Royal Commentator Says Meghan Markle Is ‘Petrified’ About Launching Her Lifestyle Brand for This Reason
For several months now fans have heard that Meghan Markle is going to launch her own lifestyle brand, but they’re still waiting.
Back in March, Prince Harry’s wife returned to Instagram to announce her new business American Riviera Orchard. It was said that the brand was going to sell a variety of home decor and kitchen items including decanters, napkin rings, cutlery, table linens, placemats and napkins, and cookbooks, and will offer edibles like “jellies, jams, marmalades, fruit preserves, vegetable-based spreads, legume-based spreads, nut-based spreads, garlic-based spreads, sesame-based spreads, dairy-based spreads, nut butters, and fruit butters.”
But so far the duchess has only produced some jars of jam and dog biscuits, which she sent to friends and social media influencers but has not been made available to the public yet. This has plenty of people asking: What’s the holdup? Well according to one royal commentator, Meghan is “petrified” about launching her brand for one reason.
Commentator explains why Meghan is so scared to fully launch her brand
There’s been so much chatter about why after a tease via social media several months ago products for the former Suits star‘s brand still aren’t available.
There have been reports that it has to do with Meghan not being able to find enough employees (mainly a CEO), to run the brand amid the “dictator in high heels” and “demon boss” allegations against her. But commentator and To Di For Daily podcast host Kinsley Scholfield thinks there’s another reason the launch is being delayed.
Schofield opined, “[Meghan] is petrified of being judged. She’s petrified of the negative reaction. And I think that is a fair fear because we’ve had eight months. We’ve waited so long that we’re going to go over everything with a fine-tooth comb if and when it launches.”
Schofield added that she keeps hearing Meghan is “just so fearful to push that live button.” However, she acknowledged that other reports say that the Duchess of Sussex doesn’t want to launch anything until her cooking and gardening show on Netflix comes out and that won’t be until some time in 2025.
Meghan’s other big problem that has delayed the launch
In September, Express reported that the Duchess of Sussex’s U.S. trademark application was rejected. According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Meghan’s trademark was denied because she did not meet a requirement to amend the identification of goods and the wording for the products wanting to be trademarked was too broad. Those included “cocktail napkins,” “pans,’” and “cooking utensils, namely, strainers, spoons, forks, spatulas, tongs, spreaders, whisks” and “soap dispensers.”
The 46-page document also included screenshots of another Santa Barbara company using the term “American Riviera” to sell a specific candle and several web pages demonstrating that Santa Barbara is widely known as the American Riviera.
Another company is also trying to block America Riveria Orchard from moving forward. The New York Post, Harry & David has filed a letter of protest with USPTO claiming that Markle’s business shares too similar a name with its Royal Riviera line of fruits. Therefore, Harry & David argue that there is a “likelihood of confusion” should Markle be granted her trademark.
Meghan was given three months to respond to the “nonfinal officer action” issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office or risk having her application dropped. Currently, the ARO trademark applications are still marked as “pending” on the USPTO website.
