Has the ‘Meghan effect’ influenced Kate to stop sharing her outfit details? Princess may be distancing herself from sister-in-law’s strategy of ‘monetising’ her style by wearing clothes from brands she’s invested in

The Princess of Wales is reportedly making an important change as she returns slowly to royal duties after being treated for cancer, and will no longer release details of the outfits she wears on public engagements. 

Explaining the decision, a Kensington Palace source told the Sunday Times that there is ‘an absolute feeling that it [the public work] is not about what the princess is wearing.’ 

This desire to keep the focus totally on her work is in direct contrast to the approach taken by her sister-in-law Meghan Markle who has spoken about how she wears outfits by brands she’s invested in, knowing they will get a sales boost.  

The Duchess of Sussex has been building her investment portfolio since she left the Firm with Prince Harry in 2020, and has put money into five to ten brands – including handbag label Cesta Collective, whose designs she’s sported on mulitple occasions. 

With Kate determined for the focus to be on her work, it raises the question of whether she wants to distance herself from her sister-in-law’s approach of putting the focus on her outfits. 

While the future Queen hasn’t invested money in any of the brands she wears, she is fully aware that her endorsement will give labels a welcome sales boost.  

Kate is often seen supporting her favourite British brands such as Sarah Burton, who designed her wedding dress, Jenny Packham, Boden, LK Bennett and Whistles.

The royal, 43, even made headlines during an outing on Thursday by donning a frock many could relate to – a £16 houndstooth Zara dress she has worn on multiple occasions.

Kate made headlines donning a frock many could relate to – a £16 houndstooth Zara dress she has worn on multiple occasions during an outing on Thursday

Meghan Markle has around five to ten brands in her investment portfolio, including Cesta Collective. Pictured wearing a bag from the brand during tour of Colombia in August 2024

Since Kate officially became a member of the Royal Family in 2011, Kensington Palace would routinely issue press with details of the garments she wore to events. But it seems that the mother-of-three is hoping to shine the spotlight away from her clothes and more on the work she does to help charities and other causes. 

The Duchess of Sussex, also known for her stylish and elegant ensembles, often dons accessories and clothing from ‘smaller, up-coming’ brands, before investing in a handful. 

Her wardrobe, like Kate’s, holds influential power, as a bag from the Scottish brand Strathberry sold out 11 minutes after Meghan was seen proudly sporting it on an engagement with Harry.

Finding out about the sales boost, which has been dubbed ‘the Meghan effect’, quickly ‘changed everything in terms of how [the Duchess] then looked at putting an outfit together’.

The former senior royal has around five to ten brands in her investment portfolio, including Cesta Collective, Clevr Blends, a vegan powdered latte brand, and Highbrow Hippie, a hair care and wellness company. 

The Duchess of Sussex – who ran lifestyle brand, The Tig, before meeting Prince Harry – first discovered Cesta when she was online shopping. 

She told the NYT: ‘I spend a lot of time just Googling, looking for brands. When people are online looking for things or reading things, I’m trying to find great new designers, especially in different territories.’ 

Meghan pictured with Cesta’s crossbody bag at the Invictus Games in Düsseldorf in September 2023

Meghan was snapped sporting an $800 (£649) white purse from the Collective to dinner with Harry in 2023. 

According to Cesta’s founders Erin Ryder and Courtney Weinblatt Fasciano, after the Duchess donned the piece, they had an uptick in sales.

Meghan then decided to invest in the brand to help it grow. Although she declined to reveal how much she had forked over, the founders of Cesta revealed that it was a minority stake.

In announcing her financial backing in August, the Duchess told NYT: ‘With Cesta, I really started to understand how many women’s lives were being impacted and uplifted through their work. That was incredibly important to me.’

However, a Mail on Sunday investigation published in December found that Cesta Collective – whose high-end designs sell for more than £700 a time – pays some of the women who make them as little as 10 pence an hour. 

Weavers working from their cement or mudbrick homes in isolated, rural villages in Rwanda can earn as little as 82p for an eight-hour day.

Cesta Collective, which boasts of its ‘fair compensation practices’, says the earning figures do take into account women’s other sources of income and said the World Bank figure was outdated and not equally applicable to all Rwandans. The World Bank confirmed the accuracy of the figure to the MoS.

Meghan explained to the NYT last year that when she knows there will be a ‘global spotlight’ on what she is wearing, she will ‘support designers that [she has] really great friendships with, and smaller, up-and-coming brands that haven’t gotten the attention that they should be getting.’

