Duchess Meghan’s American Riviera Orchard jam made international headlines

Technically, I’m not sure we can even say that the Duchess of Sussex has “launched” American Riviera Orchard. Nothing has been sold and there’s no online shop or Kohl’s ARO line. All we’ve seen is that Meghan has an ARO Instagram and she sent out some small-batch strawberry jam to some of her friends. Jam recipients: Tracy Robbins, Delfina Balquier, and now Kelly McKee Zajfen. Zajfen is the founder of Alliance of Moms and she’s good friends with Meghan. Zajfen posted her lemons-and-jam gifts yesterday, and of course the British media is obsessively tracking all of it. The Mail has already called in every jam expert, every brand expert, every American lifestyle expert they can find. Speaking of:

Meghan Markle distributed strawberry jam to her friends as a way of highlighting her new business venture by giving them a ‘personal present’ that she likely produced herself with ingredients sourced from Montecito, a branding expert revealed today. The Duchess of Sussex sent friends a limited-edition jar ahead of the formal launch of her brand American Riviera Orchard (ARO) later this spring with a range of items.

Fashion designer Tracy Robbins and Argentine socialite Delfina Balquier posted on Instagram that they each received one of the jars, which PR expert Nick Ede said looked ‘very home made with a stylish crest and almost handwritten brand name’.

Mr Ede said the jam ‘will have most likely have been sourced in Montecito and produced by hand by Meghan herself to make them feel special and thought of.’ He claimed her strategy was ‘highlighting the brand rather than Meghan’ as she tries to get people to ‘buy into the ARO lifestyle not just her own personal brand’.

But Mr Ede added that the lack of information about Meghan’s jam and no way to buy it yet ‘could be frustrating to potential purchasers and fans who want to know more’.

Speaking about the launch today, Mr Ede told MailOnline: ‘The creation of individually numbered jars of jam sent to a selected group of influential people is exactly what I thought that Meghan would do. The whole premise of her new brand American Riviera Orchard is to highlight the quality and origin of the locally sourced ingredients and how they have been lovingly made into jam. As a way of getting the brand out there and in keeping with the home-made, straight from the home aesthetic that she has gone for it works really well.’

‘The idea that she’s only sent it to 50 people shows that the stock is limited and creates a demand too and interest. As a launch its low key but in keeping with their new softer, homely approach to their celebrity status and lifestyle.’

[From The Daily Mail]

This dude has no idea what’s happening but at least his first instinct wasn’t to scream, cry and throw up about how Meghan Is Doing Everything Wrong. He at least seems to understand that this simple act of jam-distribution is merely Meghan’s way of hyping a brand which has not actually launched yet. Considering these jam gift-baskets made it all the way to, like, CNN and the BBC, trust that Meghan knows that she’ll get wall-to-wall coverage no matter what she does.

Photos courtesy of Instar, Instagram Stories.

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97 Responses to “Duchess Meghan’s American Riviera Orchard jam made international headlines”

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  1. Jais says:

    Meghan’s jam once again will create another loaded piece of toast. The BM is losing their minds over some jam.

    • Caribbean says:

      That stated should not have made me laugh so hard…but it did!!!

      • Jais says:

        Jam is clearly the new avacado😉

      • PinkOrchid says:

        Imagine the derangement if she launched an avocado jam/chutney? Certain people’s head’s might just explode! 🤣🥑🤯

      • aftershocks says:

        ^^ LOL! Certain people’s heads have been done exploded all over the place, ad infinitum. 😱 🤯 ☠️

        The River Thames is gonna have a hard time washing away the sodden mess that is the BM, the BRF, and all ye vile salty isle haters and nonces. 🌊 🤡💩

  2. Tessa says:

    They will make lovely gifts.

    • Cessily says:

      When I order mine I want it cradled in lemons 🍋 also🫠.. such a beautiful presentation for her jam.

