How Meghan and Harry Counterprogrammed a Week of Palace PR Bedlam

After Kate Middleton sparked confusion around the world with a photoshopped Mother’s Day portrait on Sunday, “sources close to” Meghan Markle and Prince Harry couldn’t help but twist the knife in comment to Page Six. “This isn’t a mistake that Meghan would ever make,” the insider said. “She has a keen eye and freakish attention to detail.”

Perhaps onlookers shouldn’t have been surprised when, on Thursday, Meghan made her much-foreshadowed return to Instagram with a mysterious account called American Riviera Orchard. Without divulging the new brand’s purpose, a spokesperson for the duchess confirmed that the account and its associated website was legitimate. The account’s Story featured a soft-focus, sepia-toned video of Meghan stirring a bowl in a rustic kitchen, as “I Wish You Love” by Nancy Wilson played in the background. It’s a new beginning for the former actress known for her love of lifestyle blogging, and an application filed last week with the US Patent and Trademark Office provides a few hints. Get ready for tableware, cookbooks, textiles and linens, jellies, jams, and marmalades, plus “retail store services.”

Meghan’s California reverie stands in sharp contrast to the mood around her former home of Windsor, where Kate’s long absence from royal duties following “planned abdominal surgery” has escalated speculation to a fever pitch, and royal duties roll on sans King Charles III. Amid reports that Kate felt “awful” after the photograph was rejected by photo agencies around the globe, Prince William carried out his duties somberly. On Monday he joined Queen Camilla for the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey, an event that used to feature former Commonwealth ambassadors Meghan and Harry prominently. Later on, he spoke about climate change at an event where his Earthshot Prize charity launched an online matching platform for sustainability minded entrepreneurs. On Tuesday, he attended a St. James’s Chapel funeral for Thomas Kingston, the late husband of his cousin Lady Gabriella Kingston. He stuck to a full-time schedule through the week, visiting a youth center in London on Thursday morning.  During a craft activity, he told a group of kids, “My wife is the arty one.”

Nothing illustrated the divide between the couples who once carried the misnomer of “Fab Four” more than Harry and William’s separate appearances at the Thursday evening celebration honoring the 25th anniversary of the Diana Award. Events honoring their late mother had always brought the brothers together until now, even after Harry and wife Meghan Markle left their royal roles in 2020 amid family acrimony. 

On Thursday, William was the only brother to attend the event at the Science Museum in London, honoring 20 recipients of the Legacy Award, which rewards young people whose service projects have changed their communities. William gave a speech introducing a few of those winners, where he name-checked his wife again in his homage to his late mother. “I know that she would have been honored to see a charity in her name doing such inspirational work to uplift young people from all corners of the globe,” he said. “She taught me that everyone has the potential to give something back, that everyone in need deserves a supporting hand in life. That legacy is something that both Catherine and I have sought to focus on through our work.”

According to People, he left the event around 8:30 pm. It wasn’t until midnight—or about five p.m. on Pacific time—that Harry began his planned informal video call with the night’s award winners. With a wood-paneled ceiling in the background, Harry said he was “seriously impressed” with their work and joked about the late hour. “Enjoy the rest of your evening if that’s what you plan to do,” he said in footage posted on the website he shares with Meghan. “Don’t get in too much trouble if you’re continuing to go on. And thank you very much for inspiring so many others and, at the same time, protecting my mother’s legacy. I really appreciate that.”