When the Duchess of Sussex posts photos of her children Archie and Lilibet, there’s an inevitable outrage cycle where many royalists claim that Prince Harry “hates” that Meghan posts their children’s photos and something something wHaT abOUt PRivAcY. I love how Meghan and Harry really shut out that noise – they rarely even show their kids’ faces, but they’re both incredibly proud of their children and their family. I’ve long believed that Harry is behind the camera for nearly all of the intimate family photos Meghan posts with the kids. Well, for International Women’s Day, Meghan posted this Instagram above, with the message: “For the woman she will one day be…Happy International Women’s Day.” The photo credit? “Papa Sussex.” Oh god. We’re about to get another round of “how dare Meghan use the Sussex title to monetize IWD on Instagram!!!” Jesus.
Meanwhile, this weekend, the Sussexes confirmed their plans to visit Australia next month. Meghan is already scheduled to appear on an Aussie podcast and she will likely appear at some kind of festival or something. The Australian trip confirmation came on the heels of the news about As Ever’s split with its silent partner Netflix, and there’s a lot of gossip about Meghan’s plans for an international As Ever expansion. Some people connected the two stories to suggest that the Australian trip would be part of an As Ever expansion into the Australian market. Well… GB News got an exclusive statement from Meghan’s spox:
Meghan Markle’s spokesman has rubbished reports of As Ever launching in Australia as “speculation”, adding that “no decisions have been made”.
It comes as ITV reported that the Duchess of Sussex was setting her sights on Australia as the first international market for her lifestyle brand, thereby bypassing the UK entirely.
Meghan’s spokesman exclusively told GB News: “This is speculation. No decisions have been made about when or where international expansion might take place. Entering new markets is a considered process, but it’s something the brand is excited to explore as it continues to grow in this next phase. Watch this space.”
I don’t know! I have no insider information, but given that As Ever has already sourced some wine from the Oz/New Zealand area, it doesn’t sound that crazy. It actually sounds like the natural first step towards expansion, to try it out first in Aus/NZ. Incidentally, following the confirmation of the Oz trip, I thought we’d see a 72-hour rage cycle from you-know-who. I’ve been shocked by the lack of angry briefings, but maybe we should give it a minute.
Photos courtesy of Meghan’s Instagram and As Ever’s Instagram.
Maybe KP staff have realised that all this rage briefing is just making the monarchy more unpopular. Most recent polling (outside of the YouGov emotional support poll) suggests support for the monarchy is under 50% now. Negatively briefing against family members is not an effective strategy when you sheltered a probable criminal for years and told us Netflix was the biggest threat the monarchy ever faced.
I honestly don’t think they are that smart.. the rage briefings are all Peggy does but he’s lazy so he will start his rage when the Sussex’s are actually in Australia.
That’s a beautiful photo. Ah, to have access to a beach like that whenever I want. What a peaceful life they live.
Funnily enough I have lived by the sea for most of my life and rarely went down to the beach, now, I have moved away I long to go back.
I always think about what a wonderful place their home/property must be. The photos are always so gorgeous and I just imagine so many relaxing little nooks and crannies where the kids can play or the dogs can run around or Harry and Meghan can just chill under a tree. Or Meghan bringing baskets to whichever friend is staying in the guest cottage or using her gorgeous crafting room. I’m so happy they escaped Salty Isle and are living their best lives (and are closer to Doria!).
I know they have to make money to pay for the house and security etc., but if I had been through what they went through, I’d probably gladly never leave my amazing paradise. Nevermind me, I’m just over here gardening and cooking, making things and reading. Maybe some afternoon floating in the pool before having all my friends over for dinner.
The derangers are so dim, all of a sudden they’re worried about Archie, not being in photos.
When the children are not child actors paid for appearances, or surrogate babies, because Meghan was never pregnant.
Why would Archie be in a post about International Women’s Day? We see plenty of Archie, but he’s a private citizen and a 6 year old boy who is probably becoming more independent /less likely to stay still for photos.
Don’t the derangers still believe that Archie and Lili are dolls?
Never understand the narrative that Harry must be upset about the photos, because it doesn’t make any sense since he obviously is taking a lot of them, but at some point wouldn’t he have said something? She’s been posting on Instagram for almost a year and a half now.
As for the expansion, I imagine she’s probably going to look for places where they can handle production there and nothing has to be imported. Given the cluster that is worldwide supply chain right now and probably in the near future. That’s going to take some time, and lots of business meetings which hopefully she can use this trip for. It’s amusing though that the article notes that she would be ” bypassing the UK totally”. They just can’t get over her not prioritizing them.
