Update: We have just been informed that the Sun’s article is false. Per the Althorp Estate:
1) Spencer Farms is not a new venture. It is the farming operation of the Althorp Estate and has existed since 1992. Presenting these registrations as a “new commercial venture” is incorrect as Spencer Farms has been incorporated for three decades.
2) There are no plans to make jam, preserves or any similar range. The trademark registrations referred to were made by Spencer Farms and cover a wide range of goods. This is entirely standard practice for an agricultural business and does not signal any new commercial launch.
The previous story:
Last week, the palace’s machinery went into overdrive to discredit and smear the Earl Spencer, Princess Diana’s brother. One of the big criticisms pushed out to all of the tabloids was that Charles Spencer is broke-ass and he “needs money,” which is why he decided to “profit” from his sister’s memory. I looked into it, and my research indicates that Charles Spencer has been an amazing caretaker of the Althorp estate and all of the Spencer real estate and collections. Spencer did the same thing many aristocrats have done to save their estates: turned their inherited properties into cash-generating businesses. Many of those old estates can be rented out for conferences, weddings or films, and many estates have their own trademarked merch lines and gift shops. Well, breaking news, according to the Sun, Spencer is going to have an Althorp JAM line!!
Earl Spencer has used his family business to trademark goods including jam, in a move similar to Meghan’s. Spencer, 62, has trademarked the name Spencer Farms to use for goods similar to Prince Harry’s wife’s As Ever brand.
As well as jam, like the Duchess of Sussex, he wants to use the business on his Althorp Estate in Northants, for honey, tea, marmalade and wine.
Details emerged as Spencer, 62, promotes his controversial book about his late sister Princess Diana and faces accusations of cashing in.
A source said: “First Spencer imitated Prince Harry with attacks on the royal family, and he has also has the potential to make jam under his own name – just like Meghan.”
Intellectual Property Office filings show he also registered his name for public speaking, appearances and voice-over services.
As we now know, none of this is new in the least. The Sun just wanted to say “Charles Spencer wants a jam line like Meghan!”
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
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- Earl Spencer, brother of Diana, Princess of Wales, meets members of the Rock Choir as they announce they will be supporting The Diana Award for a special fundraising project, at Althorp House in Northamptonshire, as the charity celebrate their 25th anniversary. Featuring: Earl Spencer Where: Althorp, United Kingdom When: 20 Sep 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Guests arrive to attend a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games, at Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London Featuring: Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer Where: London, United Kingdom When: 08 May 2024 Credit: Cover Images
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- Earl Spencer, brother of Diana, Princess of Wales, meets members of the Rock Choir as they announce they will be supporting The Diana Award for a special fundraising project, at Althorp House in Northamptonshire, as the charity celebrate their 25th anniversary. Featuring: Earl Spencer Where: Althorp, United Kingdom When: 20 Sep 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Earl Spencer, brother of Diana, Princess of Wales, meets members of the Rock Choir as they announce they will be supporting The Diana Award for a special fundraising project, at Althorp House in Northamptonshire, as the charity celebrate their 25th anniversary. Featuring: Earl Spencer Where: Althorp, United Kingdom When: 20 Sep 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Earl Spencer, brother of Diana, Princess of Wales, meets members of the Rock Choir as they announce they will be supporting The Diana Award for a special fundraising project, at Althorp House in Northamptonshire, as the charity celebrate their 25th anniversary. Featuring: Earl Spencer Where: Althorp, United Kingdom When: 20 Sep 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
I sincerely hope that Meghan suggested this idea and encouraged Uncle Charles.
I mean, the breathless pearl clutching by the BM over jam, tea, honey and wine, like it’s a finite market, is moronic. I wouldn’t be surprised if Meghan wasn’t supporting, possibly mentoring, Uncle Charles in this new business opportunity. Maybe they talked about it when he and his bride visited Montecito after their nuptials in AZ! Meghan could have given him demos and tours! I would love to have been a fly on the walls at Althorp in July. So many things to talk about! 😏
And like the Windsors haven’t been all over this for YEARS.
Charles Spencer looks so much like my dad, I’m kind of freaking out a little.
Charles Spencer just reported his experiences with the RF in book about Diana. He was critical of Charles and I don’t blame him, considering all… Harry did not “attack” the royal family–he was setting the record straight
He not only saved the estate from the taxman, and the decrepitude that attends so many properties of those dimensions when the funds run dry, he saved it from Acid Raine. She was hawking family heirlooms for cash that went to feather her nest, whilst selling tacky replicas of Diana’s engagement ring in the gift shop. Really, he’s seen off all the demons circling the remains of the aristocratic way of life: corrupt art dealers, scheming in-laws, soulless royals …the palaces have been selling Diana merch for decades and pocketing the proceeds rather than funding her charities of which she was patron, so if there is a mercenary angle to this story, it isn’t attributable to Earl Spencer.
So well-said. I forgot about Acid Raine, what a piece of work.