    • SourtoSweet says:

      So lovely 🥰 it’s giving me a peak of the brand’s ethos , personally by her , whether curated , selected or made by the brand, it’s about her. I like it. there is a through line here from pre-Harry re: Meg’s foodie passion and way of being. during the worst of the media onslaught, 2019 & 2020, the way how her friends spoke about her – one thing they all highlighted was her thoughtfulness- in defending her, which stood out to me , and this signals to me a visual example of that. It’s like she takes joy in how she presents things to people and takes time thinking about the item and how it connects with the individual. I recalled her veil with all the flowers of the commonwealth, no one told her to do that, and the banana bread she made when she was on her first royal tour – a farm community in Australia and it was community eating , so she brought a plate, her own banana cake. It seems on par for her.
      I am somewhat like that, your thoughtfulness may not be always popular with the crowd but the people it’s meant for always get it and connects to your gift.

      such a pity an entire nation’s media et. al, goes sooo hard to tear her down, never allowed her the space to find her feet and grow in her role. but she has earned my lasting respect, not that she needs it, for really keep going forward, telling her side of her truth and pivoting and keep moving forward 👏👏

      • SIde Eye says:

        Thank you SourtoSweet! I enjoyed reading this post and I love what you wrote here.

      • Kingston says:

        @SourtoSweet
        This is so beautifully stated. And captures M’s ethos so well.

        Its not easy to take the time to nurture love and friendship and thoughtfulness in today’s world where it seems everyone is in a hurry to get theirs and there isnt enough time in the day for much else. So for folks like you and M and others who take the time to be a true and thoughtful friend, its remarkable. And beautiful to see.

        This is why I’m so sure that theres no other way for H&M to go but onwards and upwards. Theres just too much positive energy, coming at them from literally all over the world, from millions of strangers, for there to be any other outcome.

        I dont believe we humans understand the power of love and its possibilities. Which is unfortunate. Ironically, we definitely know all about the danger posed by hate and anger and evil.

        H&M are 2 of the world’s best examples of the power of love.

      • aftershocks says:

        So true. But everyone who was paying attention from the very beginning without prejudice, have already known who Meghan is. Those fortunate to have seen Meg’s Tig blog, her original Instagram, all her print interviews, and the things she wrote and spoke about pre-Harry, have always understood and appreciated Meg’s special qualities: goofy, kind, caring, brilliant, classy, stylish, chic, elegant, casual cool, the bestest friend ever, and a fabulous foodie ever since her days spent on the set of Married With Children, assisting the craft services’ staff. All of this and more is why Harry was blown away from first sight, and a goner in deep love from ‘Hello.’

        For everyone obsessing, haters and recent fans alike, none of this is new. As most of us have known for quite some time, Meghan has not changed. For sure, she has evolved, adapted, and grown through adversity, but in her essence, she is the same.

        Meg reflected in the Netflix documentary that she had been somewhat lonely growing up without siblings her age. She always yearned for a large, close-knit family, a communal tribe to share the good things in life with. BTW, so did Harry. It is absolutely wonderful, but not surprising how together in Montecito Haven, H&M have created the large family circle of festive celebration, lasting love, and loyalty they never fully had in their childhoods.

        Meg once shared this mantra on her original IG: “Find your tribe Love them hard!” 🙌🏽

      • Cara says:

        Prominent black women are often harassed in comments sections of most British papers for just agreeing to a little newspaper story displaying their interior design, of course, often receiving the highest number of derogatory readers comments. There needs to be a visible running tally somewhere capturing these incidents. Derogatory stories and readers comments attacks are easy to track and display for all to see daily. The British Media seriously lacks accountability and external visible statistics, as a constant reminder and a “Right back at ya” to them.

    • Cara says:

      They make great gifts in a basket instead of wine for apartmentwarming, housewarming or hostess gifts since most people give wine when many are often cutting down on alcohol consumption.

  3. KeKe Swan says:

    Lemons. So there’s a lemon orchard involved. Cue British media sleuths sniffing over ever square inch of Santa Barbara county for an orchard that fits the bill! 🤣😂🤣

    • Lolo86lf says:

      You know the media will comb every inch of 100 miles around Meghan’s home for lemon orchards LOL.

      • Cate says:

        There are lemon trees alllll over that part of CA.

