Meghan’s $148 Christmas Calendar Mocked as Harry’s School Visit Branded a “Mess”

0:03 Caloroga Shark Media. Hello and welcome to Palace Intrigue. I am your host, Mark Francis. Megan's latest as-ever launch brings a little Montecito to Christmas at $ 148 for an advent calendar. The Duchess of Sussex has teamed up with Los Angeles chocolatier Compartes to produce 24 handcrafted chocolates inspired by the garden at the family's California home. The calendar's cover features an illustration inspired by the property, while the chocolates carry numbers that appear to reproduce Megan's handwriting. The reported flavors include strawberry raspberry, blackberry and orange marmalade, plus a chocolate finished with her flower sprinkles. Pre-orders are open, with delivery in November. An email to As Ever subscribers announced, Created in collaboration with celebrated Los Angeles chocolatier Compartier's, Our limited edition advent calendar arrives tomorrow for holiday pre-order. Reserve yours beginning tomorrow for November delivery, just in time for the season of anticipation to begin. Some things are worth the wait.

1:12 Megan also shared footage of preparations on Instagram, captioned Christmas planning in June. In the clip, she drives a golf buggy with Compartes chief executive Jonathan Graham beside her. Hang on, Megan says as they head along the path. Graham adds, stay tuned. The footage includes sketches of the house and the family's Labrador, Pula carrying a soft toy shaped like an as-ever strawberry jam pot. Inside the calendar, the packaging promises a magical celebration of the season with chocolates thoughtfully inspired by a Montecito garden. You can imagine the social media reaction one person wrote. The Royal Shop is selling an advent calendar for £ 12 and all the profits go to charity. Meghan is selling the same calendar for $ 150.

1:54 This is why they'll never let Harry and Meghan back into the family. Megan is promising more holiday announcements from As Ever. A new photograph on the brand's Instagram account shows Megan cooking at a large kitchen range, surrounded by baked treats and seasonal greenery. The caption reads, The season of giving is almost here, and we have a few surprises in store. For the teaser, Megan wore $ 66, 000 worth of jewelry, as one does. Hello identifies her necklace as a Jennifer Meyer design priced at $ 61, 250. with Logan Hollowell diamond earrings listed at $ 5, 575. The necklace is made from 18-carat gold with rounded links and a section covered in diamonds.

2:37 The earrings are smaller water-drop studs worn with her hair loosely pinned up. Several users on X questioned the photograph, pointing to the position of the stove's controls and apparent absence of flames beneath the pot. One wrote, Megan hasn't even got the gas knobs switched on. Another questioned the people responsible for producing the image, She has the worst associate producers, continuity producers. How do they miss this basic stuff? Another wrote, Her lack of attention to detail couldn't be written. She personally provides all of the ammunition needed to mock her until the end of time. Harry and Meghan have been photographed holding hands on their way to a pub lunch in the Cotswolds. The photos are the first of the couple out together since their family returned to Britain in late August. They visited the Falkland Arms, with a source at the pub telling The Sun they fitted right in.

3:24 Everyone here gets the royal treatment. It doesn't matter who you are. We're lucky to get lots of different people visiting us, and everyone is treated like a local. When they visited, Harry and Meghan just acted like locals. According to The Sun, Meghan ordered gluten-free beer-battered haddock and chips with mushy peas and tartar sauce. Harry chose chicken, ham, and leek pie served with seasonal greens, mashed potatoes, and gravy. Both dressed casually. Meghan wore a black sweater, dark trousers, white trainers, and sunglasses. Harry paired jeans and an autumn jacket with a Santa Barbara Fire Department baseball cap. The Daily Beast's royal correspondent, Tom Sykes, suspects the outing may have involved cooperation with the photographer. Sykes points to the sharpness of the photographs, the photographer's position in the absence of a named credit. He also argues that the images offer a favourable picture of the Sussexes together, relaxed and enjoying an ordinary English pub visit. I'm profoundly unconvinced that this was a casual trip to the pub, he writes.

4:25 The Sun's Matt Wilkinson gave a different explanation on the newspaper's Newsroom podcast. As I say, this was almost like an accidental, you know, stumbled upon them and here they are walking to the pub. The pub outing has prompted a debate about what belongs beside a plate of fish and chips. Photographs shared by Megan's friend Kelly McGee-Zafshin showed the meal with tartare sauce and another accompaniment that appeared to be gravy. That was enough to draw a joking objection from the hosts of the Mirror's Pod Save the King podcast. This is sacrilege, Russell Myers said with a laugh. Jennifer Newton was willing to entertain one alternative. If it was curry sauce, I can say fair enough, but not with the gravy. Sorry. A copy of Megan's children's book, The Bench, was offered on eBay for almost £ 20, 000 with an inscription apparently addressed to Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank.

5:15 but the Express reports that neither the signature's authenticity nor the claim that Eugenie received the book has been confirmed. The price is the seller's asking price. Photographs accompanying the listing show a handwritten message dated 2021. It reads, Dear Euge and Jack, celebrating the special bond between father and son, I wrote this poem at Frogmore. I hope that, Euge, you witness the same love there with your guys. All love, Megan. The bench was published in 2021 and explores the relationship between a father and son through a mother's eyes, drawing on Megan's experience of watching Harry with Archie. The apparent dedication also refers to Frogmore Cottage, the Sussexes' former home where Eugenie and Jack reportedly lived after Harry and Megan moved to America. Eugenie and Jack welcomed their first son August in 2021. The cellar describes scratches and marks on the copy. The report does not establish how it reached the cellar. The listing has prompted questions on social media.

6:13 One person wrote, Too perfect to be real. The letters are too exact from word to word. Same shape, slant, twist. I think it's computer generated to look like her handwriting. The very gossipy, naughty, but nice sub stack has, of course, an unnamed source quoted. Eugenie called Megan herself. She was horrified the book had somehow ended up for sale and made it absolutely clear she would never knowingly sell a personal gift from Megan. More Palace in just a moment. Harry has spoken about losing part of his identity when he left the army, telling NATO military leaders that veterans need opportunities to continue contributing after their service ends. Addressing NATO's military committee in Brussels by video link, Harry drew on his own transition out of the armed forces in 2015.

7:00 When I hung up my uniform, I felt as though I had lost not simply a profession, but part of my purpose and identity. I was fortunate I had another way to serve. Harry's visit to a Birmingham school was meant to promote an education program connected with the Invictus Games. Instead, clips of apparently unimpressed students have become the story. Radar Online reports that footage from Nine Styles Academy included a teenager complaining about having six cameras in my face, while another clip showed a girl turning away as Harry tried to engage her. Royal biographer Robert Jobson delivered a blunt assessment on the Royalist podcast. I watched the video intently. and people that were there I've spoken to said the whole thing was very odd, very odd, and the kids were just distinctly unimpressed. But he looked a bit shabby, too.

7:46 I mean, he looked dishevelled, actually, and slightly tired and a little bit lost. There was nothing star quality about that school visit. It was all very shabby. He looked like he could do, actually, with someone like Megan there, who, love her or loathe her, does know how to perform. Jobson said people who attended described the visit as a mess. He also reported that the Sussex's communication chief Liam Maguire was present and appeared unhappy with how it was going. I'm not surprised, Jobson said. It looked a mess, and people that were there said it was a mess. There you have it. If you'd like to email us, our address is thepalaceintrigue at gmail.com. If you're on Spotify, leave us a comment. If you're on Apple, hit that button up there that says listen uninterrupted. Get the show commercial free for five bucks a month. We appreciate your support.

8:28 I'm Mark Francis. My thanks to John McDermott. This is Palace Intrigue, and good times.