Will Charles stop Harry and Meghan cashing in on their titles? Experts warn cancer-stricken King ‘won’t have energy’ to intervene as Duchess’ new venture ‘trades off royal name despite agreement with late Queen’

Meghan Markle’s new luxury lifestyle brand is yet another attempt to ‘cash in’ on her royal status and may well breach the agreement she and Prince Harry struck with the late Queen, royal experts said today. 

The Duchess of Sussex launched American Riviera Orchard in a glitzy social media video last night, with the ‘word salad’ business set to flog homeware products and high-end food including jam, butter and coffee.

Publicity materials make no attempts to hide Meghan’s royal links or her brand’s nakedly commercial nature, with its Instagram profile including the caption ‘by Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex’. Meanwhile, visitors to the website are asked to provide their email for updates on ‘products’ and ‘availability’. ⁣⁣⁣

Meghan’s biographer Tom Bower said the initiative flies in the face of the Sussexes’ vow to the former Queen not to trade off their royal connections following the so-called ‘Sandringham Summit’ in 2022.

He told MailOnline: ‘Meghan and Harry promised they would not use their titles as commercial vehicles and they have broken that understanding. The only solution is for the King to strip the Sussexes of their titles. Hopefully he will find the resilience.’

Visitors to the American Riviera Orchard website are asked to enter their email for updates on ‘products’ and ‘availability’

Publicity materials make no attempts to hide Meghan’s royal links, with its Instagram profile including the caption ‘by Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex’

The brand’s launch video shows Meghan cooking in a stunning kitchen, with copper pans hanging over her head as she whisks

Phil Dampier, who wrote a book about Harry and Meghan’s romance in 2018, agreed that the ‘Gwyneth Paltrow style lifestyle range’ runs ‘contrary’ to the couple’s agreement with Elizabeth II. 

But he suggested King Charles’ preoccupation with his own fight with cancer and the Princess of Wales’ recovery from an abdominal operation meant the monarch was unlikely to take action. 

‘It’s hard to believe that Harry and Meghan would have used their titles for commercial gain so blatantly if Queen Elizabeth was still alive – now that she is no longer with us they sense a weakness and are exploiting it,’ he told MailOnline. 

‘The King won’t have the will or energy at the moment to fight this and so will let it go, but it just shows the hypocrisy of the Sussexes who criticise Harry’s family yet cling on to their royal titles for commercial gain.’

The Duchess of Sussex’s new project is said to have been in the works for more than a year – and will feature ‘all the things that are close to her heart’.

It is set to coincide with a new cookery show featuring Meghan on Netflix – where she will be making and selling her own products. 

‘This will lead onto a book and blog to go alongside her cookery displays. 

Meanwhile, a trademark application has been made covering cutlery, mugs, jams, tablecloths and recipe books as well as pantry items including coffee, jam and butter. 

The Sussexes’ most lucrative commercial agreement following Megxit was a five-year deal signed with Netflix in 2020, which was worth an estimated $100million (£80million)

Meghan and Harry’s £15million Spotify contract ended early in June last year

Last night’s launch sparked particular controversy due to its timing, with Meghan’s Instagram video published just 45 minutes before Prince William went on stage at the Diana Legacy Awards.

It was also on the fourth anniversary of what Prince Harry called their ‘freedom flight’, where he filmed himself celebrating officially emigrating to the US. 

The Sussexes have been looking for new ways to make money to pay for their costly security needs and $9.5million (£7.5m) mortgage for their mansion in Montecito, California.

Their most lucrative commercial agreement following Megxit was a five-year deal signed with Netflix in 2020, which was worth an estimated $100million (£80million).

They are said to be working on ‘a bunch’ of new Netflix projects including a film and two other ‘unscripted’ projects, but there has been uncertainty over whether the deal will be renewed next year, especially after their £15million Spotify contract ended early in June last year. 

This decision was also the subject of significant controversy, with Spotify’s head of podcast innovation and monetisation labelling the couple ‘f***ing grifters’ after the entire partnership saw Meghan produce just 13 episodes of her podcast series, Archetypes. 

Last night’s launch sparked particular controversy due to its timing, with Meghan’s Instagram video published just 45 minutes before Prince William went on stage at the Diana Legacy Awards. Pictured is William being greeted at the event by Tessy Oho

Royal expert Phil Dampier said: ‘It’s hard to believe that Harry and Meghan would have used their titles for commercial gain so blatantly if Queen Elizabeth was still alive’  

Harry and Meghan’s decision to relaunch their ‘Sussex.com’ website last month has been seen as part of a wider ‘relaunch’ by the California-based royals. 

The new homepage features Meghan’s coat of arms and glowing biographies for the couple, as well as the latest news about the pair. 

Many close to the royal household saw it as a flagrant breach of the supposedly cast-iron assurances Harry and Meghan gave the late Queen when they acrimoniously quit as working royals in 2020, and comes perilously close to using their royal status for commercial gain. 

Others described it as a betrayal of the agreement, ‘if not in letter, certainly in spirit’.

But a source close to the couple brushed off the claims and defended the use of their royal titles for the website. They said: ‘Prince Harry and Meghan are the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. That is a fact. It is their surname and family name.’

While American Riviera Orchard may yet prove a money-spinning venture, the Sussexes are likely to continue to look for work in the world of media and entertainment in order to supplement their post-Megxit income. 

The pair made an unexpected visit to Jamaica in January to attend the premiere of Bob Marley: One Love and support the Marley family, and were guests of Paramount Pictures which distributed the film. 

This sparked fears that Harry and Meghan’s could become ‘Royals for hire‘, with insiders reportedly saying a deal with the movie studio could be in the pipeline. 

Archewell has been contacted for comment. 

Harry and Meghan’s decision to relaunch their ‘Sussex.com’ website last month has been seen as part of a wider ‘relaunch’ by the California-based royals 

The Duchess of Sussex’s coat of arms appears on the newly launched Sussex.com website