What’s with all the jam? Spencer jam, meghan jam, BP jam… jam wars. I like a good PB&J or a nice peasant bread toast here and there, but I just don’t count jam in my regular shopping list. I guess it’s just… not my jam.
as someone who eats lots of toast, i love jam! ha! but i never would have guessed it’d be such a hot button topics or the thing that brings down the monarchy, that’s for sure!
Haha, @KellySays I was thinking the same thing! When I was buying jam it was maybe one jar every couple of months. Now that my sister and I both make our own jam I have all of mine and then the jars she sends me to reduce her cache of jam. I’m constantly looking for ways to use this stuff other than on toast because my cupboard over-runneth. How are people getting through all their jam?
Use it to make multi-coloured miniature tarts for family gatherings. They look pretty on a tray alone or with other pastries at Christmas. I suppose you could give them away at work or a church dinner too? Depending on the cake, jam can be used as a filling or topping. If it’s overly sweet for cake, a few drops of lemon juice in the jam first.
When I ate meat, I used jam for glazes. I also add it to my charcuterie boards (which I frequently make for dinner) or add it to my yogurt.
If As Ever products don’t plan to ship to the UK, maybe Spencer Farms will just be selling Meghan’s stuff under its own label.
As ever would still need to go through the process of obtaining an import licence to sell products in the UK. Megan’s products are made in America, and she may be looking for facilities over here to manufacture. Even though we are no longer EU, most of our regulations are still inherited from the same rules. Our strawberries are divine and would love to see her use them in her jams so I can try As ever!
I doubt there’s a Jam Collaboration Conspiracy between Duchess Meghan and Earl Spencer, especially since he clarified there’s no Jam Plan currently being cooked up for Spencer Farms.
However, if they did want to do a Great Jam Co-Production, the way to go would be to use local product in England, and have the labels read
As Ever (Flavor) Jam
by Spencer Farms
Ah, wouldn’t that be sweet? They could do a scone mix and clotted cream to go with the delicious jams & honeys. 🍯🫐🍓🌰☀️🌿
More jam to bring down the monarchy. I love it.
Actually I think a lot of credit on Althorp’s restoration and conservation goes to Charles Spencer’s ex-wife Karen Spencer? I’m not saying he hasn’t done a good job of securing Althorp’s longevity. But Karen documented a LOT of the restoration work (and gained a lot of fans) while they were still married and I get the sense from the way she talked about it, the most recent work on the property is mostly her doing. She must have felt so heartbroken to have to walk away from a property she helped work on after Charles Spencer moved on with the podcast host. Imagine, doing all that work for your husband’s ancestral lineage only to be thrown away like that… So yeah, Charles S. is no angel! But I get people are multifaceted individuals.
Anyways, he should cash in on the jam/tea thing! I bet you Meghan will be advising him behind the scenes.
Karen played a very large role by investing in reinvigorating Althorp’s farming tradition as well. She was quite impressive and dedicated to the estate and it’s a shame it all ended up so poorly. They have lovely soil and it would be nice to see them eventually formulate product with their own produce. With so many visitors, it would be an opportunity to add to the revenue.
@TONGDES, you are right, Karen gets credit for that work, & she kept the name Countess Spencer after the divorce. I don’t think it is clear that Uncle Charles alone wanted this divorce. He said she repeatedly threatened to divorce him & he finally said yes & divorced her. Who knows.
Right, we’ll never know. But he has a history of cheating (I believe he cheated on his first wife) so I wouldn’t be surprised if he was fooling around with the podcast host while still married. It’s also possible his marriage to Karen also had issues and they were both unhappy so he decided to seek happiness elsewhere. Regardless, she put in a lot of hard work on Althorp while they were married and I wanted to recognize her efforts.
No there’s absolutely nothing new or unusual about this. I mean, if we’re talking about “copying” people, let’s start with Duchy Originals, set up by then Prince Charles in 1990. And yes, it sold jam.
Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, and Highgrove also sell jam and have done for years. Not to mention pretty much every stately home in the UK. There’s nothing out of the ordinary about this, so why are they dragging Meghan into it?
It’s understandable why Meghan would be mentioned considering As ever sells jam, honey, marmalade and wine. Charles Spencer knows how to make money and I don’t see an association with Meghan as a slight against either party.
These huge estates cost money to keep running. Just the upkeep of the roof alone is huge! Back in the day the farms on the estate earnt the money spent on the upkeep of the big house. Nowadays the farms have mostly gone, many sold off to pay big death duty taxes when first one heir was killed in WW1, then the next one was killed in WW2. That’s when many of the big houses were handed over to the National Trust to cover those death duties. Or worse, they took off the roof, abandoned the house and let nature take over. The property, and house, has to pay its way (the usual expression is that the house has to wash its own face). So you get the lion safari at Longleat, visitors and Christmas fairs at Chatsworth etc. Selling jams etc made from produce from Althop is a great idea
It wouldn’t surprise me if Meghan created the line for him and kept her own brand off salty island. That would make the haters short circuit completely.
How would that make sense? She would have to find producers and manufacturers in UK, and she hasn’t been over here long enough to put all of that together. Charles Spencer would be in a better position to create those relationships in the UK. Regardless, the story turns out to be false.