MEGHAN Markle is using her rarely-seen children to promote her new brand As Ever, an expert slams.
The Duchess of Sussex has released new footage of her daughter Lilibet ahead of her Netflix show release.
Meghan has been criticised for using her daughter for ‘commercial purposes’[/caption]
A clip of the young Princess Lilibet, 3, was shared to Meghan’s 2.1million followers[/caption]
The Duchess of Sussex was joined by ‘Auntie’ Serena Williams for a board game with the family[/caption]
Adorable footage posted to Meghan’s social media shows the three-year-old princess dressed in pink with “Auntie” Serena Williams.
The Royal has kept her children out of the spotlight until now and Royal author Hugo Vickers has slammed the move as “hypocritical.”
With the pair stepping down from royal duties and requesting privacy in 2020 he wonders if the youngsters are being used as a marketing ploy.
Hugo said: “It makes common sense that the way they’re being brought up we don’t want them to be recognised.
“We want them to be able to be taken on the beach, or whatever, and left in peace. We understand that – but then to put this child into a video – she doesn’t know she’s being used for this purpose.
“What’s she going to think when she grows up? I think it’s awful, quite frankly.”
The clip was shared on Instagram, where Meghan has 2.1million followers, and showed Lilibet and her mother playing a personalised Candy Land board game.
Bill Withers’ Lovely Day is playing in the background of the short video which was captioned: “When the aunties come to celebrate… and to play! Love you @serenawilliams.”
She also directly referred to her upcoming cookery show With Love, Meghan: “Three days until the party begins. All are invited @netflix.”
Hugo believes linking footage of Lilibet to the upcoming Netflix series was no coincidence and it was an attempt to improve audience engagement.
“To bring the child in is definitely a promotional gambit,” he continued.
“Therefore, yes, financial gain takes precedence over privacy, which I think is a pity.”
Both Meghan’s children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet have been kept away from the press, so rare footage of them has caught the attention of Royal fans.
Hugo said the move was “hypocritical” and thought the children’s social media launch was nothing more than a desperate attempt to boost the show.
The Royal author said: “We haven’t been allowed to see much of either of those children and it’s sending a sort of tantalising glimpse.
“It’s obviously designed to lure people into this, and I think it’s very unattractive, but I can see why she’s done it.
“I just think that this seems to me a bit hypocritical.”
This comes as Meghan is accused of also using her husband, Prince Harry, as “product placement” in the show.
The Duchess of Sussex unveiled a teaser for her new program featuring a surprise appearance by the Duke of Sussex in the trailer.
Using footage of both her husband and her children in the run-up to the show has baffled experts who slam “you can’t have it both ways.”
Hugo said the Duchess is “luring” in viewers using her family – a premise that goes against the couple’s previous demand for privacy.
He said: “It’s inevitable that people will want to see it. And this is what is being then used for commercial purposes and that’s what I don’t like – you know you can’t have it both ways.
“We all understand the children’s need to be protected, not only for security reasons but also just but to actually bring the cameras in to use your child to advertise your program seems to me, as I say, at least, unattractive, if not worse than that.”
“Has she put financial gain before privacy? Yes, she has.”
This isn’t the first hurdle Megan has faced in her disastrous rebrand and her “copycat” Netflix series.
The Duchess was forced to change the name of the brand, originally named American Riviera Orchard, to As Ever due to trademarking issues.
Even Meghan herself admitted to “making mistakes” and said that “it’s a learning curve.”
The controversial rebrand was slammed by Majorcan town Porreres as the logo looked similar to the region’s coat of arms.
Porreres’ Mayor said she is even considering legal action over Meg’s mistake.
Other copycat accusations were in reference to the iconic purple jumper Meghan was wearing during the announcement of As Ever.
She appeared to be sporting the same Northwestern sweatshirt Princess Diana was wearing when she was snapped wearing bike shorts and trousers.
Unfortunately for the Duchess, this wasn’t the end of the accusations.
Pamela’s series Cooking With Love and Meghan’s show With Love, Meghan both share similarities.
As well as their names, the stars both walk into the garden, look at the plants before waving to the chefs and their loved ones to join them in the kitchen.
Hugo said that “pretty much everything will have been done before” so she’s not necessarily to be blamed for the blunder but should have been more careful.
The Duchess of Sussex, 43, launching her Netflix rebrand with an eight-part cookery coming five years after Megxit.
Speaking in a promotional interview to mark ‘With Love, Meghan’ hitting telly screens she returned to gushing about her Royal Family connections.
The late Queen Elizabeth II honoured Harry and Meghan the titles of Duke and Duchess of Sussex for their 2018 wedding.
There have been calls for the couple to be stripped of the titles after blasting the Royals on their Oprah Winfrey tell-all, six-part Netflix series ‘Harry & Meghan’ and shock memoir ‘Spare’.
The California-based pair have also attracted criticism for only visiting Sussex once when they held several engagements seven years ago.
But speaking to People magazine in the US Meghan now claims the title is important to her.
She said: “It’s our shared name as a family, and I guess I hadn’t recognized how meaningful that would be to me until we had children.
“I love that that is something that Archie, Lili, H and I all have together. It means a lot to me.”
The Sussex name, she adds, “is part of our love story.”
Meghan and Harry are also the Earl and Countess of Dumbarton but rarely use the title and are not expected to pass it onto Archie.
They are banned as part of the Megxit agreement from using their ‘SussexRoyal’ brand although the website remains.
And last year set up ‘The Office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’ with Meghan’s coat of arms.
Earlier this week Meg featured Lilibet in an Instagram reel with Serena Williams to promote her new projects.
It comes after the three-year-old appeared in a photo for ‘As ever’ food brand which sparked controversy after its logo was similar to a Majorcan town’s coat of arms and name the same as New York clothing brand.
The couple usually keep their children out of the spotlight.
But in her interview carried out after she left Harry in Canada to spend Valentine’s Day alone during the Invictus Games she talks about her children.
She claims five-year-old Archie told her “mama, don’t work so hard’.
Meg told the outlet: “It was the sweetest thing.”
Following a series of rebrands in the US, including a failed podcast with Spotify and projects such as 40 x 40 which failed to get off the ground, Meg is now aiming to become an entrepreneur.
But she had to drop the name ‘American Riviera Orchard’ for her lifestyle after opposition from trademark authority.
Last month she posted in Instagram saying her brand wished to be called ‘As ever’.
She told People magazine: “When your children get to a certain age – when you’re not just playing in the sandbox with them but almost playing in your own sandbox again – it’s super joyful.
“As a woman, a mom and a wife, to be able to find yourself again – in a way that was always present but that you maybe couldn’t put as much attention on as you now can when your kids are a little bit older – is a wonderful feeling.”
Harry, whose Netflix effort Polo bombed, appears sporadically in the cookery show ‘With Love, Meghan’.
The show was due to be aired in January but delayed because of the LA fires.
BY Matt Wilkinson – Royal Editor
