Meghan Markle slammed for ‘hypocrisy’ over new luxury brand launch

A PR expert has slammed Meghan Markle following the launch of her new brand, American Riviera Orchard.

Meghan Markle has been slammed for “hypocrisy” over the launch of her new luxury brand, American Riviera Orchard.

The Duchess of Sussex recently soft-launched her new lifestyle brand, complete with a new Instagram account.

With the launch of the account, Meghan shared a new video showing her cooking up a storm and arranging flowers in their multi-million-pound home in California.

But launching the brand with such a video “isn’t going to resonate” with the general public, Lynn Carratt from PressBox PR told the Mirror.

Ms Carratt said: “Who has a luxury kitchen like that in their home? And you also have to ask how much the products are going to cost as it’s unlikely they’ll be affordable.”

The PR expert said: “You can’t one minute be championing the underprivileged and then the next minute standing in your luxury kitchen wearing designer togs and selling luxury homemade products.

“There needs to be some consistency and authenticity running across Meghan’s brand. Meghan is always going to be criticised for whatever she does, but she also needs to help herself in fostering the right PR strategy.”

Although some people have criticised Meghan for “cashing in” on the royal brand, the expert believes that she is not.

Mr Carratt added: “I don’t necessarily believe Meghan is cashing in directly on her Royal title with the brand as yet, it’s more based on her life now, hence the name of the brand. Montecito is often referred to as the American Riviera.”

Following the launch, it has also been reported that the company is set to coincide with a new cookery show on Neflix featuring Meghan – where she will be making and selling her own products.