One of our biggest stories last week was about Tom Sykes, The Daily Beast’s Royalist, ranting about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Montecito kitchen. His comments came via his podcast, and he claimed that Prince Harry and Meghan’s rustic Italian kitchen was a “laughingstock” in Montecito because it looked like an “Olive Garden.” Sykes also claimed that all of Montecito thinks the Sussexes are broke-ass because they never ripped out or remodeled the kitchen specifically. Yesterday, Meghan posted some videos and a photo from her kitchen – I even pointed out (jokingly) that this was the alleged “laughingstock kitchen.” Well, guess who rage-typed a five-page diatribe about Meghan’s kitchen? Here’s some of Tom Sykes’ latest Royalist Substack, “Eight Years On, Meghan’s Taco Bell Kitchen Is the Symbol of Project Sussex’s Failure.” Why is Taco Bell in it??
Yesterday was Harry and Meghan’s eighth wedding anniversary, and to mark the occasion Meghan did what Meghan does: she posted to Instagram.
Loads of previously unseen photographs from the wedding day, beautiful images by photographer Chris Allerton, set to Paula Abdul’s Forever Your Girl. The grand dress sweeping across the floor of St George’s Chapel, Harry gazing at her veil, the serious black-and-whites, the joyful colors. Lovely, even if she couldn’t show us a picture of a royal family member for the obvious reason that she said on TV that they are racists who didn’t care that she wanted to kill herself.
But she also posted something else. New stills and video from inside the house — Harry blowing out a lemon and elderflower cake (a nod to their wedding cake, but one which raises the immediate question: who made it? Meghan has told us, on her own show, that she doesn’t bake. Is this a freebie? A brand deal? If you’re Meghan Markle, lifestyle influencer, surely the whole point is that you made the cake yourself?), an ornamental statue of two penguins nestling together (a gift from Harry which might have been better kept private, but instead we got the whole backstory, some guff about them dressing up as penguins at a party), and the children audible off-camera.
A lot of the new content (yes, that is what it is) was shot in the kitchen. Oh, that kitchen. Orange-brown wood cabinets. Copper pots hanging from the ceiling. An interior that looks like it was last touched in 2003 and specifically like it was designed by someone who thought the Olive Garden was aspirational.
In Montecito — where billionaires routinely knock houses down the moment they buy them and start again from the footprint, where the baseline expectation is that if any aspect of the house doesn’t perfectly suit you, you remodel it— that kitchen is a potent symbol of where things now stand for this couple.
A source who lives in the area told me recently that the Sussex house is a laughing stock in Montecito social circles. In a town where conspicuous renovation is a hobby for rich wives, the fact that they haven’t remodeled EVEN THE KITCHEN of a house that I suspect was last decorated when bought in 2009 by former owner, the Russian fraudster Sergey Grichin (who died in suspicious circumstances in 2023) is a significant tell.
The virtual tour of their embarrassing kitchen is a visual explainer to what a catastrophic mess Project Sussex has become. At the end of last year, they fired the bulk of their staff, shuttered their charity, and pared down their production company to a staff of two (Hollywood people tell me it is now what is dismissively referred to in the town as a “label”, it means the company primarily exists to attach its branding to other projects). Time for a rebrand!
In an ill-advised attempt to make money, the Sussexes went to Australia where Meghan literally sold selfies of herself for money. It was a disaster. The polling was brutal. The line from Team Sussex was that you had to be there, it was different in the room. Website traffic in Australia says otherwise; traffic actually went DOWN while they were there according to Jack Royston’s analysis of Similarweb data.
Time for a rebrand! So off Meghan goes to Geneva to play Serious Meghan at the World Health Organization, with a speech about children and social media, and a photo-op with Dr Tedros. Except Geneva was ignored. And being ignored is a worse fate than being criticized. Criticism means you still matter. Matt Wilkinson from the Sun, Rebecca English from the Mail, Victoria Ward from the Telegraph, Kate Mansey from the Times, the people who actually set the global royal narrative, didn’t go.
…What Meghan would obviously love to be showcasing right now (wouldn’t we all) is a spectacular new renovation; clean lines, bespoke cabinetry, the kind of kitchen that makes people stop scrolling. The kind of kitchen, indeed, that she chose for With Love, Meghan, which at least looked like someone had made a decision about how it should look. Instead we’re getting the original fittings, the copper pots, the whole dreary inheritance of whoever owned the house before them. The wider point is that the whole Meghan and Harry brand is in a state of total chaos, a scattergun, no-one-is-steering-this chaos.
As I said last week, I cannot even imagine being full of such bitch-eating-crackers bile for a KITCHEN. Like, Laura Dern is my nemesis but I would never rant about her OR her kitchen for weeks on end. Think of how desperate these people are to grasp onto any lie, any bitchy comment, all to “prove” that Meghan is “failing.” And throughout it all, it’s beyond clear that it would never occur to Sykes that Meghan hasn’t renovated her kitchen because she likes it? She’s not hiding it – she regularly posts photos from her kitchen and she regularly uses her kitchen for her As Ever photoshoots too. She genuinely likes all of that warm wood and the blue-and-white tile work and her expensive, good-condition stove. This too is a marker of class – many real elites would think it’s very gauche, wasteful and nouveau-riche to rip out a perfectly good kitchen which fits the aesthetic of a home. That is the kind of thing Kate Middleton has done multiple times.
Photos courtesy of Meghan’s Instagram and As Ever’s Instagram.
Seriously, what is WRONG with this guy? Apart from the obvious racism, sexism and classism of all his comments, this dude really needs to get some help for his obsession….
He needs a literal wellness check. He’s fcuking INSANE. And for someone he claims isn’t important, he sure does spend a LOT of time talking about Meghan. He’s cuckoo bananas.
And this part: “she said on TV that they are racists who didn’t care that she wanted to kill herself.”
…Where is the lie??
The rota rats are so sad and confused that the Leftover Royals aren’t even a blip on HRH Duchess Meghan’s mind. It’s hilarious. They are all standing in a corner shouting, pay attention to me! And Meghan is like, I don’t know her. Shrug.
