Meghan Markle branded expensive candles ‘obnoxious’ before she began flogging her own As Ever range inspired by Prince Harry and their children.
The Duchess of Sussex insisted that selling candles for more than $100 would go against her own ‘girl next door’ business ethos.
Speaking on stage in 2016, the year she started dating Prince Harry, Meghan said she wanted to market items that the majority of people can afford to buy.
‘There are no $100 candles on my site – that’s so obnoxious,’ she said to an audience as she promoted her now defunct blog The Tig.
‘I just want things on there that you can have. And I want people who understand that ethos.
‘I’ve always crafted it [The Tig] as “aspirational girl next door”, like, you can aspire for it but totally attain it too.’
But ten years on, her critics pointed out that she is currently selling her own scented candle set for more than double the $100 price tag she dismissed as ‘obnoxious’.
Meghan’s $256 (£190) ‘Signature Scent Collection’ is now for sale on the As Ever website.
Meghan Markle on stage in Atlanta where she mocked ‘obnoxious’ $100 candles
Meghan’s As Ever signature scent collection is available for $256
Critics have dug up the unseen video of the Duchess criticising sites selling expensive candles.
Speaking to an audience at the Create & Cultivate conference in Atlanta in October 2016, she said her blog The Tig was ‘my baby’ and going to expand.
‘I didn’t want MeghanMarkle.com. I don’t want this just to be me. I want this to be a community much greater than that.’
She described The Tig as having ‘evolved into an amazing community of inspiration, support, fun and frivolity’.
Meghan said she was looking for someone to help her run her blog and expand it.
However despite her expansion plans, she closed The Tig in 2017, shortly before announcing her engagement to Harry.
A decade on, Meghan has returned to lifestyle with her own brand.
Her As Ever range is focused on jams, teas, candles and flower sprinkles.
She said that her candles and their scents have been inspired by her children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, as well as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s wedding on May 19, 2018.
The As Ever website says of her collection: ‘A luxurious and stand-out set certain to delight the most discerning of palates, and offer a stunning scent for every occasion, whether in your own home, as a hostess gift, or to share with the ones you love.’
She has also launched a new limited-edition box of matches to go with it.
The matchbox is also sent out with her $110 ‘Morning Ritual’ and ‘Evening Ritual’ set, which includes some of her honey and tea sold along with one of her candles.
It is unclear whether the ‘luxury’ long matches will also be sold separately.
One critic pointed to her previous criticism of expensive candles, and said: ‘Ironically, she is now selling candles on her website for more than $100. This is how your own words can come back to bite.’
A Sussex supporter hit back by saying that while her collection is north of $200, single candles are available for $64 each.
Meghan recently revealed which flavour of As Ever spreads her family members enjoy
Earlier this month, the Duchess – who had travelled to Geneva to warn of the dangers of social media for children in a speech outside the United Nations – revealed everyone in her family likes a different flavour of As Ever’s fruit spreads.
Promoting her range of fruit preserves, Meghan said that Harry enjoys the raspberry variant, while her daughter ‘Lil’ is partial to the strawberry jam.
She added that her son ‘Arch’ likes both, while the orange marmalade is her personal ‘favourite’.
In a post on As Ever’s Instagram promoting her jams, Meghan said: ‘Everyone in my family has a different favourite. My husband loves the raspberry, Lil loves the strawberry and Arch likes both. And I like the marmalade.’
The post is captioned: ‘Inspired by the jams Meghan has created in her own kitchen and shared over the years, each spread reflects a small-batch, carefully balanced approach to flavour.
‘Bright and fruit-forward with just a hint of tartness and a whisper of lemon, these spreads are crafted to highlight each fruit’s natural essence without overpowering it.’
Meghan also documented how she and Prince Harry celebrated their eighth wedding anniversary with their children in Montecito in an Instagram Story.
She shared footage of Harry, 41, gifting her a statue of penguins, arm in arm, to mark their special day. The present is a nod to when they wore penguin costumes at their engagement party.
Earlier in the day, Meghan posted a collection of previously unseen photographs from their wedding at St George’s Chapel in Windsor in 2018.
‘Eight years ago today…’, she captioned the two posts, with one showing a glimpse of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s first dance at their evening reception at Frogmore House, where they shared a passionate kiss in some of the pictures.
The second post revealed snaps from Meghan and Harry’s nuptials at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, which were watched by an estimated 1.9 billion people and attended by A-listers such as Oprah Winfrey, Sir David Beckham and George Clooney.
The couple now live in Montecito with their two children, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, four, after stepping back from their royal duties in 2020.
