A few weeks ago, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex confirmed their plans to visit Australia in April, timed somewhat specifically to “miss” King Charles’s state visit to the US. In retrospect, I kind of wonder if that was the impetus, along with As Ever’s divorce from Netflix, for the ramped-up smears this week. No one is more upset about the Sussexes’ Australian trip than the left-behind Windsors, because they know it makes them look bad. Last week, NewsNation tried to hype a change.org petition which is basically screaming, crying and throwing up over the idea that Meghan and Harry could go to Australia and make public appearances and possibly get police security at some of their events. Imagine signing your name to a petition saying “I hope two celebrities are put in danger in my country.” Throughout all of the hand-wringing about the Oz trip, rumors have circulated that Meghan plans to expand As Ever to Australia within this trip. As Ever’s spox shrugged off those rumors. But look at this:
Wickless candles could be coming to Australia! Meghan Markle is going to Australia mid-April, ostensibly for a “girls’ weekend like no other” — which will only set you back $3,000 (!) — but there is another underlying reason: Her desire to sell her As Ever fruit spreads, candles and booze Down Under.
Her reps denied that Markle wants to expand to Australia, but it seems Markle has plans she may have forgotten to share with her team. In 2024, the Duchess applied for As Ever trademarks in Australia. According to the Australian Government IP department, Markle filed for the trademarks in September 2024, and they were granted last year.
Among the 12 trademarks Markle now has for As Ever are: Candles, skin care, gardening, dog treats and clothing, media — including books, audio books, online shows, TV shows and more, event planning, home decor, jewelry stationary, tote bags, furniture (other than office furniture and smart furniture), food products, youth gear and “Hospitality services in the nature of provision of food and drink.”
A rep for the couple said via email, “(The applications were) filed in 2024, which pre-dated our work on this, and therefore we were not aware. There are no other developments.”
“It’s a no-brainer for her to try and sell As Ever in Australia,” one insider said. “It’s an English-speaking country, and she has name recognition.”
Unfortunately, Markle’s name isn’t holding as much weight as it once did. As I reported last week, Prince Harry and Meghan’s popularity has plummeted in the country since their official royal visit in 2018, when Meghan ruffled feathers the wrong way.
Royal author Valentine Low, in his book “Courtiers,” claimed Meghan “failed to understand the point of all those walkabouts” and was overheard saying, upon seeing throngs of fans outside the Sydney Opera House: “What are they all doing here? It’s silly” to which staff had to explain that, actually, people turn out because they respect the monarchy.
Then there’s the now-infamous quote: “I can’t believe I’m not getting paid for this” (to shake hands and speak with people). And Aussies are still mad. Especially as no one has come out and said who will be paying for the duo’s trip — or their security, which will likely include a police escort.
The crack about “wickless candles” should tell you all you need to know here. They tried crying about the jam, they tried smearing the wine, and now people like Dan Wootton and Paula Froelich are lying about As Ever candles. Anyway, I think it’s funny that As Ever applied for and received trademarks in Australia. I doubt that’s the purpose of this particular trip, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if there was some kind of As Ever pop-up shop in Melbourne or Sydney during their trip. It would be a good way to soft-launch the brand overseas. As for that Low story that keeps being repeated – again, it was a lie cooked up by Kensington Palace years after the Sussexes’ trip because all of these people can’t stop shooting themselves in the d–k every time Harry and Meghan are successful.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, As Ever’s Instagram.
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- ** RIGHTS: ONLY UNITED STATES, CANADA ** Sydney, AUSTRALIA – Prince Harry and pregnant Meghan Markle step out in Sydney for Day One of the royal tour of Australia. Pictured: Prince Harry, Meghan Markle BACKGRID USA 16 OCTOBER 2018 BYLINE MUST READ: MTRX / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- ** RIGHTS: ONLY UNITED STATES, CANADA ** Tonga, FRENCH POYNESIA – A windswept Duchess of Sussex arrives with the Duke of Sussex in Tonga. The royal couple were met by Her Royal Highness, Princess Angelika Latufuipeka. Pictured: Duke of Sussex, Duchess of Sussex BACKGRID USA 25 OCTOBER 2018 BYLINE MUST READ: Vantagenews / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- LONDON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 21: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex cradles her bump as she visits the Hubb Community Kitchen to see how funds raised by the ‘Together: Our Community’ Cookbook are making a difference at Al Manaar, North Kensington on November 21, 2018 in London, England.
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- LONDON, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 21: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex cradles her bump as she visits the Hubb Community Kitchen to see how funds raised by the ‘Together: Our Community’ Cookbook are making a difference at Al Manaar, North Kensington on November 21, 2018 in London, England.
This makes sense, considering how people try to stalk her and sabotage her business. I would imagine that As Ever had already trademarked the name in many countries right from the start, if not worldwide, while the haters were busy registering various bootleg versions of American Riviera Orchard. Because you just know that they have been trying to get ownership of the name all over the world to sully it as much as possible.
I dont know how she does it! I might have lost my mind,God bless her and the people who surround her with love,worth and security. How its allowed to openly bully someone on an industrial level is just alarming. When will they tire and just leave Meghan alone. Its sickening!
