Aug. 5, 2026

Markle's Mystery Diamond Sparks Questions as Critics Mock Her Birthday Content

Show Notes
Transcript

Meghan Markle’s latest garden videos reignite criticism—and fresh speculation about a five-carat diamond ring she keeps wearing instead of her engagement ring. Plus: Deep Crown reflects on the royal Meghan might have become, commentators accuse her of clinging to her title, and Big Suze Sophie Winkleman is hailed as a model for the monarchy’s future.

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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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Ah Calorogus Shark Media. Hello and welcome to Pallas Intrigue.

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I am your host. Mark Francis, The Duchess of Sussex,

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shared a short video from the garden of her Montecito home,

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showing herself cutting flowers before arranging them in a vase.

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In the clip, Megan says let's cut this, before revealing

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the finished arrangement and adding to make this. The post

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through a mix of criticism and praise on social media.

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One user on expote bore fest. This is really getting tiresome.

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The woman has nothing new to share. Another added, the

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woman has absolutely nothing going on in her dull life,

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and as she is desperate for content, this is the

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best that she can come up with. Yet another video

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of her picking flowers in the garden. That's all she

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has to post about. Her videos have sparked another round

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of speculation, not about the recipe she was making, but

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about a diamond ring that continues to puzzle Royal Watches.

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The Duchess of Sussex appeared in her latest newsletter preparing

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a dessert made with her raspberry preserve, layering the jam

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with ice cream, crumbled short bread and edible flowers. Meghan

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described the dessert as gorgeous with a touch of whimsy,

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but many viewers were looking at her hands instead. Rather

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than wearing her well known engagement ring. Megan wore her

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Welsh gold wedding band on her left hand. On her

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right hand was a large pear shaped diamond ring alongside

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another gold band. The mystery ring first appeared publicly in

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February when Megan and Prince Harry attended the NBA All

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Star Game, and it has continued to appear during several

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recent engagements, including trips to Jordan, Geneva and Australia, as

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well as the July screening of Cookie Queens. Its origin

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has never been publicly explained. The ring has become a

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frequent topic of discussion on social media. Earlier this year,

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jewelry expert Manique Daniel's Door of Queen Smith offered her

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assessment of the piece. She told Hello, Meghan's latest ring

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appears to be a trendy pear cut diamond. The stone

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looks on the warmer side, placing it within the lower

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end of the color spectrum, and is estimated at approximately

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five carrots. It is set on a sleek solitaire band

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which appears to be yellow gold, complementing the warm tones

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of the diamond. She estimated that if the stone is

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a natural diamond, it could be worth around one hundred

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and forty thousand pounds. She also noted that if it

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were lab grown, the cost would be significantly lower, around

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eight thousand pounds. Meghan's presence at the Sussex family's recent

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meeting with King Charles was not merely symbolic, according to

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former BBC Royal correspondent Jenny Bond. Bond said, it's a

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good thing that Meghan was part of the family reunion

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at Haigrove a few weeks ago. This is especially as

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the children deserve to see some family harmony. It would

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have been damaging to have to explain that their mother

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wasn't invited observing Meghan's birthday. Royal Inside a Deep Crown

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wrote in his sub stack, one thinks of the Duchess

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had she stayed the first American born senior working Royal,

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a major player, utter unlike anything the institution had produced before,

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and not without genuine gifts. The ease in a crowd,

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the instinct for a cause, the camera's inexplicable love for her.

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One imagines her standing beside Catherine. It's some commonwealth engagement.

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Two women of different temperaments who had somehow, through the

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grinding discipline of the institution, found their footing together. One

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imagines the global reach the demographics the monarchy had never

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been able to touch suddenly accessible. She could have been

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in the correct framing one of the most consequential additions

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to the modern monarchy in a generation, the Royalist sub stack.

