March 24, 2026

Meghan’s $255 Tea Box Backfires as Netflix Questions Grow

Show Notes
Transcript

Meghan Markle’s latest lifestyle offering is drawing sharp criticism, with a $255 tea and flower box sparking backlash over price, presentation, and optics. The reaction comes as questions continue about her broader brand strategy, including reports of internal Netflix frustration and underwhelming business performance. As the Duchess looks ahead to an Australia visit and new trademark filings, PR experts suggest this could be a turning point for the Sussex brand.

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Calorogus Shark Media. He hello and welcome to Palace Intrigue.

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I am your host, Mark Francis. Megan Mickle's Garden Tea

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Bloom Box, positioned as a seasonal Easter themed offering, is

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priced at two hundred and fifty five dollars, with an

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additional thirty five dollars for shipping within the United States.

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The set includes Herbal peedpermint tea, sage honey with honeycomb,

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and a selection of fresh flowers, including Guardina's white peonies,

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Jasmine Minton, Camellia greens. The brand says the product is

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designed as a blend of wellness and presentation, with customs

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encouraged to arrange the long stem flowers into bouquets or

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display the loose blooms around the home. The box was

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created in collaboration with High Camp Supply and is limited

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to one per order, with delivery planned ahead of Easter. However,

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reaction online has been sharply critical. Some users have questioned

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whether the content's justice fire the cost. One post reads

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two hundred and fifty five dollars for a few flowers,

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one tin of tea, and one jar of honey. Do

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I have that right. Another said, on what planet is

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that box worth two hundred and fifty five dollars? One

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a third wrote, wtf has Megan mikel thinking? If she

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can think with this bunch of ugly flowers a bottle

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of honey in a box of tea selling at this

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ridiculous price? Is she insane? Criticism has also focused on presentations.

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Some commenters suggested the flowers appeared loosely arranged rather than

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styled as a traditional bouquet. One reaction stated, flowers in

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a box not even an arrangement, reflecting concerns that the

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visual execution does not match the product's luxury positioning. Another observed, Honestly,

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I'm not even trying to be mean. This looks so lazy.

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She needs shorter beget the real plate and silverware looked

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like an afterthought, stuffed under the giant bagett The honey

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looks like it might fall out. This is supposed to

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sell her products. Some questioned partnering with a luxury floral

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company shipping arrangements overnight from color California to ensure freshness.

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One person wrote, marketed to the ultra wealthy just to

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have flowers on the table for a week how's that

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commitment to making more thoughtful choices going? Another added the

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eco hypocrites are added again. So while Harry is preaching

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about climate change and reducing our carbon footprint through travelist,

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Megan is collaborating with a company that actively increases carbon

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emissions on a daily basis for flowers that will die

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within a week. As if that isn't enough. Some critics

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zeroed in on the styling of the tea basket, particularly

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the inclusion of the large baguette position among the flowers

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tea and honey. One commenter wrote, ew OMG, did she

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not see that it looks like a phallus when she

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put it in there, like it has an erection? Another joke,

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it looks like flowers with a heart on. A third wrote,

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the baguett is awkwardly thrust into the mix, completely unbalancing

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the basket of merch. It's a metaphor for when she

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thrusts herself into photo ops, etc. Comic relief host Joel

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Domit has made light of past comes by Meghan Mirkle,

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joking about her early remarks regarding Prince Harry. During a

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recent podcast appearance, the presenter referred to Meghan's widely discussed

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claim that she had not researched Harry before their relationship.

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Speaking in her twenty twenty one interview with Oprah, Meghan said, well,

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I didn't do any research about what that would mean.

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I'd never looked up my husband online. I just didn't

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feel the need to because everything that I needed to

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know he was sharing with me right Everything that he

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thought I needed to know he was telling me. Donald

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referenced those comments while discussing how he met his own wife, Hannah,

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during an appearance on de Vina McCall's Begin Again podcast.

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Reflecting on their early interactions, he explained, my wife slid

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into my DMS. The TV was on in the corner

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of the bar, and she saw me on Lorraine. She

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hadn't seen any of the junk about a previous catfishing

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situation he fell victim to. He then made a tongue

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in cheek comparison to Megan Mikle's remarks, adding that same

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way that Meghan Michal didn't know Prince Harry, Oh what

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is a prince? And inside it tells Radar Online. There

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is strong feelings that Meghan is blaming everyone but herself

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for what is being described as the Netflix and downfall

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from the platform's expectations to external collaborators and in particular

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Prince Harry. Another insider added, the perception is that rather

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than reassessing strategy, responsibilities being pushed outward, including onto Harry,

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which has complicated their working dynamic. She feels he wasn't

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as open to the showbiz world as she was and

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didn't share her dreams. According to reporting from Allison Bouschoff

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in The Daily Mail, concerns about Megan Mankle's business ventures

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ultimately came down to performance rather than personality. A source

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said the issue was sales. In the end, the product

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was not taken up in a way that people had hoped.

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The jam thing became tootemic. There was just all this jam.

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We had thought there would be more to it. The

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failure was more to do with the product and the

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business model which didn't work, than a people think about

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Megan being difficult, although here there was an element of both.

