Meghan Markle has stirred controversy after signing off a gift with the official title Her Royal Highness – despite an agreement with the Palace to not use it after stepping down from her role
Meghan Markle has come under fresh scrutiny after it emerged she used her royal title in a manner some experts are calling “pompous” – despite having formally stepped back from royal life four years ago.
The Duchess of Sussex, who alongside Prince Harry, agreed to relinquish the use of “Her Royal Highness” as part of their 2020 Megxit agreement with the Palace, appeared to blur the lines of that deal when she sent a gift to a fellow entrepreneur.
The present, a luxury basket gifted to make-up mogul Jamie Kern Lima, came with a monogrammed card signed: “With Compliments of HRH The Duchess of Sussex.” The gesture might have gone unnoticed – had Jamie not shared the moment in footage promoting her new podcast episode featuring Meghan, released this week.
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While the duchess’s representative insisted on Monday that the couple do not use their HRH titles, a source later clarified that while the styles are retained, they are not used publicly or for commercial purposes.
But royal expert Jennie Bond believes the duchess is skating on thin ice.
“She’s walking a very thin line here,” Jennie told the Mirror. “Was the gift of her ‘jam’ to a make-up entrepreneur really just a ‘private’ gift or a commercial placement? I would suggest the jury is out as to whether her quite superfluous use of HRH was for commercial kudos. But I think the Palace will simply rise above it.”
The HRH style has long been a contentious issue, particularly since Prince Andrew was stripped of using it amid scandal. Meghan and Harry, who gave a bombshell interview after sensationally losing his Court of Appeal challenge over his security arrangements in the UK, still technically hold the titles, but they have been expected not to use them, especially in business contexts.
“I don’t think we’ll see any formal action from the King or the Palace,” Bond added. “It’s really not worth the row and ill-feeling it would cause. But I do think it’s rather crass and pompous of Meghan. I don’t want to be part of the pile-on, but you really shouldn’t try to bake your cake and eat it!”
Jennie went on to question why the duchess continues to lean on the royal identity she once seemed eager to escape.
“She turned her back on royal life. She now says she and Harry were ‘in the trenches’ within six months of meeting, so it really does beg the question: why does she want to cling on to any vestige of a life she so clearly despised?” she said. “I thought America was all about equality – so why try to be superior?”
Despite the controversy, Jennie struck a more compassionate tone when reflecting on Meghan and Harry’s life today, away from royal duties and nestled in the Californian hills.
“I’m glad that Meghan and Harry seem so happy now. She clearly feels they have found their feet and put their traumatic past behind them,” Bond said. “These days it seems to be all about Meghan – and that’s fair enough. She’s a successful, independent woman earning her own way in life and with the man she loves at her side.”
Still, she acknowledged the tension that may have existed during Meghan’s short-lived time as a working royal.
“I’ve always believed that part of the problem was that Meghan never understood that she would not be CEO of the Firm she was joining – the Royal Family – and she wouldn’t even be managing director. She would be part of the team. And that perhaps is not her greatest forte.”
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