Meghan Markle's venture into selling jam under her "As Ever" brand has drawn commentary, with writer Jan Moir questioning the Duchess's motivations and the product's quality and pricing. The "spiced apple spread" joins previous offerings like apricot, raspberry, strawberry, and blackberry jams, which Moir describes as being of "middling quality but high price."
Moir suggests that Markle's choice of jam was an attempt to create a product connected to her new California home, intended to appear wholesome and commercially resonant without seeming like a "desperate moneygrubber." The article contrasts the "As Ever" brand with established high-end products from Daylesford Organic and King Charles's Highgrove range, noting that Markle's jam is more expensive and not organic, with proceeds not all going to charity.
Commentary also extended to Prince Harry, with Moir suggesting his situation in America has led to unemployment, despite his "thousand-year lineage and impeccable connections." The article points to his reported work with Spotify, which yielded ideas such as "taste testing hot chocolate and interviewing world leaders such as Vladimir Putin about their broken childhoods." Moir expresses skepticism about the potential for Meghan Markle to revive her acting career, stating she has "novelty value" but cannot command top salaries or sustain the gravitas for major roles.
The Sussexes' recent public statement condemning Meta for its data-extraction business model on children and accusing the tech giant of settling a lawsuit to avoid accountability is also addressed. Moir likens their intervention to "Mickey and Minnie Mouse firing a peashooter at King Kong," suggesting the couple "remain imbued with a mutual god complex" and are driven by a mission to "deliver us all from evil and make the world a better place, chiefly for themselves."
The piece further highlights perceived hypocrisy in their stance on social and environmental issues, contrasting their advocacy with their use of private jets and enrollment of their children in elite private schools in the Cotswolds, a region noted for its predominantly white population and high concentration of wealthy individuals. This is framed as a contradiction to Prince Harry's concerns over rising social divisions and climate change.
In unrelated commentary, the article touches on tributes following the death of Dolly Parton, Gigi Hadid's claims of early-career body shaming, and the case of Ibrahim Albashir, a Sudanese asylum seeker sentenced for an attempted murder. The latter part of the article discusses broader issues of public safety, asylum policy, and the supervision of individuals within the justice system.