I think it ties in to 2 tropes that pop up when a prominent man is in a relationship with a woman: the woman is a villain, evil and must be demonized (vs the angel man) and the woman is controlling the poor helpless man (who somehow has zero autonomy, independent thought) he doesn’t approve of her actions but is helpless against her.
I was watching the recent Paul McCartney documentary, and there was video of fans outside the courthouse when he and Linda got married. A dude with a mic asked some of them why they were upset, crying and they were like “she’s awful, she made him do this, what Linda wants, Linda gets. He has no say – she says jump he jumps”. The media spread this stuff, fanned the flames, making it worse, encouraging it (Linda was – let’s see – a divorced American woman who was an ‘other’ to many people in England coming from a Jewish family which brought out some nasty anti-Semitism on top of all the other nastiness – how did SHE steal OUR special English boy). Who knows, there were probably baby bump, fake baby rumours too.
See also B Cumberbatch, T Hiddleston, One D and others. It’s bizarre how the public (unkind / unstable ones anyway) and the press latched on to these narratives.
Dee – I’ll feel bad for our UK Sussex friends, but I will laugh and laugh and laugh if she starts exporting to several other countries but not the UK (especially if the EU countries as a whole are included, lolol). I really want to see those rota rats and Leftover Royals lose their minds and tantrum about how much she hates them, it’s personal, etc.
I’m so petty.
What a lovely picture!! Yes do give it a minute for the rage briefings to begin. You just k ow that Peg will have a tantrum about it very soon.
Yep, I’d say give it a minute. Sometimes it takes them a while to figure out how to twist the pretzel.
LOL. I’m going to be borrowing that phrase.
I wish we all could be California. In the meantime, it has started pouring here in London, for the 50th time in 30 days.
I admire Meghan and Harry for choosing to live joyfully with their children in spite of all the ugliness that’s directed at them. They are incredibly strong people.
Agree! Just choosing to ignore the noise and negativity must be so exhausting but they continue to focus on their family and their lives without any apparent drama and with positivity going forward. Respect!
The rage briefings haven’t (yet) come, because the usual suspects are working overtime trying to find out where they will be going and what they will be doing in a bid to sabotage things on the ground before they get there – and possibly also while they are there (doesn’t Knauf still have contacts in Australia?). But the first aim, I think, will be to attempt to derail the trip altogether. But the rage-briefings will come, make no mistake. The leftovers now also have a full month to schedule “look at me!” events all over the UK and possibly overseas as counter-programming to whatever the Sussexes will be doing. But they won’t be able to do this effectively, even if they are able to find out and plan very similar activities.
The funny thing is that the Australia trip appears likely to take place during the UK schools’ Easter holidays, so William and Kate may end up being forced to pretend to work, or at least churn out more photo/video material during their planned extended break. 😀
Meanwhile, I agree with others that M should considering giving that problematic deranger-adjacent woman on the podcast a wide berth. If “nothing has been decided” then she could easily withdraw from that, especially if that’s where the leak of their plans came from. I mean, they collaborated with companies in the region and nothing leaked, so people related to the podcast are the likely untrustworthy suspects. It’s likely, though, that the podcast episode has already been recorded?
I guess this puts an end to the made up stories that Harry is against Meghan posting photos of their children on IG. The press will probably fein shock that Harry would actually allow Meghan to post photos. As for William,he could hardly rage about Harry and Meghan going to Australia when he refuses to go there himself.
Of course Meghan acknowledged International Women’s Day … did the left-behinds?
OK, so apparently Kate did … so that’s something.
RR and tabloids especially the Fail who publish a calendar dedicated to Kate’s children called Kate’s Cutest every year are FURIOUS because they have NO ACCESS to Diana’s strawberry blonde haired grand daughter!! Imagine the money they could have made of this photogenic family but they choose to bully them out of the UK so can only feed on scraps?!
The UK is the LAST place Meghan should launch As Ever!
Sure, it’ll disappoint UK-based fans, but it’ll annoy a much greater number of derangers if Meghan’s UK approval ratings are to be believed. Witnessing them rage, rant and suffocate with indignation and frustration will be well worth it!
I think Meghan should launch everywhere BUT the UK. Not just out of spite, it would genuinely be a business mistake to launch into an implacably hostile market where the media and its rabid followers are just waiting to sabotage the entire operation and brand it a total failure, no matter how many units get sold.
My perso fave for the first international market is CANADA! Imagine how much fun Meghan would have at the launch party in Toronto. Maybe she could make it a Suits x AsEver event?
I love these posts from the Dutchess. I think it will make world news when archi and lili’s faces are ultimately exposed. I fear for them honestly.