Meghan Wheels Out Harry and the Kids to Flog a $64 Candle: She’s Gotta Pay For a New Kitchen Somehow

Added: 2026-05-22

[00:00:27]Yes. Hello. Good evening. It is Tom Sykes, the royalist here. It's just 700 p.m. GMT, 2:00 p.m. in New York. Um, well, uh, yesterday was Harry and Megan's 8th wedding anniversary. Uh, did you did you clock that one? I'm sure you did if you watched, uh, the Royalist podcast yesterday. Uh, we were very privileged, uh, to have, uh, Allison Bosch back on again, which was great to have a good chat to her about it. Um, but we actually pre-record the podcast.

[00:01:00]So, the podcast is actually recorded on Monday and Tuesday mornings. And by the time it came out, we were slightly out of date because guess what? Megan had dumped a whole load more stuff on Instagram to to celebrate her uh her wedding anniversary. And so it was I mean it it you know it was super weird. So basically the the first thing that I talked about and I've actually talked about a bit today in my Substack is the kind of look I and and I want I maybe didn't make this clear enough earlier in my Substack. I I don't think there's anything wrong with their kitchen per se, right? I my kitchen is is no better.

[00:01:49]Um, and I'm not saying it's not a lovely kitchen and anybody in their right mind wouldn't be happy to have such lovely kitchen. All I'm saying is that it's not like a chic cool kitchen. It's not like the kitchen for example that she used to film her with love Megan show in. And I w when I was in America a couple of weeks ago, I was talking to a source who lives near them in Monteito. And he said literally that the house is seen by other people in Monteito as kind of deeply embarrassing and a sign of their failure to make it financially. Because of course, what's the first thing you do when you if if you're an American billionaire and you buy your new house in Montuso? The first thing you do is you knock it down, you know. And if if you can't maybe or afford or don't have the the mental bandwidth or the time to deal with knocking it down, you certainly extensively remodel it. And if you are a lifestyle influencer who's, you know, trying to sell a lifestyle all about cooking and entertaining and hosting, like the first place that you would remodel is your kitchen, right?

[00:03:13]We'd all love to have a lovely kitchen, wouldn't we? With it just with clean lines, you know, that looks modern, that looks fresh. instead of this. It's It's that very kind of um orange brown kind of wood. Again, there's nothing wrong with it. I'm just saying it's not fashionable. It's not trendy. It's not And we're getting a good glimpse of it in these photographs and in this film that that Megan um put out uh yesterday. And this is an earlier film of her with Doria again, but it's very it's a good good um reference point because you can see the kitchen in quite a lot of detail. Like that is not a 2026 hipster kitchen.

[00:03:57]Do do you know what I mean? It's like a as as um Allison Bosch described it to me, it's a Taco Bell kitchen. Um, other people have said it's, you know, a very aspirational olive garden and the copper pots hanging from the ceiling, you know, look like a prop, frankly, from a Tuscan restaurant that closed in 2009.

[00:04:20]Um, and I I think what's sort of fascinating about this whole thing is that it gives us an insight into how difficult things are for the couple financially. And we know, don't we, that they had to take a substantial mortgage to buy the house because it's a matter of public record due to the filings of the house. We know that Megan and Harry said when they first bought the house that you know they could that was why they had to sign the deals with Netflix and Spotify. Um but you know so I I'm going to just say I'm going to leave it there and we'll move on from the kitchen. But I do think that the kitchen gives us an insight into their inability to keep up with the neighbors, frankly, in the incredibly exclusive enclave in which they've chosen to live because that is just not a 2026 Monteito kitchen. Um, so why were we seeing inside Megan's kitchen?

[00:05:33]Finally, this uh people who've told us that they want their privacy uh that they felt their privacy was invaded by the British media, that it was so bad, they had to leave the United Kingdom, um that uh their private life was intruded on by newspapers, etc., etc. Why were they showing us inside their kitchen?

