The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s final event of their Australian tour was attending a Super Rugby match in Sydney. They watched the NSW Waratahs and Moana Pasifika play at Allianz Stadium. Now is a good time to point out that Harry is a big rugby fan, and he used to be the royal patron of the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and the Rugby Football League (RFL) up until 2021, when those patronages were taken away from him. The Windsors gave the patronages to the Princess of Wales, who barely manages one or two rugby-related events a year. She completely refused to go to the Women’s Rugby World Cup final IN LONDON, which England’s Red Roses won.
While Meghan didn’t update her OneOff account with details about her rugby look, her camel coat has been ID’d as Camilla and Marc. (Note by CB: Asos has a decent dupe.) Her ensemble under the coat seemed to be black trousers and a black sweater. Chic. Classic. I love how Harry is coordinated in all-black as well. Harry’s style during the Australian trip was kind of funny – the only time he really looked sharp was when he went to the Australian War Memorial. The rest of the time, he was just, uh, keeping it loose.
Speaking of Meghan’s OneOff account, the entirety of the royal press pack got their marching orders to attack that one thing in particular. You could see it happening in real time, as the UK press worked with the palace’s courtiers to come up with attack lines through trial-and-error. People rolled their eyes at “but the Sandringham Summmmmit” and “but I thought they wanted pRIvAcY,” but by last Thursday, they finally figured it out. Attack Meghan’s clothes, attack her for wearing nice clothes at a shelter, attack her for investing in OneOff, attack her for “merching off of tragedy” because her account identified the clothes she wore on Bondi Beach, where she had several events, only one of which was about the tragic terror attack. Tom Sykes has been ranting about Meghan’s OneOff, as has Camilla Tominey. An “aristocratic source” also sniffed to Page Six: “The Queen must be rolling over in her grave.” The same queen whose clothes are now part of a major Buckingham Palace exhibition, with thousands of ticket sales??? Anyway, I hope Meghan makes millions in commissions from OneOff.
Photos courtesy of Getty Images. This post contains affiliate links. If you make any purchases through these links we get a small percentage and appreciate it.
They’re just mad that Meghan has effectively taken another revenue stream from them. They want to monetize her and they think that only they should be allowed to do so.
I like how you all do it here on CB, where you do link to her one-off page but also post separate links to similar items. So we can decide based on budget and priorities if we want to support Meghan or this site or both.
Anyway she looked good at the rugby game. This visit has the British establishment shook and it’s hilarious to see, especially as William and Kate remain hidden on vacation.
THIS! They literally merch off her outfits every time she steps out with links. The royals merch every part of their lives including tea towels. The dead queen doesn’t give a fuck..she was merching gin ffs
@Becks nails it as usual! Tangentially related, but I’m still subscribed to a bunch of royal podcasts on one older device, and I never download or play them (I need to just sit there one day and unsubscribe to them all), but last week, the title of one of them caught my eye and I actually listened to it. It’s the most recent episode of the “Talking Royals” show, and the title was, “Is Criticism of Harry and Meghan’s Australia Tour Unfair?” It’s by ITV, so that idiot Chris Ship was on, and IIRC he actually got called out on a hypocritical tweet or something by the host, a woman whose name I can’t remember at the moment. I do remember this woman always being savage toward the Sussexes, which is why I stopped listening to all of these shows in the first place, but in this episode, she actually seemed semi-sane and asked why there was so much criticism of the cost of Meghan’s clothes considering Kate only receives raves and praise no matter what she wears, even if it’s ££££ to go to visit sick children or whatever. There were definitely still some digs at the Sussexes because of course, but overall I was shocked that these questions were even being asked out loud. I was doing other things while listening and didn’t catch it all, but it got my attention that they’re even *considering* such questions.
@Becks: You’re so right.
This isn’t even a real criticism, the only problem they have with it now, is that she gets a portion of the money. People have bought outfits that she’s worn meeting with charities, survivors of tragedies, and sick children for a decade. They call it the Meghan effect for a reason. But now that she gets to get money from people buying it it’s a bad thing. Definitely wasn’t bad to buy clothes worn when meeting victims, when they were embedding links in their articles.
The way that they aren’t even trying to pretend anymore that financial control is their main motivator. The complaints about someone costing money but the need to prevent them from being able to take care of themselves so that they’re under your control is just too stark to ignore.
I’ve always found the sense of ownership and lack of autonomy that’s granted to people born into the royal family concerning, but the sense of control and possession that they have over her is even more concerning. They really feel like they should be able to dictate anything she does. Where she lives, how she earns her money, how she spends it, what she names her children, who she works with, who she’s friends with, where she travels?! They treat her like their toy that was stolen.
Not a toy, a runaway slave.
You’re either the owner with the whip (Charles, and willy to some extent) or you’re the slave (everyone else). Even if they live in mansions, they’re doing their bidding. All slaves. H and M just absconded.
