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Just before one of the biggest royal events of the year took place, the Princess of Wales (formerly known as Kate Middleton) announced that she would be attending Trooping the Colour.

And just hours before the princess’s long-anticipated appearance, Meghan Markle did something that a royal expert has labeled as “ridiculous” and “a joke” while another commentator questioned if the duchess’s blunder means she has decided to throw up the “white flag.”

Royal expert calls what Meghan did and the timing of it ‘ridiculous’

In March, Meghan announced the launch of her lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard, but has been slow to roll out her products, only sending out 50 jars of strawberry jams to her friends and social media influencers. However, mere hours before the Trooping the Colour ceremony began, Meghan released two more products from her line: raspberry jam and dog biscuits.

Meghan Markle at the Defence Headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria
Meghan Markle at the Defense Headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria | Andrew Esiebo/Getty Images for The Archewell Foundation

Royal expert and public relations consultant Richard Fitzwilliams was almost in disbelief that Meghan tried to steal the headlines away from Trooping and Kate’s return with those products.

Fitzwilliams told The Sun: “The idea that they would do something on the day of Trooping the Colour. I mean, it’s pretty silly. I mean, it is a clash of a sort. What was done was just silly. We know in March Meghan launched American Riviera Orchard. We know that she sent some 50 jars of strawberry jam to some of her pals and influencers, she had a few endorsements, but this wasn’t really very impressive. There weren’t many A-listers who said how wonderful it was.”

Fitzwilliams continued: “What’s so odd is that she did anything on the day of Trooping the Colour at all, it doesn’t make any sense … The label on the jar said two of two, if she’s only going to send two jars out, what on earth is the point? … I don’t think it’s been thought out. This makes no public relations sense. It’s ridiculous.

“Meghan would not have been advised to do this by any of her public relation consultants … It’s very, very odd. 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. This is something of a joke.”

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Another commentator says it’s like the Sussexes ‘raised the white flag’

Some other commentators did have a laugh at Meghan’s expense. They poked fun at her for not coming up with something better to release and thought she could take attention away from such a big royal event.

Talk TV host Mike Graham opined that such a “pathetic” brand strategy by the duchess is the equivalent of “raising the white flag.”

“It is pathetic. It’s almost as though now they’ve [the Sussexes] run out of road,” Graham said. “Haven’t they kind of gone ‘Well I guess we’re just gonna have to raise the white flag’ but try to go out somehow gracefully. Dog biscuits really not the way to go though.”