[00:05:54]Well, allegedly it was because it was their 8th wedding anniversary and we also were treated to this uh sort of gloopy story of them both dressing up in penguin suits before they went to a party. And there's actually a video there was a video on her Instagram stories that that um sadly has disappeared now which has Megan in a kind of very performative way um going oh and like there's this statue of these two penguins and then Megan in this very performative way opening this letter to read it to her children going oh what a surprise this letter is darling. Do you remember when we first went to the party and mama and papa dressed up as penguins and it's like it's so incredibly labored and it's so incredibly unconvincing and you're just sort of like is this the third take or the fourth take? Do you know what I It's just like the whole thing is so unbelievably unconvincingly it's meant to be authentic and cute and genuine and you know just like a normal family doing their thing but it's so incredibly um staged I think is the word that we're going to go for. Um and then we have Harry. The next scene is Harry. So right as if your 8th wedding anniversary is even a thing. Do you know what I mean? I mean, like, good for them, right? I'm happy. But it's not a matter. It's not a public event.

[00:07:27]It's not it's it's not like a star going over in the sky, you know? Oh, look, there goes Yeah. So, then we have Harry coming in with the lemon and elderflower cake, which uh many of you will remember um was the cake that they had at their wedding, you know, the lemon and elderflower. And of course, but of course, all I could think was, well, where's the cake from? Is it a merch tie up? Who baked it? We know Megan doesn't like baking, right? Because one of the one of the more extraordinary moments in With Love Megan was when um the hostess of our cooking show announced that she didn't like baking because she didn't like measuring out the ingredients because she's too much of a free spirit.

[00:08:08]She just likes to chuck her pasta and her tomatoes into the pan and see what happens. Um so it was Oh. Oh, look. Ben might actually have the video. Here we go. Yeah. Should we watch that?

[00:08:29]>> I love you.

[00:08:31]>> Blow them.

[00:08:32]>> Blow them.

[00:08:41]>> Oh my gosh.

[00:08:45]You okay?

[00:08:47]>> This is when mama and papa when we >> when we got engaged. We had a party with all of our friends and we said everyone we were an animal onesie and we were penguins.

[00:09:00]We were penguins >> because we're together for life.

[00:09:08]>> I mean, I'm sorry. Is anyone Is anyone buying that this is an authentic glimpse into Megan and Harry's life? I mean, also I say something uh like that statue lovely and of course there's no accounting for taste, but it's the way that you know they're trying to build this story. They're trying to build this narrative about like the penguins and our love story and all of that. And it's like we're very much back now, aren't we? Like Australia didn't work. Like let let's just think about what happened since the end of last year, right? End of last year, they basically closed down their production company, which now has two members of staff and is what people in Hollywood very dismissively call a label, which means it's basically a device for kind of slapping branding onto other projects, which is exactly what we're seeing, right? They're acquiring other projects and they're sticking Megan and Harry's faces on the tin basically. So they got rid of all their staff from Marchwell with the exception of two people. They now have two people, a head of scripted and a head of unscripted. They got rid of uh you know all the proper people like Ben Browning, etc., etc., all all those kinds of people. Then they shuttered their charity and they got rid of everybody who worked for their charity with the exception of one part-time consultant, Shauna Nep, who they initially tried to pretend was full-time, but she w you was revealed that she wasn't by the fact that she's got a whole list of stuff on her LinkedIn of people that she looked after. So from the end of last year, the narrative was meltdown. Then of course all the staff, you know, were leaving.

[00:10:48]Meredith Mains left. James Halt left.

[00:10:51]Blah blah blah blah blah. They they left or were or were let go. Um so what's the answer? Rebrand. Rebrand. You know, always Megan's answer to everything. And so next thing we hear is that they're going on this trip to Australia and it's going to be this bold new innovation that's going to combine uh making money with doing good. And this is the new model and this is what they should have been allowed to do. and the royals were so wrong not to let them do it in the first place, etc., etc., etc. Off they go to Australia on the basis of a trip organized via a text message from Megan's uh not very fashionable kitchen um by Marcus Anderson. They go to Australia and people are really really disgusted with the fact that they are trying to commercialize these quasi uh public service engagement by putting the clothes on oneoff app, you know, particularly offensive in the context of the Bondi Beach uh Chanuka massacre. Um, people react incredibly bad badly to it and it basically proves exactly what the queen told them all those years ago, which is a life of royal public service is incompatible with a life of cashing in and making your own money. I'm misquing the queen there, but that was roughly what she said in her statement.

