Are Meghan and Buckingham Palace in a royal jam war?
Meghan, Duchess of SusđâŻđ, and Buckingham Palace have found themselves in a sticky situation.
As Meghan began sending out jams from her new lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard, the palace touted its own spread, leading many to wonder if the two sides are engaged in a cold war over marmalades.
Or perhaps a Buckingjam?
Style is where The Washington Post covers happenings on the front lines of culture and what it all means, including the arts, media, social trends, politics and yes, fashion, all told with personality and deep reporting. For more Style stories, click here.End of carousel
The release soon got messy when the Buckingham Palace Shop released an Instagram video Wednesday promoting its royal strawberry preserve. âOur Strawberry Preserve is made using only the finest berries and is delicious served in a variety of ways,â the palace said in its video caption.
The palaceâs post was deemed by some as a smear campaign against Meghan and her impending brand, which launched on social media last month. Many commenters said the palace was shading Meghan. âWait! Did the Palace just subtly troll Ms. Montecito?!â one user wrote. There was also some debate about which jam is better. (Buckingham Palace did not respond to a request for comment.)
Not long after, Chrissy Teigen shouted out the American Riviera Orchardâs strawberry jam in her own video post. Teigen and Meghan worked on âDeal or No Dealâ as briefcase girls for a short period.
âThis might be one of the best bites weâve had all year,â Teigen captioned her video, which was set to the song âJammingâ by Bob Marley and the Wailers. The jam (and some rustic bread, crème brie and bacon) âmade us happy for the entire weekend,â she wrote.
Itâs not surprising internet sleuths believe this timeline is more than coincidence. Meghan and Prince Harry announced in January 2020 that they would be stepping back from their roles and duties as senior members of the royal family.
The posts come roughly one month after Meghan announced the launch of American Riviera Orchard, a Montecito, Calif.-based brand that conjures memories of her blog the Tig or Richard Christiansenâs Flamingo Estate. According to People, the brand filed a trademark application to sell âtableware, drinkware including decanters, kitchen linens and edible treats such as jellies, jams, marmalade and spreadsâ and potentially cookbooks.
On Wednesday, Kris Jenner posted a picture of the American Riviera Orchard jam jar on her Instagram Story, which had a label identifying Jennerâs jar as 13th out of 50. And Meghanâs âSuitsâ co-star Abigail Spencer noted that she received the jam; so did Mindy Kaling, Tracy Robbins and Tracee Ellis Ross, according to multiple reports.