Two Priests, One Advent Calendar and a Very Selective Moral Outrage Over Meghan Sussex

Meghan Sussex launched a luxury chocolate Advent calendar for shoppers looking for a special Christmas gift. Somehow, two Church of England priests decided that this required their intervention.

Rev. Daniel French started by using a headline about Meghan’s £112 As Ever calendar to promote a £5.99 Christian alternative from the Meaningful Chocolate Company. He highlighted its Fairtrade chocolate, charitable element and booklet about Christmas. More striking was the tone: rather than simply promote his own product, French used Meghan as a moral foil.

Then Fr Chris Phillips joined in. Phillips, a Church of England priest and candidate for election to the General Synod in the Diocese of Southwark, replied, “Says it all really.” After the post drew backlash, Phillips deleted it. Southwark confirms that its 2026 General Synod elections are underway and that elected members help shape Church of England law and debate national issues. What exactly does it “say”?

Meghan Is Selling a Luxury Product, Not Running a Parish

Meghan’s calendar costs $148 and contains 24 handcrafted chocolates created with Los Angeles chocolatier Compartés. As Ever says the flavours draw from its spreads and California produce, while the keepsake design takes inspiration from Meghan’s Montecito home and garden. As mentioned earlier, it bears repeating: As Ever currently ships only within the United States.  

It is a luxury product from a commercial lifestyle company. That is the entire business model. Nobody walking into Christmas was under the impression that As Ever had suddenly become a church charity.

And £112 is hardly an extraordinary price in the 2026 Advent market. Fortnum & Mason is selling calendars for £145, £180, £190, £225, £265 and £275. Its £190 Piccadilly House calendar arrives empty. Melt Chocolates has a £299 Holland Park calendar. Yet neither priest used those much more expensive British products to make the same moral point.

A search of French’s public X posts for ‘Prince Andrew’ and ‘Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’ returned no results, while his account contains multiple posts criticising Meghan and Prince Harry.

The Royal Shop Makes This Even More Absurd

And the irony of all this is that the Royal Collection Trust is currently advertising a £25 unfilled Buckingham Palace Advent calendar, along with a separate royal chocolate calendar.  

So an institution directly connected to the monarchy can sell an empty decorative box for £25, while Meghan selling actual handmade chocolate apparently becomes an opportunity for Anglican clergy to lecture the public about the meaning of Christmas.

The insult gets sharper when you remember who sits at the top of that church. King Charles III is the Supreme Governor of the Church of England. The title has real constitutional meaning: the monarch formally approves senior church appointments and gives royal assent to ecclesiastical laws.  

There is no evidence that Charles instructed French or Phillips to criticise Meghan, and I would not claim that he did. But Charles does not get to exist completely outside the culture of the institution he heads either.

When clergy under the established church publicly pile onto his daughter-in-law for selling chocolate, while the Royal Collection Trust, closely tied to the monarchy, runs its own substantial Christmas retail operation, the double standard deserves scrutiny.

Especially because Meghan has spent years receiving criticism from powerful British media figures over almost everything she sells, wears, says or does.

A Strange Use of the Moral High Ground

The racial dynamic is difficult to ignore. Meghan is a biracial woman building a luxury brand in a market where established British companies routinely sell products that cost considerably more. Yet French and Phillips chose her business as the vehicle for a moral lesson.

This is also not the first time Anglican clergy have publicly criticised the Sussexes. Canon Angela Tilby, who had preached at Eton while Harry was a pupil, later became the subject of a Daily Mail headline telling him to “Stop Being a Victim.” Now French and Phillips have turned Meghan’s Advent calendar into another opportunity for commentary.

French could have promoted a charitable Advent calendar without denigrating Meghan. Phillips could have praised it without the knowing “says it all really.” They chose otherwise. To me, that is neither Christian, moral, nor just. It looks like bigotry dressed up as moral concern, and clergy who use their position this way should seriously reconsider what their vocation is supposed to represent.