principal of running a business whether it be Meghan or anybody else, I do not see it as a bad rep or a common thing to do. Good Luck to them if they can make a success of it and it will stop the story telling for money. My criticism is that I am not sure what is going on, there have been three products dropped but you cannot buy them. I am not sure of the connection between jam and dog food.
Maybe there is a clever plan going on but I just cannot see it. A previous poster is correct, she is receiving free publicity so fair enough. Maybe it is all to tempt us so when the whole thing finally drops with hundreds of goods available to buy we will all rush to the online shop.
They will already have a core customer base who will purchase as soon as the site goes live but will it be enough to sustain a business, that will depend on the range and choice of goods and the prices. I doubt I would be buying solely because I would not be prepared to pay the cost of postage and taxes to have it delivered to the UK> It would need to be something really really special.
It looks like we might have a long wait on our hands, on the other hand they might surprise us and it will go live tomorrow.

Kenya said:

I wonder if this is the same source that told the Daily Beast last month that Catherine likely wouldn't be seen for the rest of the year and that she was spending all her time with her "birth family"?

Anyway, whether I believe Nacho was so moved by Meghan's thoughtful gift that he felt compelled to post about it on a Friday night, the funniest thing about this to me is that his jar of jam was labeled 2 of 2. I'm dying to know who jar 1 of 2 went to. And my sympathies to the 48 previous recipients of the strawberry jam who didn't make the cut for raspberry.

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Thank you for this post! Proper job, as they say in the late Mr Shady's part of the world

So moved, So Nacho (as per Sinitta's 80s hit So Macho which is being given notice to quit my brain as I write)

And I now have an image of a jar of raspberry jam on the front cover of the next issue of The Cut, very appropriate as it has a bandage around its head, much to the chagrin of the strawberry jams!

So if I've got this right, Nacho did what MM wanted him to do, except it wasn't what she wanted him to do, despite being exactly what she wanted him to do. Nacho probably isn't the only one who is confused right now

One can only imagine the amount of hard work that must have gone into creating those two pots of jam. I can see it now: MM wiping her brow, sweating over that bubbling little saucepan, thermometer clasped tightly in her hand! Oh, the drama!!!!!

Kenya said:

I wonder if this is the same source that told the Daily Beast last month that Catherine likely wouldn't be seen for the rest of the year and that she was spending all her time with her "birth family"?

Anyway, whether I believe Nacho was so moved by Meghan's thoughtful gift that he felt compelled to post about it on a Friday night, the funniest thing about this to me is that his jar of jam was labeled 2 of 2. I'm dying to know who jar 1 of 2 went to. And my sympathies to the 48 previous recipients of the strawberry jam who didn't make the cut for raspberry.

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Hopefully it went to Doria, Charles or even Thomas Markle.

^^^” I am not sure of the connection between jam and dog food.“^^^ as Hallo Girl posted.

I’m afraid my first thought was two sayings of derision:
‘blow a raspberry’ and ‘dog’s breakfast.’
But I really doubt ARO would stoop to that level.

shady lady said:

So moved, So Nacho (as per Sinitta's 80s hit So Macho which is being given notice to quit my brain as I write)

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I am in need of some jam, some jam, some jam ....

If the launch of ARO was so successful why do we only know a handful of the 50 people who received the first jars of jam?

Presumably they were sent out as gifts to key influencers / celebrities - either on different days or more probably with instructions as to when to post about them (or else its a remarkable coincidence they didn't all post about it on the same day). Some of course did as expected, took some great instagram shots with the jam (hence why it was delivered so well packaged - though why package strawberry conserve with lemons if beyond me) and gave ARO free PR. But how many posted - 10-15? I'd hardly call that a success personally.

So those 50 people got jam-mail?

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Seems the post of the raspberry and dog biscuits backfired on Nachos and MM. Nacho received so many negative posts on his Instagram account and MM thru him under the bus saying she didn't have him release the jam and dog biscuit commercial. You can't even buy anything from MM. Thanks Muhler for the comprehensive post, greatly appreciate your intellect.

muriel said:

Amazing that Meghan, who through marriage got to be an A-lister, through a combination of her own actions and vindictiveness, is now down to peddling dog biscuits and jam!

Where she had an opportunity to be at the top table meeting Presidents, Kings and Princes, she now has to wait for royal events to attempt (and fail every time!) to try and steal the press attention. An object lesson in how (NOT!) to make the most of the opportunities life serves you.

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I don't consider her an A-List celebrity anymore since many of the initial craze after the wedding has died out since the documentary aired. I see them more of survivors, they find by trial and error what can stick on the wall for them to produce a continuous source of income. And to be displayed on social media news, too.

At this point I just wait and see what they would come up next to stay relevant in the USA with so many hundreds of celebrities fighting for covers, mentions and camera time.

If you are an A-Lister in the USA, like Jolie, George Clooney, Jlo, Beyonce, the Kardashians, the Oprahs and whoever won an Oscar, an Emmy or a Grammy recently, you don't need to produce content. Just go outside and the press goes wild. With H&M, the press here in the USA is exhausted and the novelty wore off already.

So, I'll just wait and see what they would come up next.

Muhler said:

Exactly. It's all over the place.
It's like Meghan woke up one morning: How about we sell dog-food?

Their future as I see it are either as influencers (i.e. private product testing and promotion of products and concepts) or as ambassadors for something, but that's usually non-profit, or at least don't create that much of an income. Or go into business. That means either investing in something, which is risky! Or producing something be that a product or a concept.
But... in order to start a business, you need a product or concept you can sell. And that means you have to produce or set something up. And that takes money and competent people to set it up and run it. - Even using my strongest binoculars I can't see that anywhere near H&M. - They don't have the knowledge, they don't have the education and they don't seem to have the drive - i.e. working non-stop to achieve their goal. And there are quite a few competitors out there, almost no matter what product they come up with. Also dog food...
So the only product they have left to sell are themselves - while they are still relevant or at least known. And that means some sort of influencer or rent-a-celeb business.

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Meghan has always been an ardent lover of dogs-before and after her marriage to Prince Harry. Recall that one of her first patronages as a new Duchess was Mayhew. So that one of the of the first products of ARO brand is dog biscuits is not the least bit surprising.

Business is very tricky and risky. However what Meghan is trying to do has been successfully done in the past. Who's to say that she has not or is not educating herself on what it takes to successfully build a lifestyle brand. Brands don't have an overnight meteoric rise- sometimes it takes many years. Ask actresses Gwyneth Paltrow and Jessica Alba.
Only time will tell if ARO will be a success.