EXCLUSIVE: Desperate Duchess Meghan Markle Dealing with 'Total Humiliation' As She's Now Branded 'Budget Royal' — 'She's Panicking Over Cash Flow After Business Brand Blows'
Meghan Markle is said to be panicking her fortune will soon run dry.
March 4 2025, Published 11:00 a.m. ET
Buckingham Palace courtiers have branded Meghan Markle a "budget royal" after her embarrassing "tailspin" rebrand of her lifestyle venture.
And the sniping flunkeys have joked her firm should be dubbed As If and not As Ever after she was forced into a humiliating climbdown after being refused a trademark for the enterprise's original name American Riviera Orchard, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
She is also launching her lifestyle line, retitled 'As Ever.'
An insider told us: "Word has it that there’s been quite the chuckle among certain groups back in London at the palace over a new name making the rounds: As If.
"It's a cheeky jab at the possibility of yet another flop from Meghan. Seriously, it’s all a bit of a hot mess.
"The whole situation seems so rushed and poorly thought out, with the brand name dispute making her look like she’s grasping at straws. Talk about budget royal vibes! She seems in a tailspin. She is worried that the brand won't take off and the cash won't roll in. "And bless her heart, Meghan is really trying to get it together. It’s tough when setbacks and negativity keep coming her way. She just wants to be liked and understood. It’s like she’s desperate for the world to see what Harry saw in her.
"With all that in mind, she's charging ahead with this latest rebrand, determined to prove all her haters wrong. Can you believe the gall?"
Markle's setbacks have included being dumped from content deals and copyright breach accusations.
Markle's hasty lifestyle site rebrand news came just days before her new Netflix series is set to air next month.
In what the Sussexes will hope will be a new money-spinner, products will include food such as “fruit preserves” as Markle grandly called them, adding: "I think we're all clear at this point that jam is my jam."
American Riviera Orchard emerged last year when she began sending jams in limited edition jars to her most famous friends to share on social media. But ARO, as a brand, crashed.
As Ever was launched in a close-up Instagram video in the Sussexes' Montecito garden where Markle gave a nod to the trademark row that saw her American Riviera Orchard application refused by the U.S. trademark office.
Markle has also been branded a Gwyneth Paltrow copycat over her attempts to launch a lifestyle and wellness-focused brand – just like the A-lister's hugely successful Goop empire.
Markle said: "Last year, I had thought, American Riviera, that sounds like such a great name. It's my neighborhood – it's a nickname for Santa Barbara, but it limited me to things that were just manufactured and grown in this area."
Patent applications suggest Markle's As Ever will also sell textiles such as tablecloths and napkins, skincare and haircare products and throws, blankets, bedspreads and household scents such as candles and diffusers.
There will also be gardening trowels, spades and pruning shears and for inside the home there will be cutlery and kitchen knives.
Markle appears in one of her teasers for her lifestyle site launch.
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Markle says As Ever will also cover cooking and crafting and gardening.
She also confirmed Netflix is a business partner and her products will be sold in two malls in the U.S. at the streaming giant's new brick-and-mortar stores.
And the duchess made a subtle nod to her fleeting time as a royal – during which time she was forced to shut down her former lifestyle blog, The Tig.
"If you’ve followed me since 2014 with The Tig you’ll know I’ve always loved cooking and crafting and gardening – this is what I do," she said.
Markle added in a pointed message to the royals: "I haven’t been able to share it with you in the same way for the past few years, but now I can."
