Meghan Markle’s decision to rename her lifestyle brand from American Riviera Orchard to As Ever has stirred controversy, with a former royal butler arguing that frequent rebranding has led to setbacks for the Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry.
Former royal butler Grant Harrold voiced concerns that these constant changes are making it difficult for Meghan and Prince Harry to establish a successful brand outside traditional royal norms.
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“It’s a bit of a disaster, isn’t it, for her? She’s trying to launch this brand, and she’s already had to rename it,” Harrold told Express-News. “And then when I saw the logo, it’s very similar to the Spanish town [of Porreres], so it’s not great,” he added.
“I think the town has actually said they’re going to possibly fight her on this, so this isn’t a great start to her new brand.” Harrold further elaborated on the challenges facing Meghan and Harry’s branding efforts.
“It’s constantly this rebranding thing that’s going on, which is quite interesting. We’ve had different brands—way back to Sussex Royal at the very beginning. Now, we’ve got this new lifestyle series that’s coming out, and obviously, she’s got this new brand that’s going to go alongside it—it’s very difficult.”
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He emphasized that this kind of entrepreneurial effort is not typically associated with royalty. “This is not something royals typically do. Prince Harry is a senior member of the Royal Family, so it’s kind of uncharted territory that they’re going into.
And this is a bit of a disaster, because everything they seem to do when it comes to branding, it just doesn’t seem to work.” As Meghan continues her business endeavors, the rebranding controversy adds another layer of complexity to the couple’s attempts at establishing a successful independent brand.
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