I know – she must have balls of steel to hold her head up and carry on. I’d have been a snivelling wreck on the floor long ago. I’m sure she has a great deal of strength, warmth and love holding her in the storm.
Her brand just keeps getting better and better, and along with it, all her business endeavors. Good for her. 🍀
From a business sense it makes sense to trademark her product in whatever country she may want to expand into, whether she does or not. There’s nothing nefarious about protecting your business interests, I don’t understand why they always try to make it seem like she’s doing something odd and unheard of.
I don’t understand the question about who’s paying for the trip either. It’s not a royal tour. They aren’t going to be doing walkabouts, and state dinners, and public appearances at stadiums. Does he want to know who’s paying for their flight to get there? Their hotel? The cars that they’re going to use to go from location to location? Who’s going to pay for security at the private events that they attend, in privately owned locations?
All of those questions are fairly easily answered. And the police escort is going to happen because they are VIPs, and any clear headed person in government have their head on straight enough to realize allowing harm to come to a VIP on their own soil is stupid.
These people are pissed that they have already been robbed of their snub narrative. I also think that they’re worried about the comparison that’s going to happen with Charles’s visit to the US with Trump, versus Harry and Meghan’s trip to Australia for philanthropy and business on their own dime. They are absolutely going to do side by side, and they know who is going to come out wanting.
The hate and jealousy is astounding!! Peg and his minions are working overtime on this!!! I hope the have a very safe and productive trip!!!
I just don’t get why they still report on her and Harry. They left.
I mean Meghan has always said that she wants to sell her products internationally.
I doubt this means anything. I’m sure they tried to get trade marks in a lot of countries for As Ever.
Those gutter rats are going to learn to stop underestimating Meghan. She is a very smart woman and surrounds herself with equality smart folks. Because you cannot see behind their curtains, does not mean planning strategies are not occurring also, because her response is unlike what many expect does not mean thought has not gone into the purposeful silence. I applaud a strategic Queen.
This. I still chuckle when I think of all of the shenanigans derangers tried to pull with American Riviera Orchard, all the while Meghan was outsmarting them easily with As Ever. Complete secrecy, and it will never stop being funny.
Valentine Low was repeating what Tina Brown wrote in her book Palace Papers. I didn’t believe it then, and I don’t believe it now. Meghan is an actress; she’s been to premieres and events, so she wouldn’t have been surprised at the number of people that turned out, especially since she had been doing engagements for months before the Australia trip. But we’re supposed to believe that all of a sudden, she’s shocked at the crowd turnout, or that she’s making comments about being paid, unless it was a reference to the fact that then Prince Charles had no money in the budget for her.
The fact that Meghan had a life prior to Harry is foreign to her trolls.
Low should be embarrassed to even report such an asinine statement.
But Low knows, just as Tina Brown knows, all you have to do is put it out there and it will be repeated.
She also wouldn’t have mocked them. That is as far from Meghan’s personality as it gets. She has never been anything other than kind and welcoming to anyone who shows up at her events. Are they really going to pretend like William and Kate don’t now have to hug people and take selfies with them because of Meghan, and her inherent warmth? HA! We have eyeballs.
Then there’s the now-infamous quote: “I can’t believe I’m not getting paid for this”
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I’ve been following Meghan for years and literally never heard about this. We’re now at the point where they are hallucinating fake controversies that never even happened at the time.
It comes from the same place as the people who claimed she threw a cup of hot tea at a staffer (in full view of other people)..yankee Wally and her band of racist trolls.
The level of eagle eyed scrutiny and pocket watching of two supposedly irrelevant people who no one cares about, is absolutely astonishing.
What does it matter where they go, what they do, what they spend? It’s their earned money and they can do as they please with it. Meanwhile, the left behinds are bleeding the British citizens dry with no real return on the investment to show it.
They keep going on about the quote about being paid, but the RF regard these tours as work so she should be paid for it.
And the thing is that Kate and William DO GET PAID for the minimal amount of work they do. They are, in fact, lavishly compensated for doing f*ck-all.
Over £100,000 for each outing last year. Just over 200 outings for William and over 500 for his sick elderly father.
I wish she’d expand to Canada!
I used to get things shipped to a “ship it shop” in New York State when they wouldn’t deliver to Canada but since the orange menace I’m not crossing the US border any more unfortunately… 🙁
I’m with you.
My God, in every picture they look sparkling, hot, charismatic, important, iconic . . . I could go on. If I were William looking at those pictures, knowing how he and Keen come off (but does he really?), I’d be jealous, too. I’d be like, “You stole my thunder! You are the spare!” I get that those are the first petty and natural feelings (coming straight from the id). But Harry is William’s brother. I cannot understand wanting to hurt and even kill his own brother out of envy. A normal person would feel the feelings, but then let them go, knowing that they are unreasonable and not sane. But William cannot step back and get the big picture. He is a little man, so he only understands the little picture. There is no reflection, recoil, compassion in William. His first reaction will be his last reaction and he is simply not a rational, smart or kind man.
You speak the truth.