Meghan Markle wants to be a ‘fairy-tale princess’ and is ‘insulting’ people with her advice on how to make a cup of tea from her As Ever range, a new take-down by a former champion of the Sussexes’ says.
The Duchess of Sussex is in the midst of an ‘identity crisis’ where she lurches between being a British duchess and a California mum feeding her children chicken nuggets, New York Magazine claims.
In a stinging feature, Margaret Hartmann says that people who are unsure about her new lifestyle brand, hawking quintessentially British staples such as tea, jam and shortbread, are probably ‘annoying’ to the former Suits star.
‘Meghan felt the need to explain (twice!) that tea is prepared by steeping bags in hot water.
‘Don’t I understand her journey from super-relatable mildly famous person to literal royal who is still very relatable?’, the writer adds sarcastically.
And as well as not knowing who exactly she is, Meghan is not clear on who her customers are either, she says, adding that Meghan is ‘wavering between acting like I’ve never made tea and assuming I regularly throw together Champagne-honey vinaigrette for my ladies’ lunches’.
Ms Hartmann remarks on how she’d like to know if Meghan sprinkles her edible flowers on the Tater Tots – an American bite-sized frozen hash brown – that she claims she serves to Archie and Lilibet, or on her husband’s breakfast.
New York Magazine has previously praised Harry and Meghan as ‘perfect for eachother’ and celebrated her for her speaking out on the rights of women and against racism.
But it has today published an excoriating review of her new As Ever brand with its $28 (£21.60) honey, $14 (£10.80) raspberry jam, $15 (£11.60) flower sprinkles and three types of tea that could easily be from the shelves of Harrods or Fortnum and Mason in London.
The range appear have a British influence. But are in stark contrast to a recent claim made by a source close to the Duchess of Sussex that she ‘never felt at home’ in the UK and ‘never wants to set foot again in England’.
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex attend the Christmas Day Church service with the Royal Family at Sandringham in 2018. The couple are now estranged from most of Harry’s relatives
Meghan says by using her edible flowers ‘adds a finishing touch worth smiling about’
When it comes to tea, Meghan says: ‘Steep in hot water and share with loved ones’
Harry and Meghan have also fallen out spectacularly with the British Royal Family and just one in five of the British public have a positive view of them, a recent poll revealed.
In a piece entitled ‘Meghan Markle’s As Ever is selling an identity crisis’, New York Magazine says: ‘Who, exactly, is Meghan? An expert homemaker graciously sharing her recipe for homemade dog biscuits or a novice eager to learn from her celebrity friends? Real-life fairy-tale princess (okay, duchess) or chill-yet-stylish California girl espousing the joys of Jack in the Box?’
The publication goes to town on her British-related products and the lifestyle and serving suggestions the duchess offers up with them.
‘These ping-ponged between insultingly basic and depressingly out of reach’, the writer says.
She goes on: ‘As a self-described latchkey kid, whose parents were divorced, Meghan loved to pick up fast food — Jack in the Box curly fries were a favorite — and go home to watch back-to-back cooking shows on Food Network.
‘Yet the As Ever website suggests that after a long school day children should be greeted with freshly made crêpes’ – served with a cosy cuddle and milk, adding: ‘Maybe this is all for Prince Harry’s benefit?’
Citing Meghan’s new ‘Herbal Peppermint Tea’, Margaret Hartmann says: ‘Meghan felt the need to explain (twice!) that tea is prepared by steeping bags in hot water, resulting in a flavourful beverage that can be enjoyed at midday or by a fire. It felt a tad insulting’.
But in contrast her hibiscus tea tips including making a ‘simple’ hibiscus syrup.
‘This had me reeling. Am I doing enough to create “childhood memories of wonder” for my family? How exactly do I cook down hibiscus tea into a simple syrup?’, the article says.
‘Should my loved ones be using clear glass water bottles so they can see the hibiscus-tea ice cubes I lovingly brew, freeze, and add to their drinks each day for a “pop of colour”?’
Yesterday MailOnline revealed how Meghan has outsourced flogging her jam, edible flowers and crepe mix to a web firm accused by its customers of being a ‘horrible’ company selling items ‘they don’t have in stock or don’t exist at all’.
Meghan Markle has claimed that all her products sold out in 30 minutes. One expert claimed today: ‘It’s obviously a marketing ploy’
The Duchess of Sussex‘s As Ever range went on sale in the US on Wednesday and she was celebrating when they sold out within half an hour of going live.
An almighty row has broken out after fans rushed to buy products but found they were immediately sold out or unavailable.
Meghan and her team have outsourced the sales to Snow Commerce.
In the small print on Meghan’s As Ever website, it says the Cincinnati-based online sales business is ‘solely responsible for all aspects of your purchase’.
But MailOnline can reveal that Snow Commerce has suffered a slew of poor reviews in recent years – and has the lowest possible rating with arguably America’s most influential consumer rights organisation.
One unhappy customer has warned: ‘Do not buy anything from any company that uses this joke of a company’. Another critic said: ‘They are ridiculously bad, they’re allegedly selling items that they don’t have in stock or don’t exist at all’.
It came after well-placed sources insisted that Meghan’s claims her products sold out in 30 minutes was part of a ‘common marketing ploy’ to ‘fake demand’ and also hoover up the data from people visiting the website.
‘Showing that there is a sell out is very common for new brands to fake demand. There is no warehouse full of jams’, one industry insider told MailOnline today, adding of all those who have signed up to be notified when its products are back on sale: ‘Meghan has all their data now’.
The small print on the As Ever website reveals that all sales are through controversial business Snow Commerce
Snow Commerce has a one-star rating on America’s Better Business Bureau (BBB), a highly influential consumer rights organisation in the US
Snow Commerce has gained a foothold in the entertainment industry. It was recently sold to Latvian company Printful.
As well as Meghan’s new lifestyle venture, it has also managed web-sales for Warner Brothers, HBO, Discovery and NBCUniversal.
But it has a one-star rating on America’s Better Business Bureau (BBB) – a non-profit organisation set up in 1912 to build a ‘culture of honesty and fairness in business transactions’ in the US.
One unhappy customer said last month that they found that nobody at Snow Commerce cares ‘at all how it makes you feel when you spend $150, your item never gets shipped and nobody tells you why. Never has a business treated me like that’.
Another told the BBB: ‘Stay away from this company at all costs!.
A third critic said: ‘Horrible business, items shown on website do not represent what will be received’.
