EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Is Meghan Markle in real jam over brand name?,
The scope of her ambitions appears to know no bounds, as was memorably observed by her friend, Kim Kardashian, who said that Meghan Markle was intent on ‘changing the world’.
But are those dreams destined to be for ever foiled?
The question is prompted by a development which will dismay fans who yearn to taste the Duchess of Sussex’s jam or any of the other goodies which she envisages offloading to the public via American Riviera Orchard, the ‘lifestyle brand’ which she unveiled in April.
Her bid to trademark the American Riviera Orchard name has run into what might be described as a multi-billion dollar problem.
It comes in the uncompromising form of a protest lodged with the United States Patent and Trademark Office by a firm owning the trademark ‘Royal Riviera’.
The owner, Harry & David, is an American institution, founded in 1934, with annual sales of £1.7billion and 3,300 staff.
The protest, deemed ‘relevant’ because of ‘likelihood of confusion’, has been referred to Marco Wright, the Trademark Office’s Examining Attorney.
It’s the latest bit of bad luck for Meghan, 43.
A year ago, her bid to secure a trademark for her lifestyle blog, The Tig, hit a snag when she failed to submit a ‘statement of use’ with her application, thereby obliging her attorney, Danielle Weiss, to seek a six-month extension.
American Riviera Orchard was similarly afflicted last month when, as I disclosed, the trademark office informed her that ‘American Riviera’ was too vague a term, stipulating that she had three months to provide clarification, as well as paying an additional $700 (£535) to continue her application.
Tina Brown, erstwhile editor of Vanity Fair and author of a dazzling biography of Princess Diana, fears that this isn’t bad luck. Meghan, Brown declared last week, is ‘flawless about getting it all wrong’, adding that ‘all of her ideas are total c**p’.
Megs could do worse than checking out Harry & David. Its fortune was established when its founders hand-delivered exquisite comice pears to city businessmen.
The fruit was so good that they took out a trademark – for Royal Riviera® Pears. No jokes about things going pear-shaped for Meghan, please.
Mourning Madonna’s hug for Rocco
Family is proving to be a comfort for Madonna, mourning her brother – the artist Christopher Ciccone – who died from cancer this month.
The singer, 66, was in Paris this week to visit her son’s art exhibition and was snapped with her arms wrapped around Rocco, 24, whose father is film director Guy Ritchie.
‘Perfect antidote for sadness,’ she wrote alongside the picture she shared online. Rocco paints under the name Rhed and his artwork has sold for five-figure sums.
Olympia’s mammoth job – bathing an elephant
King Charles and Queen Camilla marked their tenth anniversary last month as the joint Royal Presidents of the Elephant Family – a charity dedicated to preserving endangered Asian wildlife.
And the couple aren’t the only royals who have a soft spot for pachyderms. His Majesty’s goddaughter, Princess Maria-Olympia of Greece and Denmark, 28, has been bonding with the beasts at their bathtime.
On a trip to Thailand, the London-based socialite and model shared a video of herself bathing an elephant in the river at the Pattaya Elephant Sanctuary in Bangkok.
‘Out of office’, says the model, who is the only daughter of Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece and his wife, Marie-Chantal Miller.
Peter Capaldi Doubted
The old adage that those who can, do; those who can’t, teach was once advised to Doctor Who star Peter Capaldi while trying his hand at being an artist in his youth.
‘No one ever said: ‘Go to art school you can be an artist.’
They said: ‘You could be an art teacher.’
Vanessa’s savage salvo at ‘one-hit wonder’ ex
Vanessa Feltz pulls no punches in her new memoir which recounts the breakdown of her relationship with Phats & Small singer Ben Ofoedu in excruciating detail.
In Vanessa Bares All she labels her former partner of 17 years a ‘one-hit wonder’, and is particularly scathing of the song Turn Around’s merits.
‘He didn’t even write Turn Around and didn’t have any royalties from the bloody hit. Every time we had to hear that damn song again, he didn’t get fourpence for it, so it was particularly annoying.’
But the broadcaster, 62, doesn’t fear any fallout from her remarks, as she assures me at the Wimbledon Bookfest in London: ‘I don’t think he can read.’ A representative for Ben Ofoedu was unavailable for comment.
Al Fayed Crown Controversy
Some of Mohamed Al Fayed’s alleged sexual assault victims have been angered by his positive portrayal in The Crown.
It has also had a distressing effect on Egyptian actor Amir El-Masry, who plays the disgraced Harrods boss in the drama. ‘It’s been upsetting to learn of all these allegations,’ Amir tells me at the El Gouna film festival in Egypt.
‘I’ve had to veer away from watching all these stories coming out about him.’ However, El-Masry, 34, says the production shouldn’t be blamed for featuring Al Fayed, father of Princess Diana’s boyfriend, Dodi Al Fayed.
‘Bad behaviour shouldn’t be excused on any level but actors play villains and questionable people all the time, and if anything The Crown is one of the most successful TV shows out there.’
Odabash’s slim tip: a pint a day
The nights are drawing in, but swimwear designer Melissa Odabash is dedicated to maintaining her beach body all year round.
‘Drinking 16 ounces of celery juice every day detoxes your whole body and gives you a flat stomach,’ she tells me at the Global Gift Gala in the Kimpton Fitzroy hotel, London.
Odabash, 59, says: ‘My models do it before a shoot, and I’ve just taken up what they do.’ But she insists: ‘I eat everything. I’m a foodie. I used to live in Italy.’