Imagine waking up every morning to talk about someone’s kitchen as if it’s ground breaking news, just to put food on your table? Life must suck for him.
he’s absolutely gone around the bend. and to me this is different from maybe say Richard eden or Ingrid Seward or Angela Levin – they’ve always been crazy anti-Sussex people.
Tom has been anti-Sussex too, but his rantings over the past few months seem to have a different feel to them. Like the lack of reaction from the Sussexes is just driving him more and more insane.
He’s literally frothing at the mouth about a KITCHEN in a millionaire’s home.
Not that Meghan cares what I think, but I love that kitchen. and she clearly does too. The kitchen for WLM was different bc it was used as a set. It was a beautiful kitchen but I like hers better.
And what’s with the random comments about the cake? Its obviously from a bakery. If it was a brand deal it was a bad one bc they didnt say where it was from. and they wont, bc then Tom sykes will start stalking that bakery.
And nothing is wrong with not knowing how to bake – you dont have to bake to be good at cooking or anything else. (I can’t bake lmao but I love to cook!)
Anyway this whole thing is just so….unhinged. as @SussexWatcher said….it sounds like he needs a wellness check.
It isn’t even about knowing how to bake. The cake was part of Harry’s anniversary gift to Meghan. Why would she bake her own gift? Sykes is behaving like those unhinged dudes who’ve been rejected on dating sites.
The, “she didn’t make the cake” part is even more unhinged than the kitchen remodel stuff. Lawyers hire other lawyers to represent them, professional chefs go out to eat, hairdressers let other people do their hair, people don’t have to do everything for themselves within their area of expertise.
And, as @Eurydice pointed out it was Harry’s gift to her. What a nice gift from your husband, Here bake this cake, and after you do that why don’t you put together this entertainment center, and mount this new TV I bought you LOL.
@Becks1 … I hate it when they lie.
Millions of people around the world watched Meghan bake a naked cake with fruit during the very first episode of ‘With Love, Meghan’. And she seems to love baking cookies
I thought the ‘I don’t bake’ thing was about baking bread .
@Yvette lol I dont even remember!! (I do think baking bread and baking cookies are very different. Basically my impression of baking is based on what I can do, and I can bake cookies haha.) I’m just going off his own words here. Meghan not baking the cake isn’t the gotcha he thinks it is.
I adore her kitchen – it’s warm and welcoming and perfect. There is no reason to spend millions of dollars redoing a perfectly gorgeous kitchen that she obviously loves and that suits the house.
Sykes is certifiable.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Harry didn’t order that cake from their wedding cake maker, Claire Ptak. They seem to have that cake every anniversary.
And like his equally stalkerish peers, Sykes just continues to lie about things which can easily be disproved. Meghan never said she couldn’t bake. She was actually baking a cake on WLM, as though she had been doing it all her life, while saying that it was not her favourite thing to do, but that she would do it if she needed to. She actually submitted HER recipe for a lemon olive oil cake to the Hubb Community Kitchen cookbook! 😀 She clearly bakes. And I get the impression that she does it at least once a week now since having children. But how many women would prefer to bake their own anniversary cake instead of receiving one as a gift?
Thanks Magdalena that’s one of the many lies he said in his rant. Meghan never said that she can’t bake, she said of the two (cooking and baking) she’s more of a cook and that she’s better at it than baking. As others have mentioned, she baked the lemon cake and made cookies during the first season of WLM and she also baked a cake for Archie’s first birthday during the pandemic. I bake on occasion, especially as a mother for birthdays and school functions, but I would consider myself to be a cook more than a baker. I feel more confident cooking than baking. Everyone has their preferences and Meghan is no different. Context and comprehension for TS and the rest of the Rota haters isn’t their strong suit.
He’s off the wagon. No joke. I would never laugh about something as important as sobriety, he’s not ok . I doubt he’s sober. And or, a major mental health crisis.
Honestly, this could explain it. This and his need to generate income by spewing hate. But like I said he’s always hated the Sussexes, its just ramped up the last few months in an uncomfortable way (well I’d feel uncomfortable about it if I were the Sussexes) and that could explain the ramp up.
It’s all they have and that’s to rant about a kitchen or a red dress or colored nail polish! They will spin anything to get people to not like her. This is what you do to someone you can’t control you try to get others to hate her!
Indeed. Btw, when did their charity ‘shutter’, lol? The Sussexes were able to slim down staffing levels AND expand by moving to a fiscal sponsorship operating model last November. This means that another, specialist, non-profit looks after the finance and admin. The Archewell Foundation changed name to Archewell Philanthropies, which partnered with the WHO in Geneva. Psycho Sykes is once more living up to this name.
*sigh* I had a point by point rebuttal of everything this idiot says in the article, and then I thought “why bother wasting my time?” Those who like Meghan know what’s what.
While her kitchen isn’t my taste personally, I can appreciate it – it looks homey and inviting and lived-in. I think it’s pretty green that they haven’t ripped it out and replaced it. Just because you have the money to do it doesn’t mean you should.
Amanda Matta referred to Sykes and Co as ‘loser behavior’ in a video earlier this week.
Right? It’s a kitchen that’s clearly used and functional, not a showpiece used solely for photographs.
Sykes is a troll. A rebuttal just gives him more engagement. He’s fighting for survival and the only ammo he has is telling lies about Meghan. Best to let him expire out in the wilderness.
“See them tumbling down.
Pledging their love to the ground.
Lonely, but free I’ll be found.
Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds.”
Baking Cred (proof not needed, just a reminder there are some good recipes out there on Netflix WLM S1 and S2; also she baked Archie’s birthday with Harry on H&M docuseries) https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/with-love-meghan-season-1-recipes-crafts#Ep1:
WLM S1:E1 – Baked Honey Lemon Layer Cake with Raspberry for Daniel Martin.
WLM S1:E3 – Baked buttermilk donuts for Roy Choi.
WLM S1:E4 – Baked focaccia with Delfina Figueras, (and pre-baked dog treats).
WLM S1:E6 – Baked plantain chips for Chef Ramon Velasquez.
WLM S2: E2 – Pre-baked sourdough (homemade starter) for Chrissy Teigen.
WLM S2: E3 – Baked apple hand pies with Tan France.
WLM S2:E6 – Parker House Rolls with Clare Smyth.