OMFG, @Lamb Chop, a “runaway slave” is the perfect way to describe the way they feel/write about her. You are exactly right. JFC
I always think Harry looks elegant/has a presence even in casual clothes. Part of it is his posture and athleticism, part of it is his instant and easy connection in what he’s doing, part of it is his happiness that now seems to radiate brilliantly.
The photos from Australia show Harry as his mother’s son. The derangers must be off the rails.
Harry just has “it,” whatever that quality is that people ascribe to certain politicians — the type of charisma that’s completely natural. You’re either born with it or you’re not, and William was not. Harry got all of Diana’s. It doesn’t matter what Harry wears; he doesn’t need bespoke velvet slippers in order to give the reporters something to talk about. People are naturally drawn to him.
I agree. Harry just looked very happy and at peace during this trip. I thought he looked really good.
They were counting on her being Fergie 2.0: grasping, desperate, broke, and under their control. The royal family and British media want to commit financial abuse and are furious that they have no power to do so. That a black American actress has escaped their utter control has broken both institutions. They simply can’t cope and are withering on the vine as we speak. There’s absolutely no value add of the royal family to British society and Harry and Meghan prove it by succeeding without them. They are parasites, nothing more. They’re lucky they’re attached to such an apathetic host.
Exactly they are much more comfortable with someone cozying up to a pedo and human trafficker to make shady deals than they are with someone being independent and successful while black.
Markus and the woman who ran the weekend retreat are friends, while visiting Meghan the lady called him and he introduced Meghan, and the rest is history. From Notorious B???
And it wasn’t just the british press, some Meghan’s style/fashion fansite was very salty about her OneOff account, probably for fear of losing commissions too. They all want to make money on Meghan’s style and clothes but don’t want Meghan to do the same ! On her own style and clothes at that !! Hope she’ll earn millions with it ! Personnally, i LOVE that site, didn’t know it before Meghan…
Tough, for them, but the Sussexes have to earn their living.
At least this particular criticism opens the door to reminding everyone that H&M are not being supported by their tax dollars.
If anyone beyond the rotas handlers were upset or didn’t like Meghan’s outfits and accessories no one would shop her page and with how her clothing choices and even look alike outfits sell out it’s obvious she has a huge following and she is giving people exactly what they want, imo she deserves to be paid she has become a silent stylist for many of us and boosted sales for many companies.
She’s her own brand ambassador.
@Eurydice, I love this description.
Meghan will start giving a flying f what these people think when they start paying for her clothes. Until then , make money Meg, please make lots and lots of money.
For some reason, I really like the group of people in the row of seats behind them, merrily drinking, cheering, and having a blast. 🙂
And the men aren’t all in suits and ties and they and the women are definitely having a blast! Remember all that special box rugby protocol about wearing a tie,even in France. Hmmmm
@anita, They end up being the focal point of the picture!
I’m dying to know what they’re all looking and laughing at!
And those are staff! 😀 The lady on the extreme right, in brown, is the CEO of the Sussexes’ foundation, Shauna Nep, looking very chic with that wine glass in her hand. Love it.
Definitely having a blast! I feel a little bad for the woman in front of her who got caught in a brief moment of squinting or whatever. That would absolutely be me. I would be laughing and enjoying my day, and in one second I frowned or squinted at something and that would be caught on film.
Kaiser is right. All the other narratives were undermined by Harry and Meghan’s visit to Australia so they’ve pivoted to anger about Meghan joining One-off. This very press add affliate links to all their articles about Meghan and only talk about Kate’s clothes when she goes on engagements.
I suspect because Kate’s clothes are now mostly bespoke, and frankly fugly, its harder to link. Who wants a toilet roll hat and a coat dress anyway?
They’re angry because for more than a decade they’ve been trying to keep making the “Kate Effect” (which was kind-of-sort-of a real thing *very* briefly in 2011-12-ish) a thing, while the Meghan Effect is very real and happened organically. The fact that she can receive a portion of the profits is too much for them to handle. I’m enjoying watching the meltdown in real time.
There’s some British royal fashion insta that WMW linked to ,i glanced at it,every post about meghan is nothing but hate comments. It’s disgusting. Meanwhile everyone else is perfect. I’m shocked WMW linked them.
@Lamb Chop, do you happen to know which WMW it was? There’s one that’s .com and one that’s .net. I know the person who runs the .net one and she adores Meghan; if she was the one who posted that link, I think she must have missed those comments (or maybe they weren’t there yet) because I don’t believe she would purposely direct traffic to any site where Meghan will immediately be trashed.
I just want to say how much I love the photo of Harry and Meghan at the game and how cozy and happy they look with his arm cuddled around his wife. So natural and lovely to see in a couple whose love for each other is so natural and sweet. I doubt the Wails have ever experienced this.