Aug. 28, 2026

Is Meghan Markle Bigger Than Her Brand? Martha Stewart Claims, a Box-Office Flop and the Sussex Reputation Problem

Show Notes
Transcript

Did Meghan Markle borrow another lifestyle idea from Martha Stewart? Critics are comparing As Ever’s blackberry loaf and jam-infused frosting with a recent Martha Stewart recipe—but is this genuine copying or simply another round of online Meghan criticism?

We examine why the disappointing performance of Cookie Queens has revived questions about the Sussexes’ commercial appeal. Can Harry and Meghan still turn enormous media attention into paying customers? Does Meghan have a visibility problem—or a perception problem that overwhelms every product, television program and film carrying her name?

Plus: Why has Prince Harry stopped directing money from Princess Diana’s memorial fund to Sentebale? Where is his share going now? Does Meghan believe both Harry and Prince William must apologize before the brothers reconcile? And why does former England rugby star Joe Marler remain firmly “Team Harry” despite the social-media backlash surrounding the Duke of Sussex?

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Palace Intrigue is a daily British royal family podcast covering King Charles, Meghan Markle, Prince Harry, Kate Middleton and the House of Windsor. New episodes every day. Follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Part of the Caloroga Shark Media network.

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A calorogus Shark Media Hellong Welcome through Palace Intrigue Game

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your host, Mark Francis. While many Royal watchers are not

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yet over Charcouterie Gait, Megan is yet facing another round

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of online criticism over and as Ever recipe, with some

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detractors accusing her of borrowing an idea recently featured by

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Martha Stewart. And as Ever video promoted a BlackBerry loaf

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using the brand's BlackBerry fruit spread. The spread is incorporated

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into the cake and also used to flavor the butter

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cream frosting. As Ever described the finished dessert as BlackBerry

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loaf with BlackBerry butter cream frosting, made without BlackBerry spread,

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but critics quickly noticed Martha Stewart had recently posted her

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own summer cake recipe featuring jam infused butter cream. Stuart's

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version was considerably more elaborate, a three layer berry cake

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with Swiss butter cream made using strained black raspberry jam.

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Stewart described her creation as nature's sweet treat displayed in

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all its butter cream glory, and that was enough to

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get read at going when commenter wrote, funny, Martha Stewart

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recently iced a cake with a whipped cream BlackBerry jam.

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Icing only her cake looked lovely and enticing. Meghan has

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no original ideas. Another complained, and Martha gives her followers

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an actual recipe to follow. Meg's just wants her fans winged.

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Prince Harry has stopped directing money from his mother's memorial

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fund to Center Bali, the African charity he helped establish

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more than twenty years ago. According to newly published accounts

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from the Royal Foundation, Harry has instead asked his share

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of the money to go to Elephants Without Borders, a

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conservation organization based in Botswana. The change follows Harry's very

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public falling out with Center Bali. Harry co founded the

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charity in two thousand and six in memory of Princess Diana,

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Initially focusing on children and young people affected by HIV

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and AIDS and poverty in Lesotho, Its work later expanded

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into Botswana and Malawi. For years, Harry directed money connected

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to the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund to Center Bali.

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The original Diana Fund was established following her death in

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nineteen ninety seven and formally closed in twenty twelve. The

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Royal Foundation took legal control of the remaining fund the

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following year, so that any future income, including occasional donations

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and legacies, could still be distributed. When Harry and Megan

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stepped away from Royal duties in twenty twenty and Harry

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and Williams separated their charitable activities, the brothers agreed that

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future proceeds connected to their mother's fund will effectively be

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divided between them. Harry chose Center Bali as the recipient

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of his portion. Royal Foundation accounts show Center Bali has

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received forty three thousand, eight hundred and sixty pounds from

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the Diana Fund since twenty twenty. The last payment was

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sixteen thousand, seven hundred and forty three pounds in twenty

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twenty four, but the latest accounts show a change. In

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twenty twenty five, Harry's share amounted to five thousand, four

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hundred and thirty two pounds, and instead of going to

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Center Bali, it went to Elephants Without Borders. The disappointing

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box office performance of Cookie Queen's is prompting a broader

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discussion about whether Harry and Meghan's ability to generate headlines

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still translates into an audience willing to pay for their projects.

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Royal commentator Kinsey Schofield told Fox News Digital Harry and

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Meghan remain extraordinarily effective at generating headlines, but the headlines

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and paying customers are two very different things. There was

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a period when simply attaching their names to something guaranteed

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enormous curiosity. I'm not convinced that's true anymore. Hollywood can

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figive a lot, but being beaten by cat video fest

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is the sort of indignity that writes its own punchline.