WLM S2:E7 – Thumbprint Cookies (Baked) for Heather Dorak’s family.
I like to entertain and the kitchen is where most of friends and family end up hanging out. The Montecito style isn’t my personal favorite but I like how spacious it is. Even if Martha Stewart came out and said she doesn’t like it, why not let that be her opinion and move on? Sykes is just baiting Meghan fans and at this point, the best thing to do is ignore him.
Its definitely not my taste either but nor is the Spanish house style if that’s it. Im not a fan of timber for days. However lots white and shaker isn’t either. So what? They can afford a 150k kitchen reno if she wanted one. That’s loose change.
I would love to have Meghan’s kitchen. Having been raised by my Italian grandmother, a kitchen, for me, represents love, nurturing food and family. That’s the vibe I get from Meghan in her kitchen.
I find Sykes’ comment about Taco Bell to be another ethnic slur.
Same, 100%, about the Taco Bell reference.
If I was offered a kitchen like that with that huge range, the ovens, the bench space and the large windows, I would happily say yes to it.
Yup. “Mexicans”.
@punky – agree – the Taco Bell comment is both racist and classist…
Yes, the Taco Bell comment is racist as he’ll. But it probably plays well with the Sussex haters because they’re all racist themselves.
This shits weird, man. That’s all I got.
That guy is a weird hater, that kitchen is gorgeous!!
Something is deeply wrong with that poor excuse of a man. What a load of tosh.
Hanging saucepans from the ceiling is better than stacking one inside another as I have to do, not enough room. I would love a kitchen like that. Sykes is the failure, writing silly stories like this.
Her kitchen fits the home – and yes it would be incredibly gauche and nouveau-riche to rip out a beautiful and fully functional kitchen to make it all white and bland and basic. Meghan stated in her The Cut interview that this was basically their dream home – so why would she start changing the things they love about it? Skykes needs meds. He is unwell.
@Ameerah M There’s something to be said for finding your dream home and not having to make extensive changes because you love it just the way it is. When we were house hunting, we viewed a lot of homes, but we fell in love with the one we ended up buying as soon as we walked in the door. The original owners had furniture almost identical to ours so it was really easy to envision ourselves living there. I didn’t need to rip anything out because it was just the way we liked it.
Some people, like Sykes, just can’t figure out how to be happy and not find problems where they don’t exist.
Here’s the thing, if she had remodeled the kitchen when they moved in (or at any point), he’d have been shrieking nonstop about how wasteful and tacky she was for ripping out a perfectly good kitchen that fit the house’s esthetics.
I still have the pictures from the original home listing of the estate. It doesn’t look like they changed much. Just a fresh coat of paint and their own furniture.
I can totally see Harry being frugal and not changing anything if it’s still working.
A woman who happily wore a penguin onesie isn’t going to care what Sykes (or anyone else) thinks about her kitchen. Meghan does what she wants.
“where the baseline expectation is that if any aspect of the house doesn’t perfectly suit you, you remodel it— ” since she hasn’t remodeled it, it would stand to reason then that it does suit her, and she doesn’t care if outside people who didn’t pay for her house don’t like it?
Seriously though, this guy is unhinged. Why do you care so much? No really. Why do you care? You’re upset about how she’s spending her money, earning her money, how popular she is? Why? You don’t have to pay for anything.
You didn’t pay for her flights to Australia, you didn’t pay for them to stay in the hotel, you didn’t pay for any of her clothes, you don’t pay for their security, you don’t pay for their house in Montecito.
Why is whether or not ” Project Sussex” a success or failure important to you? Is it because you aren’t successful, and are projecting?
He seems to think that the Sussexes will suddenly decide to feature their home in a magazine of sorts and “explain” the decorating choices they made, for the benefit of people like him, in reaction to this manufactured, unhinged criticism. He’s acting dangerously obsessive, as though THEY have reduced him to this pitiful, desperate state of reduced earnings.
What’s especially absurd about this is that Meghan and Harry likely chose this house specifically for the level of privacy it afforded and the beauty of the property/location itself. Whether or not the actual house fits their tastes exactly (my personal theory is that it’s not really Meghan’s cozy modern minimalist vibe, but she still loves it, and that Harry thinks it’s perfect and would be happy anywhere after living in the darkest corners of incredibly dreary palaces for most of his life) what were they supposed to do? Raze it and spend like 3+ years rebuilding while they bring up their kids in a rental that wouldn’t have the same level of security and privacy? The fixation on the kitchen is bizarre. It would be beyond dumb (and wasteful) to rip out this kitchen and reno it with “clean lines” – it wouldn’t fit the rest of the house at all. Not to mention that the last time a deranger made cracks about the kitchen, all the commenters (who are typically Meghan haters) were on Meghan’s side!! Why continue to alienate your audience even further with these unhinged out of touch screeds about renovating the kitchen? It’s like he wants to force her to renovate it so he can then write hit piece after hit piece about how much money Meghan is wasting while she and Harry are going broke. Sykes needs to get a fcking hobby.
Sykes needs help obviously. But what really bugs me is the expectation that people should be renovating and remodelling constantly, which is so damaging to the environment. People getting rid of perfectly good cabinets or tiles is so wasteful. They end up in landfill and drive up emissions for no good reason. If anything, what Harry and Meghan are doing (by keeping their original kitchen) is much more sustainable.
That’s one of the things about Million Dollar Listing that always made me sick to my stomach. People walking into these fabulous homes & then talking about all the changes they would ‘have to’ make.
The bile, the vitriol….
There is no one that I hate so much that I would write this.
The money-making from hating Meghan must be phenomenal for Tom Sykes to debase himself this much…..phew.
These bigots view Mexican or Italian kitchens and orange tone wood as lower class.
It’s against the aspirational UK aesthetic which in London leans toward modern castle (Rose Uniake) or upgraded London Belgravia.
In the countryside it’s the grand manor servant kitchen a la Downton Abbey or upgraded Rita Konig style. The Sussex kitchen is reminiscent of English 80s kitchens which EVERYONE who could afford to, ripped out.
They are unaware of the California countryside kitchen aesthetics which don’t aspire to English country kitchens.
It’s rabid bigotry or a myopic nationalist point of view.
Kim Kardashians kitchen done by Kanye is similar to Rose Uniake’s style
100% to everything you said.