[00:12:23]to which they you remember very arrogantly replied to a woman who'd given seven decades of her life in public service replied service is universal and we can do it and we're going to do what we like. So that was the kind of you know and and that event don't forget then the key money-making thing of that event was this paid appearance by Megan paying to have her photograph taken an absolutely humiliating um situation that I don't think even you know we can't even really imagine Fergie or even you know the Duke of Windsor like reducing themselves to that level of just anybody, you know, can sign up to come and have their photo taken with me. I mean, it was so embarrassing and so demeaning I I think for for them. Um, and they were rightly um, you know, roundly criticized for it. Um, then we have, uh, the attempt, you know, what's the answer? Rebrand, rebrand, rebrand.

[00:13:33]So now suddenly the next thing is Megan is not after all um a private entrepreneur. She is a spokesperson on global health and she's there with World Health Authority in the World Health Organization in Geneva doing her bit with Dr. Ted Ross standing in the plastio standing in front of the United Nations building. Um you you you know it's serious Megan mode. Her hair is pulled back in a bun. But of course it's completely undermined by the fact that before she goes she's posting pictures from her wardrobe of Liet with I would estimate $250,000 worth of clothes and shoes scattered around her. Um the World Health Organization meanwhile looks like a chump as well because at the same time uh you know in classic Megan only you know Megan has the worst timing but and she has the worst luck when it comes to timing as well and with absolutely classic timing as she's standing up to give the her speech about the importance of social media and comparing social media to car seat belts and all kinds of extraordinary things um unfolding in subsaharan are in Africa is a terrible terrible Ebola epidemic. And now I don't know about you, but I think that preventing or containing or controlling Ebola is the kind of thing that the World Health Organization is supposed to do. I don't think that the World Health Organization I don't think that its core competency is getting people off their phones, you know. And it was really interesting when I was in in in Geneva. They were literally, you know, her her her team were literally really selling that she was having these really important bilateral meetings. But then it sort of turned out that she would be meeting the sort of health minister of Brazil. I mean, talk about zedless politicians and then talk about zedless politicians because we then get to the Willie Ryland, is that his name? Sorry, I've written his name down here. This right-wing Finnish politician um who Megan ends up he ends up taking a asking Megan for a selfie. She ends up posing for the selfie. The picture then goes out on social media and it turns out that guess what? The Finnish health minister or whoever the heck he is, you know, who Megan is trying to persuade to clamp down on Facebook or whatever. And obviously he's delighted. He just thought he was going to go for a boring old thing in Geneva and eat his free chicken dinner or what have you. And so he's like, "Oh, look, there's Megan."

[00:16:24]and he gets a selfie and puts it online to, you know, whatever he wants to say.

[00:16:30]Turns out that he's like under, you know, serious accus serious allegations made against him. I'm afraid I don't have my notes written down here. So, I can't um explain I can't say exactly what they are because I don't want to be make a mistake and I don't want to slander him inadvertently, but there are allegations of sexual abuse. There are allegations of extremely derogatory terms for women, particularly uh Arab women. Um it's horrific. It's absolutely horrific. And of course, this becomes the story that people want to get hold of. And as I've said, it's because the whole thing is so badly planned. It's because her foreign tours are being put together by a mate with a cell phone at the kitchen table.

[00:17:18]So, it's not surprising that they're not able to get the lists. They don't have the clout to get the list. They're just like, "Oh, yeah. If the WHO have invited them, I'm sure they're fine." Well, the WHO is I I would think um presumably under an obligation to invite the health minister of the countries that fund it.