      • Erin says:

        Yes, there are citrus and avocado orchards all over Santa Barbara and Ventura County. Those locations are major producers for those two fruits in the United States. And the area looks much like the bucolic vineyards and lavender fields in southern France and Italy. It’s so lovely that people love going there for vacation. For generations, my family had orchards near Carpinteria in Ojai in a very Mediterranean setting that was like Napa: gorgeous, fragrant hills and valleys farm with massive oaks and olive trees surrounded by lemons, oranges, grapefruit, and avocados. Really idyllic and obvious to me as the inspiration for the orchard name on Meghan’s new product.

      • Agnes says:

        Erin, sounds like the California of every dream!

    • StillDouchesOfCambridge says:

      I think she went to a charity and had made a lemon and oil cake from her lemon trees. So cool. Im from up north, we canton have lemons, but we do have tons of apples

      • windyriver says:

        She did! Also donated the recipe for World Central Kitchen to use in their fundraising cookbook published last year.

    • Barb Mill says:

      I’m pretty sure Meghan has lemon trees growing on their property. The recipe for WCK cookbook was lemon oil cake.

      windyriver didn’t see your post before I posted.

  4. Coasts says:

    The jam jar is lovely. I’d be very happy to taste the jam. Can we also take a moment for those lemons? In the best possible way, those are some real California lemons: beautiful and huge!

  5. bisynaptic says:

    “Homely” doesn’t mean what you think it means.

  6. Lolo86lf says:

    The jam looks delicious. I may buy some when it’s available for purchase.

  7. Nanea says:

    It’s been trending even here in Germany – and not just in the biased, distorted “For You” column – because many of the gossip rags just copy and paste the Fail and other misogynoir *think pieces*, after translating, of course. Spelling mistakes of surnames included.

    It was too funny to watch the Derangers become PR experts all of a sudden, even calling Delfina and Tracy B-list influencers.
    🙄

    One of the haters (the blonde who got a selfie with Kate *quite by chance* a while back) took it upon herself to post something how Meghan is doing it all wrong, that she should have made lemon curd with Archie’s eggs instead of strawberry jam.
    🙄🙄

    As if we haven’t seen M feed Lili a freshly picked 🍓 from a patch somewhere on the property.

    If the Delulus keep this up, ARO won’t need to pay for ads.

    • Julia says:

      These trolls are so unintelligent but think they are smart. Why do they think Meghan is just selling one jam? I’m sure when ARO officially launches there will be a variety of products. She is just sending her friends a gift as a little taster of what is to come.

      • aftershocks says:

        Yes @Julia. 😊 While I love homemade jam, strawberry jam has never been my fave. I am more into raspberry, orange ginger, apricot, peach, and raspberry pomegranate. One Squaddie has touted the French ‘Bonne Maman’ brand. My personal fave, at the moment is, ‘St. Dalfours,’ also a brand made in France.

        Still, since it’s Meghan’s American Riviera Orchard, I will definitely try her strawberry jam, if indeed, it will be made widely available and not become so uber-exclusive and in such high demand that it constantly sells out. Sigh…

      • BeanieBean says:

        @aftershocks: those are my favorite brands as well! I buy St. Dalfours if available in my area, Bonne Maman otherwise (I move a lot & live & work in tiny little places sometimes).

    • Surly Gale says:

      I remember that @Nanea! I didn’t want to engage, cause ‘troll’ but when they went off saying strawberries aren’t even in season, it occurred to me (and I really wanted to, but refrained cause I will NOT feed the trolls) but …. jam keeps, does it not? She could have made the jam, stored it in her pantry and then when the labels, jars, whatevers were ready, she sent her friends gifts of the jam she made, with her brand new branding. That person’s thought about lemon curd etc…well, how does she know M is NOT doing just that? She doesn’t. In her anger and frustration and “I know better than M does” fantasies, she may have just uncovered part of M’s plan by accident. Who knows? Only M and her team!! LOL all day long!

    • Lorelei says:

      I’m sorry but the lemon curd comment is so stupid that it’s actually funny. That was supposed to be a “comeback” to the jam? What an idiot.

      • Becks1 says:

        I”m laughing at it because……maybe Meghan is going to have lemon curd AND raspberry jam!!!!! She might have more than two products in some crazy plan to turn a profit!!

      • WiththeAmerican says:

        I was mortified by that nasty tr0ll because I’d written on here that I was hoping for raspberry jam and lemon curd one day.

        Then along came this troll to suggest she knows better than the woman who not only already had a successful lifestyle blog before, but whose unannounced business has been trending for days.