I think Meghan’s kitchen is beautiful and you can tell she actually uses it. Some of these modern kitchens look more like science labs than the heart of the home.
@MsIam, my sentiments exactly. I’ve always thought that many of the “modern” kitchens look clinical, cold – like you so aptly put it, like science labs (but my old school’s science labs had seriously beautiful antique wood surfaces and glassware, so these are far worse!), more like mortuary work rooms, even the too-white austere lighting, very uninviting. They appear to be designed more as showrooms than as places of warmth, harmony and happy gatherings.
At least we know that Mexican and Italian kitchens tend to get a lot of use and from my childhood memories, tended to be filled with lots of laughter and delicious food. And no-one freaked out if something was spilled! 😀
I didnt even pick up on the bigotry – the Taco bell reference was a little more obvious – but you’re right, he’s comparing her kitchen to Italian restaurants and Mexican fast food restaurant kitchens, comparing them to proper aristocratic British kitchens.
Gross.
A second vitrolic rant about a kitchen?
Looks like this maniacal man has lost touch with reality.
Someone needs to check on him.
I thought the style of the house and kitchen were supposed to be French Provencal? But yes, Sykes is approaching batsh*t crazy.
I just looked up Rose Uniake kitchen styles and I don’t care for them one bit. They seem cold and sterile.
I never heard of her so I, too, googled. And found most kitchens look very much like Meghan’s. Old, warm wood, colorful tiles, open space, a big counter in the middle, all very spacy with lovely old fashioned details.
Personally, the kitchen they used for WLM is my style. White but not too modern, the ovens! The stove! The fridges and freezers…. a dream for people who love to cook.
These hanging copper pots? They collect grease and dust and need extensive cleaning before you can use them. Been there, tried that, went back to closed cabinets.
Meghan’s kitchen looks lived in. Where the family gathers to cook and to bake, to feed and to entertain friends. The heart of the house, reflecting Meghan’s love language.
Poor Tom very likely never had this experience in his family and circle of friends. He is so jealous, hoping so hard that the Sussexes fail because no one should be allowed to be rich, beautiful, successful, and happy with a loving family. It’s simply not fair to all the ones who are neither. Poor Tom feels they rub his nose in his misery by showing what he would love to have for himself. Poor Tom needs therapy.
They also seem unaware the California is just north of Mexico—used to BE part of Mexico—and that the entire region used to belong to Spain.
Yes, and rustic Mexican/Spanish architecture and design are very popular in California. That is one of the things that the Harry and Meghan loved about the place because the style is homey and full of natural hand-carved wood, painted wall tile, and tile floors. The colors of the floor tile tend to be orangish and are often imported from Mexico and handmade.
Obviously, this author has never traveled much either in the U.S. or in Mexico, so he is ignorant of this style.
All I can say is I would like to be kidnapped like Harry and fail like Meghan because it seems like a great way to live life.
Anyways – these ppl are such losers. I was glad that the British press virtually ignored them yesterday because we got to enjoy Meghan and Harry in all of their cheesy goofball glory in peace.
Maybe Mr&Mrs Earthshot should get a little more criticism for constantly ripping out practically new kitchens when remodeling? Not very environmentally friendly.
Kitchen shaming is truly a new level of mental illness.. her kitchen is absolutely gorgeous and fits the style of the home perfectly.. I would like to see that the hell TS is cooking in that he thinks he has any right to shame someone else home.. I understand that he is doing this because Peggy has him off leash currently but this is a new low.
I don’t know WHERE TS is cooking, but I have an idea WHAT he’s cooking: Meth!!!!!! He’s a sorry bugger.
It’s all so bizarre! Who gets upset about somebody else’s kitchen?!
Those “clean lines” kitchens are tragic.
And I am not taking decorating advice from a man who can’t tell Oliver Garden and Taco Bell apart.
That man is seriously losing his mind.
Can’t wait until the demon is carted away.
H&M both look so genuinely in love and happy, i will never understand the hate (…I know its the racism). So polar opposite of his brother who looks miserable 24/7 IMHO.
I love this for him, so dependent on the bottom feeder anti Sussex toxic trolls that make up 99% of his subscriber base he has to write utter tosh about kitchens – the guy records his YouTube videos in a dingy spare room.
You only have to look at the views on his videos to see what content attracts the most attention and it’s not the others; Harry and Meghan pay his bills. He did some decent work late last year when everything was breaking about Andrew and had another guy (Tim Teeman) on his videos giving balanced commentary on anything Sussex related but his subscribers were nearly foaming at the mouth in his comments so he’s been sidelined – as well as any pretence at being neutral. He’s fully committed to the cesspit now.
F that guy.
Oh STFU, Sykes.
I subscribe to the Daily Beast, but his royalist column there is hideous. He’s also taken to doing write-ups about his new podcast, and he just posted (or had an intern post) a second take/rehash on Meghan’s closet photo with Lilibet, with even more OTT faux outrage than the first time he wrote about this last week, but for some reason comments aren’t allowed on this rehash so you can’t ask, WTAF, Tom?!
This man has serious mental health issues that he needs to address. And this:
“Matt Wilkinson from the Sun, Rebecca English from the Mail, Victoria Ward from the Telegraph, Kate Mansey from the Times, the people who actually set the global royal narrative, didn’t go.”
Well then, it’s a good thing that Meghan wasn’t in Geneva on official BRF business and needed the global royal narrative.
Honestly I think that comment was very telling. They were promised two people that would fail, and if both came back and they didn’t divorce, come back cowed and willing to play the game because they had no other choice.
Instead they got two people who are incredibly happy, very successful, and don’t need for the Matt wilkinson’s, and Kate Mansey’s to set the narrative for them to get attention to their good works. They are still being invited to speak, they are still being invited to take part in philanthropic endeavors, and they are still rubbing shoulders with power players the world over.
And, as I’ve said before, Sykes is clearly convinced that the British Royal Family is the center of the universe. But I’ve got news for him: They are irrelevant! They’re not even all that important in Europe anymore, post-Brexit.
Most Americans would read those names — Matt Wilkinson from the Sun, Rebecca English from the Mail, Victoria Ward from the Telegraph, Kate Mansey from the Times — and be completely puzzled. Like, who?
