Grab the popcorn and saddle up for another iteration of “Is this drama, or is this a whole big pile of nothing?” Today, we’ve got Buckingham Palace promoting its own jam just days after Meghan Markle famously sent out samples of her new lifestyle brand American Riviera Orchard’s strawberry jam—its first public product offering. Coincidence? Shade? An attempt to find common ground through the marvels and wonders of a fruit-based spread? Who really knows.
Here are the facts: Celebrities and influencers alike—50, it seems, according to the jam jars—are receiving or have received a sample of American Riviera Orchard’s first product offering. Meghan’s friends like Tracy Robbins, Delfina Blaquier, Kelly McKee Zajfen, and Abigail Spencer have tasted the jam and have raved about it; celebrities like Kris Jenner, Chrissy Teigen, Tracee Ellis Ross, and Mindy Kaling have also been invited to join the elite club of 50 jam-testers. One by one, our 50-person roster of Meghan’s select few is filling up, as each give a review of the product or show off the gift basket it arrived in.
Then, yesterday, the Buckingham Palace Shop started promoting its own strawberry jam for sale, writing on Instagram “Our Strawberry Preserve is made using only the finest berries and is delicious served in a variety of ways,” a post on the store’s official page read on April 24, alongside a strawberry emoji. Then, the shop offers different ways to use it: “Some of our favorite ways are shown here: on a scone as part of a cream tea, on a crumpet, with a croissant [or] on toast.”
The brand also uploaded a video of someone spreading the jam onto a scone, set to the tune of Mozart’s "Dissonance Quartet" (read into that what you will). Cans of the Buckingham Palace Strawberry Preserve can be purchased at the palace’s in-person and online gift shop and, according to a website description, is made in the U.K. using “only the finest soft fruit.” The spread, according to the explanation, is “delicious” on toast, perfect with scones at afternoon tea time, or just right inside a Victoria sponge cake. The palace also offers for purchase honey preserves and marmalade, and other products are available at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Scotland and Windsor Castle in England. (Meghan’s product isn’t yet available to buy.)
“Many social media commenters see the gift shop’s upload as a subtle dig at Meghan,” Us Weekly writes. Even if there is no shade intended—the timing is certainly curious.
American Riviera Orchard is a project that Meghan has been working on for “over a year, and it’s all the things that are close to her heart—all the things she’s passionate about,” a source speaking to Page Six said. Trademark applications show that the lifestyle brand is poised to “sell a wide range of home goods including edible treats like jellies, jams, and spreads, as well as tableware staples such as cutlery, table linens, and drinkware,” Page Six writes. “Cookbooks are also covered in the filing,” and makeup, haircare, fragrances, and skincare are also apparently in the brand’s plans.
“The line is organic to who she is,” a source speaking to Us Weekly said, noting that Meghan’s “passions are cooking and gardening.” While Meghan does have plans to release multiple products, not everything will be released in one fell swoop, they said: “She isn’t going to come out with a million things at once but more categories related to food and entertaining to coincide with the Netflix show,” they said, adding that her forthcoming Netflix series about cookery has “already started filming.”
Of the jam, John Legend—who received the product via his wife, Teigen, who called the product “pretty epic”—told Entertainment Tonight that it was “One of the best bites I’ve had in a long time.”
The Buckingham Palace Shop’s jam retails for just under four pounds; it’s not yet known what Meghan’s jam will go for—but we’re waiting with anticipation to find out more.
