Meghan Markle’s Newest American Riviera Orchard Product Reveal Is Sparking Kate Middleton Feud Rumors

Markle’s latest drop has been perceived as an attempt to outshine Middleton’s return.

The rumors of a royal rift continue to remain strong as ever, and Meghan Markle’s latest American Riviera Orchard product tease, which coincidentally occurred ahead of Kate Middleton’s return to the public eye at Trooping the Colour, has sparked speculation online that it was an attempt to snub the Princess of Wales.

On June 14, Middleton shared a new photo along with an update on her cancer and her plans to attend King Charles’s birthday parade. In the message, Middleton told her followers on Instagram that she “hope[s] to join a few public engagements over the summer, but equally knowing I am not out of the woods yet.”

On the same day, Markle and Prince Harry’s close friend, Nacho Figueras, posted photos to his Instagram Stories of Markle’s latest American Riviera Orchard offerings—a new jam in a raspberry flavor (labelled “2 out of 2”) and dog biscuits. While “there was no American Riviera Orchard logo on the jar,” according to People, the “‘Dog Biscuits” appeared to be written in Meghan’s calligraphy.”

Following Figueras’s posts, royal observers believed that the timing of his posts was shady, and an attempt on Markle’s behalf to outshine Middleton’s return to the public eye. But according to sources for The Daily Beast, this narrative is entirely false.

“Meghan’s team reportedly didn’t set out to sabotage Kate,” the outlet reported, noting that the backlash Markle is receiving at the moment “is not justified, Meghan’s camp believe.” Though “critics suspected that Meghan’s fingerprints are all over the affair,” Markle reportedly didn’t have any jurisdiction over when Figueras made his posts online.

“Meghan did not order up the post from Figueras, and in fact had no input over when or if he would post,” The Daily Beast, continued. “Of course, ceding exact control over context and timings is an inherent risk in a user-led social media campaign, especially when your cheerleaders are powerful celebrities in their own right who might not react well to having their posts micromanaged.”

Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams also shared an opinion on the matter, and told The Mirror, “to do this on the same day as Trooping the Colour shows a very naive approach to marketing as they know journalists keep an eye on what they do.” He additionally told The Sun the latest American Riviera Orchard tease was an “ill-timed brand rollout,” and that it’s hard to “make sense of what the Sussexes have done … If she just sent the jam to a friend, she should have asked him not to post it, because otherwise it clearly makes them objects to mockery.”

Middleton’s big return to the public eye still made a large splash. The Princess of Wales looked immaculate in a white Jenny Packham dress and posed for photos on the balcony alongside Prince William and their three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, offering a large glimmer of hope for her future sightings.