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In an article credited to both Victoria Guccia and Tom Sykes,

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Megan marked the day before her birthday in a very

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on brand fashion by taking to Instagram to showcase herself

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making an ice cream Sunday topped with her as ever

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raspberry jam and fifteen dollar flower sprinkles. A short video

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showed her sitting on the grass alongside her dog, who

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was fed a separate ice cream cone because the picture

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perfect Sunday in its glass cup apparently wasn't meant to

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be eaten. It's no surprise the Duchess used her pre

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birthday moment for a little self promotion, given that this

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year bought some uncomfortable news that she may have ordered

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more stock for her lifestyle brand than people were willing

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to buy. Megan has since gone out of her way

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to flaunt the expensive sprinkles, jams and candles, using her

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children and husband to help make them more commercial. In

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The Express, Emily Ferguson writes, it's a pity we can't

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write about how she's made a new life for herself

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with her family away from the royal fold, having let

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go of her resentment of an institution she chose to

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marry into. No one believes that she didn't know anything

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about Prince Harry or who his family were before they

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started dating, and no one is sympathizing as she continues

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to play the violin about how horrible she was treated

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when she was a senior royal. Despite packing their bags

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and leaving for the US over five years ago, Meghan

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continues to hul attacks at the royal family, even if

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they've now become more subtle. Instead, she continues to anchor

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her to an institution that she has spent years publicly attacking,

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ridiculing and condemning as rigid, racist and unfeeling. Her Instagram

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handle is Meghan Duchess of Sussex. Her kids have royal titles,

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despite their youngest child, aged five, having met the King

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just twice being born in the US and growing up

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on the other side of the world from her royal relatives,

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and during her guest appearances on Mastershef Australia, the contestants

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created a dish fit for a duchess, putting her royal

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title front and center, despite Megan's insistence she should just

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be called Megan. As she blows the candles out and

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makes a wish for the future, perhaps she should finally

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learn to let go of her grievances and focus on

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what's right in front of her, her family and making

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a success out of her business after so many failures. Well,

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Palasin just a moment. It's a big week for royal birthdays,

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including Sophie Winkleman, who turns forty six today. This Sophie

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is best known to many viewers as Big Sus in

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Peep Show or Zoe in Two and a Half Men,

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but since marrying Lord Frederick Windsor in two thousand and nine,

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she has also become a familiar presence at royal gatherings

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while continuing to work, raise a family, and support a

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number of charitable causes. Royal historian Richard Fitzwilliams believes that

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combination makes her a useful model for the future of

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the monarchy. Speaking to the Daily Mail, he said Sophie Winkleman,

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married to Lord Frederick Windsor, son of Prince Michael of Kent,

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has it all when she turns forty six on August

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the fifth, and knows it. She is big on stage,

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screen and television, so along with being a member of

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the extended royal family, is a fascinating template for its

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future members. She does charity work, speaks her mind on

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issues such as smartphones, and also has the ability to

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give an interview and sound both posh and trendy. It

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is clear that Sophie, who comes from an artistic family

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and his half sister to the television presenter Claudia Winkleman,

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combines a highly successful career with motherhood so well. She

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appears at royal gatherings such as Royal Ascot in the

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Carriage Session and Trooping the Color. Though no longer from

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the balcony, Sophie radiates individuality and practices what she preaches

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when it comes to social media, though the royal family

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relies on this a good deal. She is someone who

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is idiosyncratic and self deprecating, but with a substantial career

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and success in bringing up two girls, even if one

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defies her and uses social media. She is down to

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earth and involved in charities for vulnerable children, medical care

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and homelessness, so no one could accuse her of being

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out of touch or entitled, as they do to several royals.

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She has a personality that is distinctive but also a

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keen sense of fun. She is also in a happy

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marriage with Lord Frederick, who is fifty fourth in line

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to the throne. They make a very happy couple. Winklemann

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has also spoken warmly about how she was received by

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the family after marrying Lord Frederick. She told The Times

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in twenty twenty, I've been incredibly welcomed with open arms

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by all of them. I haven't had a single negative experience.

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The Queen's been wonderful. Prince Charles this has been wonderful.

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Prince William's been heaven. They'd never tell me offered or

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if I wanted to play some role. Everyone's looked after me.

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And there you have it. I'd like to email us

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addresses The Palace Intrigue at gmail dot com. Please follow

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if you're on Apple, hit that button up there that

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says listen uninterrupted and get the show commercial free for

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five bucks a month, and we appreciate your support. I'm

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Mark Francis My thanks to John McDermott. This here's Palace Intrigue,

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Good times,

Markle's Mystery Diamond Sparks Questions as Critics Mock Her Birthday Content

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