[00:17:35]And the fact is that the guy's, you know, uh not sympatico with Megan, shall we put it that way. Um, so anyway, Geneva is a bit of a disaster.

[00:17:47]Basically, nobody shows up. Um, sorry.

[00:17:50]Yeah, Ben's got it. Uh, yeah, pressuring women. Uh, I mean, it it's awful. Called women from the Middle East desert monkeys. That that was one of the worst.

[00:17:59]Yeah. Uh, said Somali were spreading like weeds. Joked about being a Nazi.

[00:18:04]Made offensive remarks about Muslim women wearing headscarves. Criminal complaint filed against him. preliminary investigation found insufficient evidence to charge him. Um yeah, so you know um not not not the ideal um person for Megan to be grinning alongside.

[00:18:22]So what's the answer? Rebrand. Rebrand.

[00:18:28]It's always Megan's solution for everything, isn't it? So and also don't forget that the whole trip to Geneva has been completely ignored by the entire global press. I am the only uh non local reporter who is there and I can tell you that it was not well attended. I mean there were 50 or 60 invited guests and there were maybe another 50 people standing around the edge and that's being quite generous on the numbers. Um you know it was sparssely attended. It was it was dramatically less well attended than Katherine in Italy, right, the the the week before where she was, you know, thronging the streets, handing out San Pelguino to stop people fainting. And um so so anyway, Geneva is a disaster. Go home, rebrand, and now we're back to mom love story.

[00:19:26]Isn't our love story amazing? And you, you know, we're eight years married. I love you more never. We're a pair of penguins. Like, this is why we're a you know, all like so like sort of methodically, stupidly laid out for you.

[00:19:41]Like, you know, this is the penguin.

[00:19:43]This is the backstory of the penguins.

[00:19:45]Here's us as penguins. It's like as if that is like in any way authentically kind of I don't know. It just it just all felt highly staged to me. It felt Do you know what it really reminded me of?

[00:19:58]It really remind really reminded me of the bit in the Harry and Megan documentary where Megan pretends to be son and goes, "It's Beyonce," you know, or the bit where it's like, "Oh, it's your brother texting.

[00:20:11]I feel so upset." You know, it it it had that kind of vibe, didn't it? Um, but the other thing that I find tasteless about the whole it's our wedding anniversary. Here are these lovely pictures is of course Megan then launches a candle, right? So, she launched as ever launches a new candle and here it is uh the candle and you can see it has this capture underneath inspired by the lovely free happy day that our founder had when she got married and then she's posted all these pictures of the wedding day, right? And it's like Harry looking handsome. Her in her dress, everything perfectly lit. And you're just like, I am looking at this and I'm thinking, a, isn't it weird to just post a load of pictures of yourself and no pictures of any other guests? And then you're like, well, no, actually, she can't post any pictures of any other guests, can she?

[00:21:15]Because she's fallen out with the ent entire royal family whom, you know, are the most important guests there. And as we saw when I had Allison Boschoff on the show yesterday on the podcast, she's fallen out with a lot of the powerful people who were invited. Um the um you know the the not falling out with but the the Cloonies, the Opas, these people, they are not seen alongside um Megan in public anymore. They don't want to be associated with her. So for me, for Megan, like there's nothing of that that she can show. There's nothing of that day that she can actually show. And so the only things that she can show are her husband in his uniform, which he's no longer allowed to wear because the queen stripped him of his military associations when he left the royal family. Of her at St. George's Chapel, you know, with surrounded by a crowd of adoring people, her in a coach provided by the royal family. Um, which we see here, um, a dress paid for by the royal family. Um, you know, you could go on, right? But but you get the point that it's weird in my opinion to celebrate um your wedding of these into this institution that you then spent the next seven years basically denouncing and saying we're terrible and saying we're racists and saying they didn't care if you lived or died and that you told them that you wanted to kill them kill yourself and they just didn't care. I mean it, you know, I I think it's also that there's a there's a picture that she posted as well of all of the crowd outside um the chapel. I think they're looking at her. They might be looking at Elton. I can't Yeah, that one. Um anyway, their their focus is all, I assume, on on on the happy couple. Um, and it's interesting because it really reminded me of the pictures that came out from Italy of Katherine, of everybody looking at Katherine.