Let’s be clear – those people didn’t go because they wouldn’t have been issued press passes, and their outlets weren’t going to pay for them to fly there and just stand around in Geneva like Tom Sykes did.
Otherwise, they would have been there, full stop.
This is such a stupid argument. Didn’t Victoria Ward take her sour face all the way to Australia, uninvited, to “comment” on Harry and Meghan’s trip, and still failed to set the bitter global narrative about them which she attempted? 😀
As Becks1 says, they would not have been granted access (or they applied and were refused press passes). And I have no doubt that if they had received a longer heads-up, they would have dragged themselves there anyway (closer than Australia), because these people have no shame. I’m recalling that stalker Matt Wilkinson surreptitiously taking photographs of Meghan at an Invictus Games event in Europe, even though he had no press pass.
Harry left the uk to get away from the royal rota. Why would Meghan want them at her event. And the ‘global royal news’ agenda does not exist! It’s literally not a thing!
“Most Americans would read those names — Matt Wilkinson from the Sun, Rebecca English from the Mail, Victoria Ward from the Telegraph, Kate Mansey from the Times — and be completely puzzled. Like, who?”
Not only Americans. Pretty much everyone not living in the UK, or reading Royal News, has ever heard of them.
@Lurker Nobody in the UK has heard of these people except royalists who are obsessed with royal news. There are famous UK reporters but these people are not among them.
In that infamous Tatler article, it was said that W&K’s place looks like a snazzy hotel instead of a typical aristo house with dog hair everywhere. The implication being that Kate wasn’t a real aristo and just a wannabe because their house was too clean and nice.
So by that logic, Meghan is not doing anything different than the aristos who are in Sykes’ circle.
But I don’t understand the obsession with the kitchen? Is it code for something I’m not inbred enough to understand?
Maybe that’s the source of this. It pisses him off that she’s behaving the way they do. I’m sure he’d have loved for her to rip this kitchen out and put something white and modern and clean in so that he could make fun of her for that and call her low classy.
I think its because its the only part of the house we see regularly. Sometimes there are glimpses of a study or office or living room, but we pretty much only see the kitchen and the gardens/main yard. We almost never see the pool, the playset, the front entrance, the family room, the dining room, the guest bedrooms, the guest house, the tea house (besides a few glimpses here and there), and so on. We certainly never see any of the 5 dozen bathrooms.
So all Sykes can criticize IS the kitchen, so that’s what he’s going to do. Trust, if we saw their TV room or whatever you call it in rich houses, he’d criticize that endlessly too. “only poor people use sectionals!!!!”
(and to be clear I dont think we need to see those other areas or H&M should show us etc. Just that you know the lack of access is driving these people insane.)
THAT is the issue @Pumpkin. There is a version of Meghan that exist only in their heads and he and his ilk keep trying to convince people that the racist, classist and sexist caricature they created is the real one. The core of the fake Meghan they created is “Meghan doesn’t belong because” or “Meghan isn’t a real royal because” and then insert whatever reason they feel like using that day. This was done so that all the evil things the royal family did and are still trying to do to her can seem justified. So when Meghan is seen doing things they associate with aristos or royals they become in enraged because that goes against the caricature they created and that they are trying to convince people is real.
Its hard to convince people that the jam maker/mom in the homey kitchen doing philanthropy and producing documentaries is the anti-christ devoted to taking down the British Monarchy. Without that how do they justify their 10 year global smear campaign and the stochastic terrorism they’ve been conducting. They can’t tell the truth which is the left behind royals are so jealous and toxic that they would rather kill family members than be outshone.
This kitchen crashout is epic. Or should I say Kitchen KKKrashkout bc what in the world is going on. The level of meltdowns over…a kitchen? Couldn’t be me.
That is such a toxic mindset! Jeez.. what’s going on in this guys life. He must be talking to the deranged community all day long because that’s mad. Amazing that he thinks people like Rebecca English set a royal narrative more like royal propaganda… Harry called Royal Rota corrupt stunk to high heaven with its cronyism who would want them covering serious issues
Meghan in all of her extravagance comes across as a homey girl who likes good quality. The quality of her kitchen is amazing the cupboards I am pretty sure is of the highest quality wood and the wooden finishing is her home would be of the highest quality. Why on earth should she replace high quality with what is marketed today?
Personally, I am a wood and glass person so I am envious of her kitchen. Sykes has nothing of relevance to write about so he pokes at her kitchen as if she cares or would respond to his nonsense. The Sussexes are living their dream lives in an amazing home with amenities to die for and this gossiper is fixated on her kitchen. Continue to showcase your kitchen Meghan, let him choke on his bile.
He needs to be on a watch list.
Not enough! He also needs to have ankle monitors installed to keep track of just where he goes at night because I don’t trust this guy.
And it seems to me that it’s the height of hypocrisy for someone to stalk another person’s social media (almost like they were peeking through windows) then turn around and claim that a gift should be kept private. Why was he lurking and clicking and reading about them then?
This shows you just how desperate Sykes really is. The worst complaints he can come up with about Meghan are about a kitchen he doesn’t eat in, he doesn’t cook in, he isn’t invited to, in a house where he doesn’t live….
The owners of the kitchen clearly enjoy it and like it because they haven’t changed it materially. So if he wants a different kitchen, he can build one for himself and stay out of the Sussexes business. If the kitchen’s appearance is that offensive, he doesn’t have to watch any of Meghan’s content. He doesn’t have to see her show, or her posts, or anything she does. He can just leave the Sussexes well enough alone. But we all know he’s not going to do that.
It just kills them that H&M are secure enough within themselves to not need to succumb to the pressure the BM tries to exert to have control over their lives.
And they’re not beholden to participate in the media’s sick mind games. There’s no half-in, remember? Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it.
Meghan in all of her extravagance comes across as a homey girl who likes good quality. The quality of her kitchen is amazing the cupboards I am pretty sure is of the highest quality wood and the wooden finishing is her home would be of the highest quality. Why on earth should she replace high quality with what is marketed today?