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The comparison to other successful partnerships was also noted. The

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source said, what we have with bridget And, for instance,

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is a commercial brand partnership with an existing outlet. But

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that's not what we had here. It didn't work, and

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so it came to an end separately and inside a

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toll page six. Netflix put millions behind this deal, and

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I don't think they saw a return whatsoever. They just

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cut a loss. There are also reports of internal frustration,

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with one staff and saying there are a lot of

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people who really did not enjoy working with meganon with Love.

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There is no love lost. According to comments made on

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The Daily Expresso Show, host jj Ani Coobi said Netflix

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chief executive Ted Saranders moved ahead with the partnership despite

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internal resistance. He said Surrenders was warned in advance, don't

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do this deal, but he's the top dog and he said, no,

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this is going to be great. The deal, reportedly worth

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one hundred million dollars, initially appeared to pay off with

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the success of the documentary Harry and Meghan and Hisicobi

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described that early moments, saying they released a documentary Harian

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Meghan and it was super successful, right most watched documentary

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on Netflix. Ever, however, he claimed momentum did not continue,

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and then every project after that has been pitiful. It's

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been pitiful. People don't care about Megan Markle as a brand.

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People don't care about her cooking shows with the rich

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Hollywood meets. He also suggested the decision has come back

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to reflect poorly on leadership, saying Netflix, the senior staff,

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none of them wanted this to happen, but Sarrander's pushed

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a head regardless and now he has egg on his face.

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I'm happy he's at least woken up to this and

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has now pulled the plug officially. But he was warned

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and went ahead with it anyway. Separate reporting is pointed

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to a cooling of relations. More broadly. One source said

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Ted let them stay over at his place while their

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place was being renovated. They were very close. The same

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source added she didn't care to take the advice offered

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by the Netflix head of Consumer Products, Josh Simon, after

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he left Netflix last year to take a new role elsewhere.

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The writing was on the wall or Palance. In just

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a moment, did Crown is our royalists to hear at Palace?

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Intrigue and a piece for a premium subscribers. On Monday,

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he broke down the options the Sussexes have for Australia.

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There's a link in the show notes if you'd like

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to sample the newsletter. Ahead of the Australia trip, the

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Duchess has secured trademark protection for as Ever in Australia

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across a wide range of product categories. These are said

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to include cosmetics of fragrances, food seasonings, as well as

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both alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks, yogurt straps, pet feeding mats,

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bath and shower jels, jewelry furniture, gardening trials, gardening shears,

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gardening wedding forks in a garden tool gift set. Clearly

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a focused lifestyle brand, the move has been interpreted as

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a potential step toward launching the brand and this new market,

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possibly using the visit as an opportunity to raise its

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profile locally. Megan was accused of breaking a promise to

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Queen Elizabeth by royal expert Tom Bauer, who told Australian

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news outlet The Daily Telegraph. First of all, Meghan is

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doing it for money. It's rather grubby. She's monetizing her royalty,

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which I think is pretty shabby because she promised the

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Queen that she wouldn't do that. I think they are

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going to find it much rougher than they anticipated when

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they arranged this trip. This trip to Australia is clearly

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to make money to raise their profile. PR expert Maya

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Riaz spoke to The Mirror about the Variety Netflix story

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and said it's definitely a reality check. Netflix was their

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biggest credibility marker in Hollywood and losing it kind of

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backing dance their power couple status. That said, in PR terms,

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relevance really is currency, and they still do have plenty

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of it. The danger for them isn't disappearing, it's becoming

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over exposed. Without a clear hit project right now, they

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risk looking like celebrities without a defining success story. Maya

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suggested the Prince Harry retained stronger individual positioning. She said

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he does still have strong individual brand equity, particularly around

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his military background and charitable work. He comes across as

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more relatable and less polarizing than Megan in the public eye.

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From a PR standpoint, I would say that he is

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the safer asset. If managed correctly, he could pivot into

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a more respected, purpose led figure. The challenges that right

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now he feels tied to a joint narrative that sadly

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isn't always working in his favor. What's needed is less

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glossy deals, more grounded storytelling. Audiences are tired of what

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feels like curated vulnerability. If they want authenticity back, they

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need to show consistency between what they say and what

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they do. A strong move for them would be focusing

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on one meaningful project and seeing it through properly, rather

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than spreading themselves too thin. In short, less talking more doing.

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Maya suggested the Australia trip won't help the cause. Well,

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this is where perception becomes a problem. At a time

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when they're facing criticism around relatability and authenticity, Attaching her

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name to a high ticket exclusive event feels totally toned, deaf.

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It plays into the narrative that they are out of touch.

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The risks undermining any message about wanting to connect with

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everyday people. The optic does really matter, and this one

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is tricky since the message that access to Megan is

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a luxury product, which really doesn't say comfortably with the

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brand they've been trying to build overall, I'd say this

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isn't a collapse, but it is a turning point. They

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either reset and become more focused and credible, or they

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risk drifting into celebrity noise without substance. The habit. If

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you like to email us addresses the Palace intrig at

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gmail and dot com. Please follow us on Spotify, Apple

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or the Apple your choice. By Mark Francis My thanks

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00:10:26.200 --> 00:10:29.600
to John McDermott. This is palace entry and good terms.

Meghan’s $255 Tea Box Backfires as Netflix Questions Grow

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