        Leave the lemon curd to decent people, lady troll who has never even been to Montecito.

  8. MsIam says:

    Ever since Anna Pasternak put the media (and palace) on blast for deliberately smearing the Sussexes, they’ve been putting these semi positive positive articles out. But don’t worry, I’m sure the articles about strawberry jam killing the planet or starting WWIII are coming. The agenda to destroy Meghan still hasn’t changed. We see you Daily Fail and Unroyal mafia, we see you.

    • Brit says:

      Theyre being nice because they can no longer pretend that William and Kate are gods gift to the monarchy and the rest are retirement home boring. The tabloids are losing money and the rota are forced to go on YouTube to make money. These papers and cabal of experts and reporters care about money at the end of the day. I’m sure many behind the scenes are horrified because their industry is going down the drain and that’s all because one couple stood up for themselves and said no. They’ll never recover from that.

    • Fifty-50 says:

      I’m not entirely sure. It’s one thing to spread lies about an individual – entirely different matter to spread falsehoods about a commercial product sold by a company. ARO is part of Meghan’s brand, yes, but first and foremost it’s a company, governed by commercial and corporate law, which is a completely different beast. I think the BM will find they need to walk a fine line here.

      • Saucy&Sassy says:

        Fifty-50, yes, Interference With Business Expectancy being one of the things they should keep in mind. You don’t mess with the business.

    • Becks1 says:

      I think in general as H&M move into this next phase of their lives the British media is going to lose steam and credibility if they continue to constantly bash the Sussexes.

      When the Sussexes were telling their side of the story (in terms of why they left the royal family, etc), I think it was easy for the British press to maintain control of the narrative in terms of press coverage, to a large extent (but not entirely), because they could always revert to “how its done here in the UK is…..” or “what Meghan never understood about England is…..” or “you’re American, you don’t understand” or whatever. And a lot of US talk shows and the like let that go fairly unchecked.

      It didn’t work 100% of the time, but it was somewhat effective, which is why we saw some of those horrible RRs on American TV, because there was a sense that they could “explain” the royal family and how it worked and what Harry and Meghan “really” went through to the general American audience. And yes I know that H&M told us themselves what they went through, I’m talking about the pushback and defense against their claims.

      But now…..Americans understand capitalism. We understand branding. We understand successful business ventures. We don’t need Angela Levin or Richard Eden or Richard Kay or whoever to explain to us what Meghan is doing here, or why Harry has cameras at the polo event, or why Meghan isn’t shooting her cooking show in her own kitchen.

      So that’s going to naturally turn down the hate machine a few dials, at least at first. Victoria Arbiter or Camilla Tominey or whoever isn’t going to be able to go on GMA and blast Meghan for……sending jams to her friends…..because everyone on GMA or Today or whatever is going to be like “yeah so and so sent me X when they launched their line, I thought it was lovely” or whatever.

      The RRs were given a lot of international rope (and still are) when it came/comes to discussing the royal family itself (too much rope), but why does GMA need tominey to explain jams? It doesn’t.

      And with social media pointing out the constant hypocrisy – I think a lot of these RRs are going to have to pivot from total Sussex hate, if only a tiny bit, if they want any kind of American attention.

      And they do want that American press attention.

      Anyway that’s my current theory. I’m not saying that Eden is going to turn into a Sussex fan over night, because he’s absolutely not. But I think the Sussex hate machine that the British press was so hopeful would gain steam in the US has petered out pretty much before it began and we’re just watching a gorgeous happy couple make money and we’re fine with that as a country.

      ETA oh god sorry that is so long, LOLOL. I started typing and just kept going.

      • booboocita says:

        Long, but spot-on. Thank you for posting!

        And yes, Americans DO understand branding, and marketing, and small business building, and entrepreneurship. We teach those subjects in our universities and business schools. Those vile critters — Palmer, Fitzsimmons, Levin (ugh, Angela Levin), Tominey — don’t know and never will.

      • Interested Gawker says:

        I think that’s true. The rictus grip the BM still maintain over South Park being proof H&M are a laughing stock in the States is also proof that the Rota are out of their depth. H and M are present and important players in higher levels of American business and entertainment than the Rota even understand. The BM hate machine will start to annoy the sort of head muckety muck executives who may have not a lot of name recognition for the general public but exercise a great deal of clout. That sort of person doesn’t want their business derailed by foolishness.