Personally, I am a wood and glass person so I am envious of her kitchen. Sykes has nothing of relevance to write about so he pokes at her kitchen as if she cares or would respond to his nonsense. The Sussexes are living their dream lives in an amazing home with amenities to die for and this gossiper is fixated on her kitchen. Their kitchen goes with the aesthetics of their home, old world Tuscany. Continue to showcase your kitchen Meghan, let him choke on his bile.
I hope and pray he never gets a load of my kitchen. Meghan’s kitchen is a big upgrade over mine.
Seriously! I just had it painted but before that it was a tragedy. But you know what? Its my home, its the kitchen where my family ate dinner every night, at the table where my kids would their homework. Now that they are grown, I sit there some evenings with my memories. I’m sure Meghan is the same and I imagine her looking out the window at their gorgeous paradise of a backyard, filled with happiness. Tom can go kick all the rocks while barefoot.
My house was built in 1965. My kitchen cabinets…..are from 1965. The counters were redone at some point before we bought but they’re still some sort of cheap…something, lol. we did upgrade our fridge though (when we bought in 2012 the fridge from 1987 was still there. We moved it to the basement and actually just got rid of it in February when it was finally dying.)
Seriously. I wish my kitchen was as nice as well..
I don’t think Tom Sykes realizes that people have more to worry about right now than their kitchens. And even people who want a new kitchen can’t afford it. Tom Sykes is seriously out of touch!
This guy is really insane.
When Meghan and Harry remodelled Frogmore Cottage, they wrote hundreds of articles about Meghan being a spendthrift. And now she has not remodelled her kitchen, the criticism is that she is a laughing stock. I hope he is prepared for the moment life when life pays him back for the vitriol he puts out.
Oh you know they already have the remodeling articles saved in a file, ready to publish with a click. And of course, anything Meghan and Harry choose would be wrong, wrong, wrong! They crash out anytime Meghan gets anything new to wear, they would write about a kitchen remodel for the next ten years.
Beyond the aesthetics, it would be completely environmentally unsound to gut a perfectly lovely working kitchen.
For this very reason, Mr. Earthshot should have told Kate to cool it with the kitchen renovations.
We had to renovate our kitchen when we moved into our house because the old appliances were streaked with layers of grease and the electrics were unsafe. But I’m not going to renovate again (beyond painting my now-dated white cabinets) because I don’t want to add tons of waste to the local landfills.
Look, I’m a kitchen snob. I do not like this kitchen. I hate that mismatched blue and white tile and the range grotto, and hanging pans is my kitchen pet peeve. But I can at least acknowledge that, for something I dislike, Meghan’s is objectively well done. Also, remodeling a kitchen is a PAIN IN THE F–KING ASS. These rich housewives Sykes is referring to, who make renovation a hobby? The vast majority of them almost certainly DO NOT ACTUALLY COOK. A new kitchen was my husband’s belated wedding present to me, and it involved a custom range that took nearly 2 months to arrive. In the meantime, I was using a glorified hotplate. For a serious home cook, that’s hell. I would’ve loved to find a place that just came with a kitchen that already fit my needs!
I’ve admired hanging pans since I was a teenager, and am on a mission to find a hanging rack since I saw Meghan’s 😀
I will say that my view is kinda colored by the fact that I’m a lifelong New Yorker, so most of the time when I’ve seen the hanging pots and pans, it’s been in a little NYC apartment kitchen. It’s actually more out of necessity rather than an aesthetic choice, because cabinet space is obviously limited, but unfortunately it usually results in making it feel even more cramped. Maybe it’s just high ceiling envy on my part, lol. If you have the room for it, go off!
I love hanging pans too, especially when they’re all copper like that. Stainless all clad or the like would ruin the aesthetic.
My kitchen is too small for something like that but in my dream kitchen its huge and airy and all the pots hanging over the island, lol.
But also your comment is just kind of the point of it for me. You dont have to love her kitchen (I do love it but people have different tastes which is obviously fine lol) to acknowledge that it’s a pricey kitchen. that the stove and oven and such are not cheap. that Meghan isnt’ redoing it bc she likes it.
he acts like its a mark of poverty that she’s not redoing it when she probably just really likes it already.
I see what you mean Miranda 🙂 . There are two reasons for my attraction, I guess. (1) I’ve always lived in places with very high ceilings, with the sort of aesthetic in which a hanging rack would not be out of place and (2) I am Swedish, and we are trained from birth to maximise the use of small spaces. So if you don’t have cupboard space under or above kitchen counters/worktops, you can always go upwards, and the ceiling rack therefore makes perfect sense as it creates more storage space. That’s probably why you saw so many in small kitchens, and I agree that it would make the space feel cramped in places with low ceilings. My ceiling is so high that I would need a rope lever at the side to raise and lower the rack to reach and replace the pans (and I’m short as well, so that’s definitely needed!).
Again, this just reeks of the bitterness of a man who wrote a “Wasteful Meghan ripped out her perfectly good Montecito kitchen” screed in 2020 in anticipation that is now burning up his drafts folder.
He’s just throwing everything at the wall today – first, the kitchen was straight out of Olive Garden in the 90’s, no wait, actually it’s straight out of 2003 (?), no it’s reminiscent of the former Russian owner who is now dead (?), no it’s… Taco Bell??? What?
What does Sykes’ kitchen look like? The fact is that there isn’t a single one of those so-called royal experts whose kitchens are as big, well-equipped, or as beautiful as the kitchen in the House of Montecito. Even the ones who are supposedly aristo-adjacent have pokey, drafty dwellings which they have to hustle to maintain. At the end of the day, it’s just jealousy. They were also jealous of Frogmore Cottage because thanks to Meghan, she and Harry easily had one of the most modern and tasteful kitchens among the royals.
These haters are really spiralling, it’s simultaneously shocking and an absolute joy to behold. And they are spiralling despite being GLAD that Meghan posted something on Instagram for the anniversary, because if she didn’t, what would they write about? How would they pay their bills?
Also, Meghan did NOT say that she didn’t bake. She said it’s not her favourite thing, but it’s clear that she bakes a lot anyway. She was baking on the show and there were no disasters. Surely that is PROOF that she DOES bake??? Ugh.
Imagine being this angry and unhinged because someone you don’t know, in a house that is not yours and you will never step foot in, likes their kitchen the way it is.
