Meghan Markle wears Princess Diana’s £18k Cartier watch after she & Harry were accused of exploiting royal links
THE Duchess of Sussex shows she has no time for critics — posing with a watch that used to belong to Princess Diana.
Meghan flashed the £18,000 Cartier timepiece in the snap promoting her new podcasts.
Her deal was announced amid fresh claims that Meghan, 42, and hubby Prince Harry, 39, were further exploiting their royal links with a website rebrand.
Meghan teamed the watch, thought to be a gift from Harry, with a £5,000 Cartier bracelet and £310 grey Toteme dress.
Harry’s mum Di wore the watch to visit a Hindu temple in Neasden, North London, months before her death in a 1997 car crash.
Royal author Phil Dampier said yesterday: “This is another indication that Meghan and Harry are trying to cash in on their royal connections.
“Meghan doesn’t often wear Diana’s jewellery but to wear it in a photo like this adds to the feeling that they are trying to project their royal status.”
We can reveal “social justice warrior” Meghan’s podcast series with the US company Lemonada Media will be aimed at well- educated “top spenders”.
The duchess declared she was “overjoyed” to make a “dynamic” new podcast series focusing on sex, grief and LGBTQ issues.
Lemonada — which aims to “make life suck less” — boasts its audience is “sought-after” with 76 per cent of listeners enjoying a household income of more than $100,000 (£79,326).
And 91 per cent have a degree.
Lemonada Media was founded in 2019 by Jessica Cordova Kramer, an executive producer, and Stephanie Wittels Wachs, co-founder of a theatre company.
It says 79 per cent of its audience “identify as female” and tells advertisers: “Get your brand’s message to our sought-after and engaged audiences today.”
Meghan’s announcement was on Sussex.com just 24 hours after the new website was launched.
We told yesterday the Sussexes had used a heraldic coat of arms as the emblem for the site, which replaces archewell.com.
Critics blasted the couple — who quit as full-time royals and moved to California in 2020 — for playing up their royal links.
The podcast deal comes after the couple’s £18million Spotify contract ended and will see Lemonada distribute Meghan’s previous series Archetypes.
Meghan, who will host the new series, has already started work.
Her pay has not been revealed, but it is likely to be less lucrative than the Spotify deal.
She said in a statement online: “Being able to support a female-founded company with a roster of thought-provoking and highly entertaining podcasts is a fantastic way to kick off 2024.
Being able to support a female-founded company with a roster of thought-provoking and highly entertaining podcasts is a fantastic way to kick off 2024
Meghan Markle
“Our plan to rerelease Archetypes, so that more people can now have access to it, as well as launching a dynamic new podcast are well in the works.
“I’m eager to be able to share it soon and am overjoyed to be joining the Lemonada family.”
Ingrid Seward, editor-in-chief of Majesty Magazine, said: “Harry and Meghan seem to be hypocritical in everything they do.
“Nobody knows what Meghan does and she seems to talk without making a lot of sense. This is another example of that.”
Mr Dampier said: “If Meghan wants to project her humanitarian and social justice causes, surely she would be better directing her work towards people on lower incomes.
“Instead she is projecting her work towards the glitterati and those in elite sections of society.”
The Sussexes yesterday took a private jet to Vancouver, Canada, for a three-day visit linked to next year’s Invictus Games.
MEGXIT TERMS
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry announced on January 8, 2020, they would be stepping down as ‘senior’ members of the Royal Family.
On January 18 it was announced that Harry and Meghan would “no longer be working members of Britain’s Royal Family”, and would not use their “Royal Highness” titles.
A Palace spokeswoman said the couple would no longer receive public money and that they would repay the £2.4million cost of refurbishing their cottage — Frogmore — in Windsor, Berks.
The following day, Harry said in a heartfelt speech: “Our hope was to continue serving the Queen, the Commonwealth, and my military associations without public funding. Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible.”
The Duke of Sussex said he had found the “love and happiness I had hoped for all my life” with Meghan.