Meghan Sussex Posted a Scone, and the Critics Lost Their Minds Again

Let me stop you before you read another “Meghan copies William” headline. As Ever’s own orange marmalade listing literally tells customers to “spoon it over warm scones.” That is not a secret or a coincidence. It is product copy. So when Meghan Sussex’s brand, As Ever, posted a scone recipe, the simplest explanation is also the most obvious one: a food brand promoted a food pairing it had already been using.

So when Prince William mentioned that Queen Elizabeth taught him to put cream on first during a Friday radio interview, and Meghan’s brand posted a scone recipe on Saturday, the media did what it always does: it manufactured a feud where none exists.

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As soon as I saw the As Ever video, I knew the outrage machine would find a way to turn pastry into palace politics. And no, the complaint was not that Meghan Sussex was ruining everyone’s diet by posting a delicious scone with smooth cream and mouth-watering strawberry jam. That would at least be a reasonable, if not a ridiculous, grievance. Instead, critics treated a basic recipe post like a coded royal message, as if Meghan had staged a culinary ambush against William from Montecito.

That is the absurdity here. A woman with a lifestyle brand posts a recipe using her own products, and suddenly, people are drawing a red string across a corkboard. The jam is connected to the scone. The scone is connected to William. William is connected to the Queen. Therefore, Meghan must be scheming. This is insane fan fiction with a press pass.

The reality is much simpler: As Ever sells spreads, honey and lifestyle products. Scones are an obvious pairing. The brand posted content that fits the product. The only people making it about William are the same people who insist Meghan is irrelevant while tracking her every upload like it is a national security briefing.

Here is Hello! excerpt for context:

During an interview on Heart FM, the Prince of Wales was grilled over whether he made his scones in the Cornish or Devonian way, he said: “I love that I’m the authority on scones. I can only tell you what I learned from my grandmother, and she would definitely, she would have the cream on first.”

And the debate was further reignited on Saturday when Meghan Markle’s As Ever brand shared a recipe for scones. Even though the Duchess of Sussex is distant from the royals, it appears that they can agree on something, as Meghan also preferred to put her cream on first.

A video showed a large dollop of cream sitting on a sliced scone as Meghan adding her signature jam on top. The caption read: “Memorial weekend plans. Baking warm scones topped with our Strawberry or Raspberry Spread, Orange Blossom Honey, and Flower Sprinkles.”

The Royal Jam Double Standard Is Exhausting

The funniest part? When Meghan Sussex started selling jam, critics lost their minds and accused her of abusing royal privilege. Then people remembered that King Charles’s Highgrove shop already sells strawberry preserve and Royal Estate Honey. Suddenly, the outrage went quiet.

Anyone who works in marketing knows commercial Instagram accounts run on content calendars. Nobody casually snaps a scone photo and accidentally causes an international royal incident. Commercial accounts are built around product pairings, seasonal posts and planned content. That is basic marketing, not palace warfare.

Meanwhile, the media and Meghan’s critics keep spiralling over scones and jam, while actual royal scandals barely register with them. It is a pathetic distraction. A scone photo from a woman who sells jam does not need to become a major discourse. It is a recipe. Get a grip.

So here is a thought: if the British press wants to debate scones, debate scones. But leave Meghan out of it. She is not copying anyone. She is running a business. And the only people obsessed with the connection are the same ones who refresh her Instagram every hour, waiting for something, anything, to be outraged about. And God help her if she does not post, because then they will complain that she is not posting.

This is beyond parasocial obsession. We need a new word for people who refresh a woman’s Instagram every hour just to find something, anything, to be outraged about. Stalking with a keyboard. That is what this is.