As Kensington Palace is busy sweeping up the royal mess created in the past few months from groundless Katespiracies taking flight and now, Prince William‘s alleged affair resurfacing, the other estranged royal couple is settling on stable ground. Merely a few weeks ago, the controversial spotlight was on Prince Harry‘s rushed rendezvous to the UK and his uptight relations with his stepmother, Queen Camilla. However, as new conspiracy theories soared after Kate Middleton’s recent photoshop debacle, the camera lens has taken it easy on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. With time on their side, at least for the moment, Meghan Markle took the first step towards a new beginning.
On Thursday, Markle made her grand return to Instagram to launch her new creation, American Riviera Orchard. The social media introduction barely shines enough light on the venture, which has already positively amassed over 400K followers. Documents filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office suggest that she may be on her way to establishing an online retail store to sell diverse collections of cookbooks, tableware, cutlery, jams, oils, and so much more ranging from party paraphernalia, home decor items and whatnot. This isn’t Markle’s first lifestyle baby because her former blog, The Tig, occupied that spot before she dropped its shutters for good in 2017.
Ongoing royal scandal with Prince William-Kate Middleton at the centre: A fresh launching pad for Prince Harry-Meghan Markle?
Only some time ago, tabloid headlines were concerned with the possibility of Harry and Meghan going separate ways. The heartstopping conjecture was laid to rest once the world realised they were merely taking two different paths in a forest of professional opportunities. Their joint Netflix deal under the Archewell banner was apparently not taking off the ground, with some projects like Markle’s children’s show Pearl being dropped altogether.
Failure to set “productivity benchmarks” also cost them their Spotify partnership. In addition to her new lifestyle brand, the Suits star has her podcast deal with Lemonada Media in her pocket. Regardless of whatever funding gaps it may result in, the outsider royal couple is going toe-to-toe with the Wales princely lot.
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The royal drama resumed its course on the home ground as the brothers reunited (barely) at the Diana Legacy Awards ceremony in London to pay tribute to their mother separately. While Prince William was physically present to hand out trophies, Harry Zoomed the event from his Montecito mansion. Their strained relationship is far from bridging any gap between them. In their case, distance isn’t making the heart grow fonder. Instead, the chaos persists, especially with Meghan Markle picking the same day to launch her business, essentially viewed as Harry and Meghan stealing the spotlight from William.
The American Riviera Orchard Instagram page and website went live before Prince William arrived at the Diana Awards. Yet again, overtaking the British scene, the California resident couple announced the NAACP-Archewell Foundation Digital Civil Rights Award, surprising Dr. Joy Buolamwini with a $100,000 grant for her research. This virtual announcement ran a parallel course with the Prince of Wales’ award presentation at the Diana Awards. Harry only appeared at the London event via video chat hours after his brother departed.
On the flip side, nearly a week before this went down, Kensington Palace released Kate Middleton’s first official snap since her abdominal surgery in January. Though the family photo portrayed a celebratory reminder of Mother’s Day in the UK on March 10, it was also sent out as a balmy agent to soothe the initial barrage of conspiracy theories around Kate Middleton‘s alleged disappearance. However, it all backfired on the royal reputation. Heavy backlash treated Catherine, Princess of Wales, with sour repercussions, which even her quick follow-up apology statement couldn’t wash out.
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But, two days before that, Markle finally found the appropriate platform to address the hateful bullying she was subjected to years ago, resulting in her pulling the chords on her online engagement. Appearing at a 2024 SXSW panel in Austin, Texas, on March 8, she spoke about her social media break and the “bulk of bullying and abuse” she experienced online when she was pregnant with Prince Archie and Princess Lily. “And you just think about that, and you really wrap your head around why people would be so hateful. It’s not catty. It’s cruel… What I find the most disturbing, frankly, especially as a supporter of women, is how much of the hate is women completely spewing that to other women. And I cannot make sense of that,” continued Markle.
The virtual and the real world have explicit biases against each party. Ironically, one side of social media pits them against each other, spotlighting one in a heroic light and vilifying the other; the vicious cycle perpetuates itself. The roles get reversed at regular intervals. However, when viewed objectively from a distance, these discussions torment each side with the same terminology and identical expletives, except for interchanging names now and then. We can continue to see them as instrumental launching pads for each other’s rise or fall, but from a distance, only one picture emerges on top – that of a broken family.