In 2019, Meghan was snapped wearing a pair of £630 earrings from then-new business Kimaï

Kate is often seen supporting her favourite British brands such as Jenny Packham (pictured)

Meghan added: ‘That’s one of the most powerful things that I’m able to do, and that’s simply wearing, like, an earring.’ 

Another brand that experienced ‘the Meghan effect’ is London-based lab-grown diamond company Kimaï. In 2019, the then-royal was photographed wearing its £630 Felicity earrings, which she bought herself.

According to Kimaï co-founders Jessica Warch and Sidney Neuhau, this sparked sales of $1.2 million (£945,000). 

The duo explained their profits over the past few years and how Meghan played a significant part in spiking sales. 

Jessica said: ‘We’ve launched without investment, and then two months after our launch we got Meghan Markle to wear our pieces, which enabled us to grow the revenue significantly, and from there we raised $1.2 million.’

The brand, which only uses stones made in a lab, as well as only using recycled gold, went on to secure a record-breaking investment from Dragon’s Den star Steven Bartlett, who injected £250,000 in exchange for a three per cent equity stake.

According to Jessica and Sidney, when pitching their company on the show, they noted that Meghan had worn the earrings. They say they used cold emails to get her to sport the accessories, adding that they are ‘big believers’ in the tactic, according to the Sun.

While she has not revealed all of the brands in her portfolio, Meghan has revealed that the investments all complement her own fledgling lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard.

During the Princess of Wales’ trip to Wimbledon last year, she donned a purple dress from British brand Safiyaa

The Duchess started her investment portfolio during the pandemic, during which time the outlet says there were fewer opportunities to ‘turn a paparazzi moment to her own ends’ because of the lockdowns.

However, while Meghan, who is attempting to re-enter the Hollywood scene after her stint as a royal, is perhaps used to showing off her garments on the red carpet, Kate would much rather her projects gain all the attention.

The Princess of Wales, dubbed one of the hardest working royals, was often seen out championing her causes and upholding her status as patron of several charities. 

But when she was diagnosed with cancer last year, the royal had to cancel much of her schedule.

Upon announcing that she was focusing on staying cancer-free in September, Kate said her journey had been a reminder ‘to reflect and be grateful for the simple things in life’, along with revealing that her health battle had given her ‘a new perspective on everything.’

Meghan Markle is pictured attending the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Gala in October 2024

Princess of Wales is snapped wearing a burgundy coat by Alexander McQueen and a matching hat by Sahar Millinery in December 2024

This is perhaps hinting that the Princess is hoping to provoke even more change with her visits this year. 

A close friend of Kate’s told the Sunday Times: ‘What was enormously frustrating and difficult for her, especially in the early days, was she was going out and doing the work she was interested in and was hugely important to her, and people just talked about what she was wearing.’ 

It is understood that Kensington Palace may issue details of Kate’s outfits on the most important occasions but not for other public duties. 

This is a far cry from when Meghan and Kate have previously allegedly argued over fashion contacts and bridesmaid dresses.

Prince Harry himself explained the tensions in his memoir Spare, saying that Meghan had raised a ‘misunderstanding’ with Kate while trying to unpick why the two couples weren’t getting along.

Explaining Meghan’s theory, he said: ‘Kate thought Meg had wanted her fashion contacts. But Meg had her own. They’d got off on the wrong foot perhaps?’

The pair’s relationship really started to flounder after an emotional conflict over Princess Charlotte’s bridesmaid dress at Harry and Meghan’s 2018 wedding. 

In October 2018, it was reported that a conflict over Princess Charlotte’s bridesmaid dress had left Kate in tears.

One unnamed friend claimed Kate wanted to follow ‘protocol’ with the bridesmaids, including Charlotte, then three, wearing tights – but Meghan disagreed.

In his book Revenge, Tom Bower claimed unnamed sources told him they disagreed over the length of Princess Charlotte’s hemline and the fit of her dress.

But the Duchess of Sussex later disagreed in her bombshell Oprah Winfrey interview, claiming it was the other way around and adding: ‘She [Kate] was upset about something, but she owned it, and she apologised. And she brought me flowers.’

Asking Harry about Kate and Meghan’s disagreement in January 2023, Harry’s friend Tom Bradby said: ‘Your version of it in this book is it was the other way round, Meghan was the one left in tears, Kate came round the next day with flowers to apologise and you’re careful to say there’s a witness.’

In response, Prince Harry admitted that ‘tensions were high’ at the time and blasted the Palace for not issuing a statement regarding the story.