The obsession with her kitchen is very bizarre. This comes directly from trolls on Twitter and Reddit. They are broke because they didn’t redo a perfectly fine kitchen. They sound poor, with ideas of how rich people live, and because Meghan doesn’t do that she’s broke. There is nothing wrong with their kitchen. It goes with the house and looks cozy. If she did redo it it would then be she’s so wasteful and she’s just trying to keep up appearances and how ungrateful she is, nothing is good enough for her!
I lived with glitter board walls in my kitchen for 20 years, and I was never once embarrassed. Did I write odes to their glory? No. But I did not care that my kitchen was imperfect. If Harry and Meghan stressed over a functional kitchen, I would be very, very surprised. The only people laughing are the ones who will never step foot in that kitchen and are freaking out about their lack of access.
But this part is also nutty
“(a nod to their wedding cake, but one which raises the immediate question: who made it? Meghan has told us, on her own show, that she doesn’t bake. Is this a freebie? A brand deal? If you’re Meghan Markle, lifestyle influencer, surely the whole point is that you made the cake yourself?), ”
Apart from the fact the ‘I don’t know her but she *must*have wanted X so the fact she *didn’t*get X means something has gone wrong for her or she is confused about her own mind! ‘ of it all (and why do people accept it so readily? if it’s one thing we know about the Rota/ex-Rota they *don’t* understand her and they themselves pretty much also affirm this constantly, directly…).
SO, I’m into baking shows and baking and cake and I don’t care where exactly the cake came from? Unless I’m mistaken, Harry brought it in so that suggests that he bought it or baked it? It’s interesting that the thought does cross Tom’s mind though. If Harry bought it, does Meghan still have some obligation to the people who make money from criticising every thing she does to explain where it came from? Meghan, BTW, DOES bake we saw it on her show? She made a layer cake and a plaited bun and lots of other stuff… flipping heck can Tom really not understand how someone can say ‘ha ha, not really a baker! Not really into sweet things’ and that not mean they *never* bake? All he had to do was recall what’s on her show and what she sells FGS including lots of sweet things, pancake mix and cookie mix and flower sprinkles for your MFing bakes!
She’s wrong for ‘merching and grifting’ but if she *doesn’t* merch that’s *also* wrong. Essentially: this person is evil so if they do something that’s not evil,that’s still bad because it’s supposed to be evil so they are doing evil wrong…
For sure Sykes is just trying his best to qualify to sit at the Mean Girls table with these lame jabs. I think that even the Derangers will eventually reject him as too unmoored from reality to be satisfying but I always give them too much credit so probably they will lap it up. How is this even still a business model? I keep on predicting they will get tired and move on and… well.. here we are.
Look, Tom, you are a royal reporter or someting – – you don’t have to understand home decor, lifestyle influencing or baking and you *don’t*. Stop. Just stop. The UK told Meghan to get lost and make her own money and now she operates outside what might generously be called your area of expertise so let her? Let her go. Find someone else or maybe, you know, admit royal reporting is BS…. But I don’t think we’ll have an admission any time soon that royal reporting is just noting nice outfits and nasty gossiping (I mean, are Kate Mansey etc qualified to assess campaigns on homelessness or childhood early years? Of course not… BTW, apart from how idiotic it was to note that generally? what was that? It sounded like a self-own, does Sykes not consider himself worthy of being considered alongside the failed journalists of the RR?) but can we at least get an admission that Royal reporters have nothing to offer when it comes to Meghan and Harry and that there was an implicit bargain in that in stepping back, and foreswearing public funding, there need be no further coverage of them by the rota? Fully out was supposed to be fully left alone by you lot!
Slagging off on their kitchen is such a ridiculous take. Wood beam ceilings, hand painted tiles, warm wood cabinetry and earthy colors are what you should expect to see in a Mediterranean-style home like theirs, and there are thousands of these houses in Montecito/Santa Barbara – it’s the predominant architectural style of the area. They had just done a full gut remodel of Frogmore and look what happened to that house. They probably didn’t have the heart to go through that again and are now comfortable and happy with what they have and don’t feel the need to disrupt their daily life just to remodel a kitchen that works perfectly fine for them. An all-white and stainless steel modern kitchen, while certainly all the rage in recent years, does not fit the aesthetic of that style of house. Not to mention that stark white/gray style is on the way out, and wood is coming back. I don’t understand why people with multimillion dollar homes would want their kitchen to look like everyone else’s anyway, so who cares what these so-called neighbors think? You know any that may be making fun of them are going to have to rip out their kitchens next year and start over, just so they can jump on the next kitchen trend. So who’s the loser now?
LOL OH NOES!!… The kitchen killed the last owner, the Ruskie mobster! 😂
Geneva wasn’t ignored by you, Tommy. Didn’t you fly there, just for the occasion?
The Mail put Meghan in Geneva on their front page. They didn’t give Kate one front page during her Italy trip. The rota don’t write about most Harry and Meghan events because they are not working royals. It’s only Sykes that’s obsessed.
Kate didn’t get The Mail’s front page? Oh, that’s rich! 😂
But the rota DO comment—extensively—on all of Harry‘s and Meghan‘s events. It’s not just Tom.
What is Tom Sykes life that he needs to type up a whole damn screed denouncing a woman’s …kitchen? Where she happily cooks well seasoned food for her family. So much effort at this is pathetic. If you told me Sykes is being paid by a Jason Knauf type I’d believe you.
Oh wait, Harry showed real passion showing how much he’s in love with his wife, I bet that irritated the hell out of He Who Must Not Be Named. How dare he show PDA to his wife!
Before I read this article, I was thinking that Harry and Meghan filming their anniversary video yesterday in their kitchen and posting it was their way of saying f you to Tommy . They love their kitchen and could not give two f what he or any other tabloid rodent thinks . Jow I am off to read the post
I am still not over the whole Taco Bell kitchen reference That is so racist.
Sykes removed this line after being roundly mocked earlier today, “They don’t even have an art collection!”
Some speculated Tom lives in an efficiency walk-up with old pizza boxes as furniture.
And I agree that the Taco Bell stuff is dog whistle racism straight out of Trump World.
I think people like Tom Sykes have understood that as they have no access to Meghan and Harry, the only way they can keep their businesses as ‘royal reporters’ going is by manufacturing stories and outrage about M&H.