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There's a significant difference commercially, she said, because people may

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click on a Megan Markel headline because they're fascinated by

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her or irritated by her, that doesn't mean they're going

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to buy a movie ticket because her name is attacked

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to the project. Cookie Queens gives us another interesting data

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point on that distinction. PR expert Meyer Reas offered a

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somewhat more measured assessment, saying I would be careful about

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viewing the box office result as a straightforward verdict on

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Harry and Meghan themselves. Cookie Queens is a niche documentary

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about goal scouts and their cookie selling competition, so it

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was never going to have the natural commercial pull of

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the major mainstream film. It also had a relatively limited

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theatrical release, so making a direct comparison with a conventional

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blockbuster is difficult. I do think there is a bigger

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pr issue here. Harry and Meghan have built a huge

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amount of their profile around being talked about, but there

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is an important difference between generating headlines and generating audiences.

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Their names can still dominate the news cycle, but that

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does not necessarily mean people will spend money or time

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consuming every project they attach themselves too. In fact, I

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think the irony is that the less controversial the project becomes,

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the harder it can be for them to generate genuine cureuriosity.

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PR professional Rebecca May tells Daily Mail that Meghan remains

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enormously famous, but that her personal story can still overwhelm

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the projects she is trying to sell. May said, Meghan

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doesn't have a visibility problem, but she does have a

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perception problem. If you are trying to build something wholesome,

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warm and aspirational, but there is still so much noise

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and division around your personal brand, it is difficult for

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people to separate the too. Hollywood is used to dealing

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with high profile personalities, but there comes a point where

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too much noise around someone becomes a brand risk. You

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don't want the person attached to the project constantly becoming

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a bigger story than the project itself. It's can run

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the risk of the person becoming the story in the project,

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losing control of its own narrative. There needs to be

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some vulnerability in something that feels less practiced and managed.

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You can still protect your privacy without everything feeling so controlled.

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May even pointed to Meghan's estrangement from her father as

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an example of unresolved issue that continues to shape public perception,

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regardless of whatever private reasons may exist behind it. I

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don't think it is necessarily just an authenticity issue either.

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Megan could have very real reasons that we don't publicly

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know about for the estrangement from her father, for instance,

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she said, But from a reputation point of view, it

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has become an elephant in the room. From a brand

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and pr perspective, the difficulty today is converting the huge

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level of interest in her and her life into a

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genuine interest in the projects she is trying to build.

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That for me is why Hollywood has been difficult to crack,

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the person continually risks becoming bigger than the product itself,

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and the project simply gets overshadowed. A lot of Meghan's

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previous projects have also hit a wall, and we have

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seen former collaborators and industry figures publicly breaking their silence

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and being quite critical at times. She said, all of

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that can unfortunately follow you into the next project. Her

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recommendation is essentially to address the larger reputation issue rather

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than simply replacing one project with another. She said that

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quietly behind the scenes, this is probably a time to

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almost go into reputation management mode and look at the

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root cause of why the brand isn't evolving in the

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way she potentially wants it too. At this level, there

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are also only so many major deals and opportunities available.

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You can't keep changing the project of the public perception

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of the person behind it stays the same until that

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perception changes. I think whatever Meghan does next risks being

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viewed through the same lens. Reports claim Meghan is uncomfortable

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with the idea that Prince Harry should be the only

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one apologizing in order to repair his relationship with Prince William.

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An unnamed source told Heat while she can't stomach the

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idea of Harry totally swallowing all the things that have

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been done to them and pretending nothing ever happened. She

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doesn't think that's healthy or the least bit fair. She's

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telling Harry that if and when he makes peace with William,

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it needs to be for the right reasons, with a

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mutual sense of contrition, more palace in just a moment,

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Former England rugby star Joe Marler says he was firmly

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teen Harry even before sitting down with Prince Harry for

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a podcast interview last month. Harry appeared on the Joe

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Marler will See You Now during his July visit to Britain.

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Marla admitted he was nervous, not simply because he was

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interviewing a prince, but because he knew almost anything Harry

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said was likely to become a headline. We put some

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prep in, but it crept up on us and I

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was nervous thinking about the whole thing and also the

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polarizing public opinion of it. Jake Bardwell just said, calm

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down and think about what we want to achieve from

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having him as a guest. I knew he liked him,

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I was Team Harry, if there were teams or whatever.

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I knew that there would be some level of backlash

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to whatever question or whatever answer he gave me, But

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I didn't want that to stop me and Jake from

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being genuine and in the moment I wanted him and

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asked to be present and to have the experience. I

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didn't want to overthink things or not ask a particular

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question because of how it might be received. But the

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level of vitriol that comes with him, the social media backlash,

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what is the matter with some people? And there you

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have it. I'd like to email us and address us

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Thanks to John McDermott. This is Palace Intrigue looking times

Is Meghan Markle Bigger Than Her Brand? Martha Stewart Claims, a Box-Office Flop and the Sussex Reputation Problem

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