      • Lorelei says:

        @Becks these are all such great points

  9. Amy Bee says:

    The guy got one thing right, the jam is a marketing ploy. Meghan and her team knew that the British press (which was already crying about Meghan making jam) would talk about these gifts to her friends thus promoting the brand. This is a stroke of genius.

    • ML says:

      Exactly! And her strategy of letting them write articles is essentially saving her on advertising. ☺️

      • aftershocks says:

        I don’t think this is a ‘strategy’ by Meghan. H&M and their staff simply realize they don’t need to do a lot of promotion. They are written about 24/7, so the attention is always focused on them. How H&M have responded is to say if you are focused on us, then take a look at the truth of what we do, and the important projects and people we are interested in. Plus, H&M have always utilized social media, via their friends and their charities, to highlight their humanitarian collaborations and their personal projects. While this latest venture by Meg is new (albeit simply an amalgamation of who she’s always been), their way of pushing forward with their projects and ideas, is not new.

      • aftershocks says:

        @ML, H&M are not “letting them write articles.” The Sussexes can’t control how much they are written about. Thus, they place their attention on aspects of their lives and endeavors which they can control and exert impact over.

        When H&M left salty isle (for those who have forgotten or missed), H&M listed the British tabloid publications they would never respond to or work with again. The only one left off of their ignore list was The Telegraph, simply because Harry’s good friend, Byrony Gordon, is a reporter there.

        Any media strategizing H&M and their advisors are doing, probably involves planning how to block and limit media trolls, delusional rota liars, and bloodthirsty paps.

    • Couch Potato says:

      Yes! The saying “when faith hands you a lemon, make lemonade” is spot on for Meghan’s situation. I hope she’s able to block out the negativity and live happily.

      • Jks says:

        @COUCH POTATO, the leftover royals sure looks like they have been sucking on them lemons. None of them have upper lips!

  10. Emma says:

    You know you that bitch when you cause all this conversation.

    Always stay gracious, best revenge is your paper.

    • booboocita says:

      YES!!! Perfect!

    • aftershocks says:

      Meg been knowing this for awhile. Some people are just beginning to realize, many of them kicking and screaming, with their heads exploding. LOL! 🤣 😂 🫣 🤑

  11. Just Jade says:

    I can not wait to have some ARO products around my house.

  12. Brit says:

    The British press are pissed because they’re not in the loop and I saw a few people this morning on tv and print complaining about not getting one. Some dude on an Australian morning show literally brought out a store bought jam and said it was ARO. They’re angry because they have no access and because they know it’ll be successful and another stream of income for a couple that is richer than most people think.

    • Fifty-50 says:

      That Australian dude better start clearing things with his lawyers. ARO and its brand are registered trademarks, its products are protected by commercial law. Imagine the same guy claiming that they had the latest brand of a new Coca-Cola product and gave a review trashing it, but they had actually swapped out the label of grocery brand seltzer water. Cease-and-desist letters are the tip of the iceberg.

      • aftershocks says:

        Wow! Many of these creeps who have enjoyed jealously hating on Meghan in print and on-air, over these many years, are clearly obsessed with her and pining after having a ‘piece’ of her in anyway they can, even if fraudulent and fictional. 🙄🤦‍♀️

  13. Kokiri says:

    I make homemade jams, it’s quite simple & a lovely gift. Fruit, sugar, lemon juice, is all you need, & patience. Buy fruit in summer if you can’t grow, freeze for fresh jam all winter. You don’t need pectin, the seeds do the work.
    Any fruit: grapes, oranges, any berries.Or buy off the discount food racks, if you have them where you live. Also chutney is simple to make.
    Because I make it I’d never buy her jams, but I’d sure buy those lemons.
    Those lemons are glorious.

