Tuesday’s episode of Palace Intrigue, the daily podcast about the Royal Family, was so much fun that I wanted to share a version of the script with you guys.
ICYMI, Meghan Markle is starting a lifestyle brand, and the mocking has been hilarious. What I love about doing this podcast is there is always something to talk about. It’s usually Harry & Meghan, but KateGate gave everyone a break for a month, but now that that’s over, Meghan has fed the beast. With jam.
Meghan Markle's Suits co-star Abigail Spencer is among the select few to have received a limited edition jar of the Duchess' new American Riviera Orchard strawberry jam. Abigail was gifted Jar Number Six, which she revealed in an over-the-top photoshoot showcasing her reclining in the grass with the precious preserve.
Smiling in a sunny garden with her dog, Abigail displayed the ceramic bowl for all to see. She told her followers, "This jam is my jam. A delicious taste of what's to come indeed... love you so M."
Her post was well-received among her followers, with actress Mindy Kaling commenting that it was "like an ad for sunshine and happiness."
However, some users appeared skeptical of the photoshoot, with one branding it as "hilarious" and another saying, "Not even an attempt to remove the (c-word) lemons and dead flowers? It’s like a cheap farmers market basket." One user even questioned, "Are you sure you want to eat that jam??????"
Another user joked, “I often take a platter of fruit out into the garden to pose with [laughing face emoji]...hilarious".
Harry’s friend Nacho" Figueras shared a montage of photos, including one of him sampling the jam, with the caption, "Did I tell you I love your jam? 🍓”
The carousel also included a photo of the American Riviera Orchard jam spread on toast with raspberries and a playful picture of Figueras taking a bite. The label on the jar featured in the polo star's post was stamped "10 out of 50," Mrs. Nacho wrote on her Instagram Stories, "Strawberry 🍓jam makes me happy. And I ❤️your jam" accompanied by a photo of the product. She also shared a shot of herself taste-testing the jam, spreading it on a slice of bread along with some strawberries.
Royal author Tom Quinn told the Mirror, “At Kensington Palace and Clarence House there is incredulity – no one can quite believe the fifth in line to the throne has given up being a working royal for this. For a grubby commercial venture designed to make ordinary people think that by buying Meghan’s jams and yoga mats they can enjoy the kind of celebrity life she lives in Montecito."
PR guru Mark Borkowski told The Daily Beast: “This is a very clever curiosity-building campaign that is about generating attention, getting ready for a launch. It is a creative communication exercise that is photogenic and is getting people asking questions. It is a classic pseudo-event which is getting eyeballs around this business. I think it’s doing exactly what a stunt like this should be doing—getting global coverage from millions of people who don’t quite see the join, and would quite like to taste her jam.”
(new story)
In the Guardian, Gaby Hinsliff wrote:
In a retro, sepia-tinted launch video, the woman we once hoped would put a rocket up the royal family is seen blissfully stirring a saucepan and arranging flowers. It’s only three years since she wrote an open letter to US congressional leaders lobbying for paid family leave for working parents, sparking wild speculation about a run for political office, but suddenly that feels like a very long time ago. For now at least, it’s goodbye to the much-mocked empowering feminist podcasts and hello to the safety of her Californian kitchen. Meghan is, it seems, entering her tradwife era.
If you’re a woman of a certain age, and given to scrolling exhaustedly through Instagram or TikTok after a long day, you’ll almost certainly recognise the genre. Think apron-wearing American homesteaders, posting wholesome reels of themselves canning peaches and feeding chickens; or wives posting syrupy tributes to the husbands rising at 5am for work so they can stay home with their babies and/or sourdough starters. And if you also happen to be an exhausted working mother of small children, so deep in the trenches you can barely summon the energy to microwave a ready meal, there may well be times when you’re secretly tempted. Not so much by the reality of actually giving up work as by the fantasy; the dream of a life that seems mainly to involve drifting serenely around your immaculate house, pausing occasionally to stir a bubbling pot of something delicious, rather than simultaneously juggling aggressive out-of-hours emails and a small person demanding you wipe their bottom.
The story gets sillier and sillier. An update on the hijacked jam website from the Telegraph told us hat a royal prankster has been up to some mischief by purchasing a domain name similar to Meghan Markle's luxury lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard, and redirecting it to a Waitrose page featuring King Charles's rival jam, "Duchy Organic Strawberry Jam."
Meanwhile. Melissa McCarthy stuck up for Meghan, telling Page Six, “It bums me out for every woman and every person, that for no reason people just like to attack."
Royal Insider Deep Crown texted us to say, “Perhaps Melissa received some jam.”
If you are reading this on the substack app, please restack it. It helps the algorithm or something. I dunno, there’s like 5 million Substack Gurus with articles on that topic.