[00:23:30]And that's the thing, isn't it? Like eight years ago, everybody was looking at them. We didn't all this stuff about how badly they'd behaved hadn't come out. And they had an unbelievable platform. They had our they had the attention of the world. They had the interest of the world. And looking at those photographs from 8 years ago, I just can't help but feel like for them to be looking at it, to be looking at those photos now must be a very bitter reminder of what they've thrown away, of what they've lost, of how far their reputations have sunk, frankly. Um then of course the other point is that the queen begged them when they left the royal family not to use their titles in a commercial context because she did not want she had seen it before what happened when members of the family um tried to commercialize or trade off their names. They'd be accused of cashing in. they'd be accused of dragging down the royal family with them. So the queen was very very clear when they left the royal family. She was like, "You cannot use your royal titles to promote your co commercial ventures."

[00:25:00]You may remember that there was a big argument about the Sussex Royal website, which was what was initially going to sell all their tat and all their candles and their flower sprinkles or whatever the hell it was going to be at that stage. um and they were told to stop using it and they kind of very grumpily agreed and again issued one of these sort of arrogant statements saying well actually we've agreed but you know the royal family doesn't have control over the word royal and again like no one's suggesting that the queen owned the word royal that's not what we're that's not what anyone was saying what the queen was saying was please don't portray yourselves as members of this institution If you are going to be selling your stuff commercially on a huge scale and that's what you plan to do because it will drag the institution down with me, it will drag us all down.

[00:25:55]And of course they've gone ahead and completely ignored her because all of these posts today are being liked by As itself has taken one of the pictures, the one in the carriage that we saw over and put it on its own website to promote the candle. So, you know, this is absolutely there's no ambiguity about this at all anymore. Now, if you talk to Megan's people, you're like, "Listen, you've got to admit she is putting photographs of herself, of her family, of her children online on Instagram to promote her business." They go, "No, she's not. She is only putting photographs of her pictures of her family online because she's like any other mom who wants to share the pictures with her friends and family."

[00:26:46]you're like, m a WhatsApp group of like 20 people would probably cover friends and family at this stage, but hey, um you know, that's not why she's doing it.

[00:26:54]She's doing it send it out to 4.5 million people. The personal account is the funnel, right? That is driving people to the as ever account from which you can purchase these items. You can purchase this candle which is literally a it is an unauthorized commemoration of Harry and Megan's wedding. Like stuff like this that is issued by the royal family is done through the royal collection. Right.

[00:27:26]Very nice stuff. As you know, my sister Plum is mad about Royal Collection China. She's always buying it. The plates, the dinner plates, the tea trays that you buy, you know, they're sold through the Royal Collection. It's a registered charity. It's not like going into like not renovating the kitchen.

[00:27:43]It's so the the the problem is is that the the commercialization now is I I it's just totally desperate.

[00:27:54]I I think it makes you wonder really what the heck is going on with their finances. I was talking to someone earlier today who said to me they suspect, they don't know, but they suspect that their bank accounts are separate basically and that Harry got his money from doing, you know, his stuff and that she needs to make her money from doing her stuff. Um, it was it was not a source who who knows. It was it was speculation, but um I I thought it was quite an interesting idea. Um because there's something going on, isn't there? Like Megan is desperate for money. She is absolutely desperate for money. And she is using anything and everything. She's using her children.

[00:28:40]She's using her husband. She's using the memory of her wedding day. She's going exactly against what the queen told her to do. All in the service of trying to generate income, trying to generate sales, trying to generate clicks. It's a road that is not working for her in my opinion. If it was, they would have a beautiful Gagenau kitchen that looked like it was designed by somebody living in the year 2024 at least rather than 2004.

[00:29:15]Well, that's all I have for you today.

[00:29:17]Thank you so much for joining us. I'll say farewell. Goodbye.