    • Finny says:

      Same here. I just picked 22 lbs. of strawberries from the patch that we have close by. They are delicious and I ate close to 1 lbs. on my way home. I made jam all day yesterday. This time I added some lovely red wine to the jam and it tastes great. Last year I made some with rhubarb and added other berries and also herbs. This year I went with straight strawberry jam. I also cut the strawberries up and macerated them with sugar and lemon juice for several hours before cooking the jam. The juice was reduced and is waiting now for some vanilla ice cream. 🙂

      • kelleybelle says:

        Yum!

      • Lorelei says:

        @Finny your comment made me so hungry 😭

      • PotatoPuff says:

        OMG that sounds DIVINE! Jam party at your place!

      • aftershocks says:

        😯😋 Yum @Finny! Lucky you! Because I think many of us pining after Meg’s ARO jams may have an extended long wait on back order. Or, ARO products may sell out so fast that a limited seasonal inventory won’t be able to fulfill back orders. Perhaps ARO won’t ship overseas at the start. That may help ease some of the clamoring for anything and everything ARO, when the actual launch begins.

      • BeanieBean says:

        @Finny: you’re going to have folks showing up to your front door!

    • Eden75 says:

      Those lemons are beautiful!

      I make small batches of my own jam as well. I keep frozen berries all year round to pull and make whatever I feel like having. Sometimes I cheat if I am having a craving and use the pressure cooker to make some a bit quicker.

  14. Schrodinger's Kate says:

    Wow that’s even more elegant than I am capable of imagining! I don’t know if we peasants would be able to order a gift presentation of jam like that for each other, but if we could, I would never again be at a loss on what to gift some people in my life.

    I wonder if Meghan herself designed every aspect of these gift “baskets”. ARO has managed to capture the essence of California in a gift parcel.

    I can’t wait to see ARO’s entire lineup.

    • aftershocks says:

      ^^ Of course, Meghan designed everything, even if she had help preparing the 50 limited basket arrangements.

  15. Lau says:

    The DM did pulled a marmelade expert out of nowhere to say that Meghan’s jam was terrible … without having being able to sample it.

  16. Ameerah M says:

    These were pretty standard PR packages. She sent them small-batch and numbered because that’s how you keep track and it will tell you if someone sold/gave away, etc their basket. It’s what Marvel actually does with their scripts. They number them and so if one goes missing you know exactly who it belonged to. Beauty brands also do this for anticipated releases

  17. Chelsea says:

    The international coverage from this is so insane considering: 1) the site is still blank and Meghan has yet to make a statement about what the brand is selling or when it is launching or even confirming that it’s her and 2) none of the people who posted thus jam are extremely famous. Like Tracy and Delfina are fabulous and wealthy and do have a decent amount of social media followers but the way the press is acting you’d think she gave jam to Beyonce or something. It’s a testament to how crazy the demand for any info on Meghan is because there are very few celebrities I can see getting this much attention for something like this.

    • aftershocks says:

      ^^ I’m sure Beyonce was one of the 50 recipients, along with Serena, Oprah, Tyler, Markus, Elton, Lindsay, Daniel, Abigail, Misha, Benita Litt, and so on and so on… Meg’s close family members, trusted friends, and business partners.

      The haters right along with adoring fans all over the world, have made Meghan famous.

  18. Honey says:

    I think that the PR expert, Mr. Ede, was quite flattering in his description of the products and Meghan. The marketing strategy is high-end homemade with an aura of mystery. If I were Meghan, this is the exact type of pre-launch coverage I would appreciate.

    • WeJammin says:

      Re: Honey,
      Yes I agree with you. Good on him for staying true to his expertise roots and not slant his analysis to fit the modus operandi of the outlet. & I will even extend a positive affirmation to the outlet for publishing the piece, giving their usual coverage. I still won’t ever visit their website again, haven’t since 2019 but based on this excerpt here, it’s positive! So good on all.

      A good way to continue this positive approach would be to leverage the interest into also featuring other Royal condiments products – say “while we wait for our sample or for the full product launch of Duchess Meghan’s America Riviera Orchard those images have gotten us in the mood for Jam. We did a poll around the office and here’s our team’s faves – whether splurging on xxx from Duchy at Waitrose or yyy at Highgrove gift shop or delighting in these affordable artisinal brands” and just the rising tide rise all boats, while letting some small businesses benefit.

