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Meghan Markle’s ascent from playing paralegal Rachel Zane on Suits to one of the world’s most famous and influential women is something that likely took a lot of getting used to, not only for Markle but for those close to the now-Duchess of Sussex, too.
Markle’s tightknit group of friends generally avoid speaking about her publicly at all, opting to dodge questions politely rather than give any encouragement to the British tabloid media – in fact, the only time in recent memory that Markle’s BFF, stylist Jessica Mulroney, has addressed her famous friend was to defend the duchess against what she labelled ‘racist bullies’ when the press onslaught reached its peak earlier this year (Markle is now suing two UK-based papers).
But one person who didn’t get the message – or, rather, chose to ignore it – is American jewellery designer Jennifer Meyer, whose company was reportedly told off by Buckingham Palace after multiple images of Markle were used on Instagram.
According to reports, Meyer used photos of the Duchess of Sussex wearing pieces she’d designed, including the ‘Mummy’ necklace Markle wore at her NYC baby shower and a three-stone turquoise necklace which Markle wore her first official pics with baby Archie Harrison, to promote her jewellery on social media, sending followers of the account to the website to shop.
The issue, it seems, is that when Markle bought the pieces (royals aren’t allowed to accept any freebies, including fashion items), Meyer actually signed a legal agreement with rules that all designers who dress the family have to abide by, one of which states the brand cannot advertise their association with Markle. Though other brands have posted images of Markle wearing their clothes or jewellery before, it’s when there’s a shoppable link added to the image or mention of shopping the piece via the link in bio when the palace gets involved.
“Jennifer’s team didn’t understand that members of the royal family cannot be used in advertising. They happily removed the links. I can only imagine Jennifer must be mortified,” a source told Page Six of the situation.
Thankfully, once alerted to the mishap via palace officials, the company removed images of Markle, something that likely won’t affect business given other high-profile clientele includes the likes of Julia Roberts, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Aniston. Just casually.
Featured tile: Elle France
