Kate Middleton made a triumphant return to the spotlight over the weekend.
Princess Kate, who has been missing in action for over six months due to her health issues, stood elegantly tall and brave on Buckingham Palace’s balcony, along with King Charles III, Prince William, and Queen Camilla during the Trooping the Colour.
The future Queen received rave reviews for her decision to show the world what courage, determination, and duty look like.
Hours before Middleton made her long-awaited debut, Meghan Markle struck. Prince Harry‘s wife was trending on social media after it was revealed that she is pushing her American Riviera Orchard brand.
Markle and Prince Harry’s close friend and polo player Nacho Figuera unveiled the new batch of raspberry jam and dog biscuits from ARO.
The Daily Beast explained: “On Saturday, it appeared that Meghan had renewed the viral social media campaign she launched earlier this year, which saw a carefully curated club of friends post images of “limited edition” strawberry jam branded American Riviera Orchard (ARO). Saturday’s image was posted by polo player Nacho Figueras, who shared images of ARO jam and dog biscuits on his Instagram Stories. His jam was apparently raspberry-flavored and was at a new level of exclusivity compared to the previous round of jam recipients. It was garnished with a label saying it was jar “2 of 2.” The dog biscuits were shown in a large glass jar, along with his dog Nina Iggy.”
The photos of Markle’s sweet jam and doggy treat went viral and caught Middleton’s attention. The mother of three did not directly comment on Markle’s decision to steal her thunder, but a close pal spoke to the media.
According to the family friend, Kate Middleton agrees that Meghan Markle’s move was rather pathetic. The friend told The Daily Beast: “Catherine has been absolutely amazing. Her statement was extraordinary, and her appearance today was graceful and elegant, which filled people with hope. You have to ask yourself, who would set out to ruin a cancer sufferer’s day? It is absolutely pathetic.”
Sources close to Markle spoke to The Daily Beast to say that she did not ask Figueras to share the post this week. In her clapback, Markle made it clear she has no control over when and what her celebrity friends do with the products she sends them.
The insider shared: “Meghan did not order the post from Figueras and, in fact, had no input on when or if he would post. Of course, ceding exact control over context and timings is an inherent risk in a user-led social media campaign, especially when your cheerleaders are powerful celebrities in their own right who might not react well to having their posts micro-managed.”
Some observers say the back and forth will not end soon.