      The Palm Beach Post did a great companion article to their coverage of this past polo weekend that highlighted when other royals Charles, Diana and previous Harry visit as well as reminding about QE2 visit to other part of Florida. Very nice article that highlighted a local connection while being overall positive to all. The type of lifestyle piece you expect from the Rota as it’s their beat- no thrashing of others just using the spotlight to spread some of the feel goodness to the King to remind him of his fun days ( I think) and if they do more articles like this I am sure that approach would help reduce jealousies and resentment over who gets coverage and who doesn’t for more harmonious energy. Rising Tide can Rise All Boats. That’s what lifestyle journalism does.

      • aftershocks says:

        I believe Mr. Ede knew and worked briefly with Meghan, pre-Harry. His commentary has generally always been positive toward Meghan. One thing I have noticed that he gets wrong here, however, is the emphasis on H&M’s supposed ‘celebrity’ intentions. From all evidence, H&M, as a couple, have never been focused on any ‘celebrity’ ambitions. There’s no need for them to focus on that. They have always been intent on building a close-knit circle of family & friends, and creating a foundation that will have a lasting legacy of giving to those in need.

        H&M’s ‘celebrity’ is simply an inevitable part of the lifestyle process that comes with the territory of being who they already are.

  19. kelleybelle says:

    “Almost handwritten” … it IS Meghan’s handwriting. I love the labels she designed!

  20. Mary Pester says:

    Yeah their all getting their knickers in a (lemon) twist 🍋😂
    I had to laugh because I had a real one two with a deranger this morning. She said it was terrible. I pointed out she hadn’t tasted it. She said Megan was only sending it to influencers. Told her to fact check the people who had received it as gifts. That they weren’t “influencers”, just very intelligent, successful business women.
    She then told me I was a liar as she HAD tasted Megan’s jam, because they sell it in waitrose and actually posted a picture of “DUTCHY ORIGINAL MARMALADE”. Took me a while to reply as I was laughing so much. I replied quite sweetly, “listen love, that was Charlie’s jam, not Megan’s, now it’s Billy’s jam and still not Megan’s. Megan is A DUCHESS”, not a DUTCHY 😂😂😂😂 then she blocked me 😂😂

    • QuiteContrary says:

      Haha, you’re doing the Lord’s work, Mary Pester. What a hoot!

    • Laura D says:

      “Then she blocked me” 😆 😆 😆

      @Mary Pester – That post should have come with some sort of warning. I honestly, choked on my coffee when I read that line! 😆 I wonder if she’s blocked you because she realised she’s inadvertently warned people not to buy William’s jam? 😆

    • Interested Gawker says:

      😂😂😂

    • PotatoPuff says:

      Mary Pester, you win today’s gold medal, I am literally loling

    • Jks says:

      🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

  21. Over it says:

    It would be a fun game to try to guess who of Meghan’s friends will receive a bottle of the jam . It looks so pretty and I don’t even like jam but i would buy one just to support her because she has been through hell and back and for that . I want to do anything I can to help contribute to the security of her and her family

    • aftershocks says:

      Umm, if you don’t like jam, don’t worry. There is already an obvious frenzy to buy, buy, buy everything ARO. If there’s a limited seasonal inventory of ARO jam, judging by the clamoring interest, Meghan will be selling out of every flavor and every product in the blink of an eye, even if she doesn’t ship overseas at the start.

      BTW, the guessing game on who received the first limited edition jams, already started and has been in full swing on Twitter X!

  22. rosa mwemaid says:

    The British press have been advertising it like mad. “There’s no such thing as bad publicity.”

  23. Mia says:

    Doesn’t Charles’ Duchy sell jams and other food items made from his various estates? I think HM are still trying to be very discerning about what types of things they do and don’t do, and keeping within certain perimeters. Imagine what they could’ve done with the Duchy. I still can’t get over what a dumb loss losing them is for the royal family.

  24. AC says:

    Those people need to get out of their Medieval Ways of thinking and learn from M. This is what Success looks like in the 21st century. That country is expected to grow (economic wise) even less than last year -and they’re worrying about jams made in the USA😆

    • rosa mwemaid says:

      The readers are putting it down in the daily wail, but they are taking notice. Of course the more comments that are made the more advertising the wail will give it. The Jam that will bring down the monarchy according to some headlines unlike Duchy original sausages.