They need to feed their Substacks and the idle haters who read them EVERY DAY with this or that bonkers story, and as they have NOTHING, they have no choice but to resort to making up stuff.
There is not a single piece of information in Sykes’ article that is fact-based, or even moderately informative: it’s all bitching and slander. Clearly not for an audience of objective or even sane people!
Harry and Meghan have refurbished their home theater. Does that still mean that their lives are in chaos? Tom Sykes is unhinged and a major deranger. I think the kitchen looks lovely and perhaps Meghan feels the same way too. If anything it says that she doesn’t see the need to waste money on a perfectly fine kitchen. I do think the real reason why Tom Sykes criticises the kitchen is because Meghan shows it but not the rest of her house.
God, he’ll see another room in the house and rant about it for weeks. This is a new approach for reporters, for sure. He really is insane and foolish. This is his JOB–hating on the rooms of Meghan’s house now, as a way to degrade her.
It is none of Sykes business. He sounds very shrill.
I wish for Syko everything he wishes for Meghan.
Just a thought! This very specific attack on Meghan’s kitchen could be one of two things.
1. Two Kitchen Kate thinking about refurbishing the kitchen at her new forever home. If she is the RR will be able to use Meghan’s refurbishments as a smokescreen for when it eventually leaks that TKK has wasted more public money on her kitchen obsession.
2. It could be Sykes is so used to Kate installing at least one new kitchen in her forever homes, that he now thinks it a royal protocol and is furious Meghan hasn’t done the same. 😉
In the kissing photo, there’s a bulletin board at kid level. So cute.
Yeah, I noticed that and thought it was cute as well! 🙂
Where to start with this insane rant. Ok let’s start in Geneva and his sexist dismissal of the Lost Screens memorial. This isn’t just some photo op with Dr. Tedros, but a cause Archewell has been committed to for years and working with the Parents Network on. It was attended by those who mattered such as health ministers from various countries and parents who lost their children. Not everything is a walkabout for crowds. He lacks an empathy chip. The overall tone of his screed is incredibly sexist, like Meghan is some kept housewife who should be tearing down kitchens on a whim. What is his obsession with rich people destroying expensive homes to rebuild? Obviously he’s never had to deal with preservationists, planning commissions and NIMBYS, which are rife in California. What really bothers Sykes about the Montecito kitchen is the warmth and love in there, and Meghan sharing what she chooses about her family life. The family obviously hangs out there, it really is the heart of the home. I like the kitchen. I looked up the price of her range and it starts at about $20,000. Why tear that out if they don’t want to? I don’t think their neighbors are remotely interested in their kitchen design. Sykes is just being an assh*le and way too bitter. He’ll never cross their threshold so he can mind his business.
Good lord.
First off, her kitchen is lovely and fits the California vibe. I would kill for that kitchen.
Secondly, if she had ripped out the kitchen and done some expensive renovations these deranged idiots would be calling her a diva and taking about her 36 bathrooms again!
It’s a bad look. If he things this is smart or witty or casts shade on Megan he is completely misreading the room. I imagine more people would appreciate her keeping it than being ultra wasteful and overly extravagant.
Just Wow.
The Taco Bell reference knocks me out. It seems there’s no racial abuse or slur that the British media is uncomfortable with. It says a lot about their readers/fans.
Sacrebleu, Sykes sounds like Meghan and Harry broke a royal protocol…. again Sykes invented the protcol of the millionaire house buyers which Meghan and Harry just broke by NOT knocking down and rebuilding the house or at least the kitchen. What a.sacrilege!
BTW was Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh, not just now in Geneva? I am wondering which of the royal rota is accompanying Sophie to cover her events. I am eagerly awaiting Sykes reporting on Sophie’s trip to Geneva.
Who paid for Sykes to go to Geneva and Washington? Because hotels and meals in both places are expensive on top of the flights (I lived in Geneva for a while and know that airport well).
Sykes wrote very little about Washington afaik (I would never subscribe to his hate substack). Apart from meeting with someone (that hack Mearsden?) who told him Montecito hates the Sussexes.
He wrote nothing in the Daily Beast about what Meghan actually said in Geneva. I guess if WanK are your idols, you can’t afford to care about substance. Again, maybe he wrote more in his hate substack, but I wouldn’t know. All I can see is that he’s milking his Daily Beast platform to write not one, but two outraged columns–plus an outraged podcast!–about Meghan’s closet photo with Lilibet. Which he could have done just from Meghan’s socials and without even leaving his wife’s parents’ house in Ireland.
So whoever’s paying for this is a chump, whether it’s Sykes (I cringe to think his hate substack is making him rich) or a pro-BRF or actual BRF sponsor with deep pockets.
As many have said, this guy is “frothing at the mouth” and completely “unhinged.” I can’t believe this is a grown man. He sounds like a lunatic. The Sussexes are unbothered. This garbage is so ridiculous and is so bad that it doesn’t even deserve a point-by-point takedown. Such a pathetic man.
It takes a deranged SOB to be this obsessed over someone else’s kitchen and to expect them to be concerned about what his or any of the other derangers aesthetic is. Just from photos of their kitchen in Frogmore Cottage we know that this style is very close to what they personally designed to have at FC. They have been in this house for five years and in the past five years they have had numerous lucrative deals, financial wins and advances. Don’t seem that if in the past five years if they haven’t made any changes and they have had the financial means and opportunity to do so, they must obviously love their kitchen. Someone else’s style is subjective and it’s ridiculous to carry one all of this focus on a kitchen that he will never walk into. It is also ridiculous that he thinks that the Rota rats that he listed not being in Geneva is a sign of anything when in the past five years, Harry and Meghan have told us that they want nothing to do with any of them or their trash tabloids. Have sued some of them and have gone out of their way to make sure they were excluded from anything they are doing internationally or domestically. How many ways do they need the Sussexes to tell them that they don’t F with them. And what does it say about him that he invited himself there to just to complain about Meghan and not take on the seriousness of the topic being discussed? This is why the Rota are such trash “journalists” and it’s an insult to even use that word with them. None of their reporting is ever about the real issues or topics at hand. It’s always gossip school girl drivel that they report and never anything substantial.