‘Crafty dig’: InStyle magazine’s subtle Meghan dig revealed

The Duchess of Sussex returned to the spotlight this week, and one US publication had something brutal to say about her career.

I’m personally so very glad – nay, deeply grateful – that Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex has gone into the preserves biz. The opportunities for puns are endless: Jam-packed. In a jam. Jammed up. A sweet deal. Spread too thin.

So pick one or two of these that are your favourites and insert them here, because today we find ourselves in a sticky situation. (I make no apologies).

Which is, did America’s InStyle magazine, an outlet hardly known for its biting quippery, just use the duchess’ proto conserves empire to deliver an eyebrow singer?

This week, Meghan was back, choosing the red carpet at the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles’ annual gala for her re-emergence after seven weeks of high-end hausfrau-ing or whatnot back in Montecito while Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex was off trying to gladhand his way back into the global good books. (If it wasn’t quite a full relaunch, he at least made it onto the launch pad for the engines to spew some fumes and to rev the engines).

The Duchess of Sussex returned to the spotlight this week, and one US publication had something brutal to say about her career.

Luckily Meghan knows how to give good story, choosing for the Children’s Hospital event a reworked version of the striking red Carolina Herrera gown she first wore in November 2021, which was handily immortalised by Netflix’s cameras. This de-skirted, pared back iteration ensured that the Duchess of Sussex netted a nice healthy portion of press coverage for doing nothing more than traversing several metres of very bright carpet.

Consequently, every tabloid, fashion publication and entertainment site duly reported on the Great Rewear, including InStyle. So how did they style her in the caption attached to an Instagram post about the dress?

Not businesswoman, not duchess, not budding venture capitalist or author or podcaster or TV producer or charity doer or mother or monarchical maverick.

Meet “Jam entrepreneur #MeghanMarkle”

A “jam entrepreneur”, that is, who is yet to actually sell a single jar of the stuff.

It is now nearly seven months since the former Suits star unveiled her American Riviera Orchard (ARO) brand, a business that has so far yet to produce anything aside from 50 pots of strawberry jam. Picture: Instagram

(It is now nearly seven months since the former Suits star unveiled her American Riviera Orchard (ARO) brand, a business that has so far yet to produce anything aside from 50 pots of strawberry jam for select starhhhs, only a handful of whom were good enough to actually post on social media about it. No date for an actual ARO launch or details about what she will actually sell have been revealed and some reports claim that Netflix could be putting their oar in to help out).

Maybe InStyle’s “jam entrepreneur” descriptor was a crafty dig or a bit of Amer-I-Can literalness or an attempt at humour gone awry, but never have two words conveyed such a glaring reduction in her public identity and definition.

Just take a minute here and ponder with me: How did Meghan go from being a woman who could get Michelle Obama on the phone and who joined forces with Gloria Steinem in the hours after Roe vs. Wade was overturned, to being characterised as someone who’s handy with some pectin and several tubs of overripe blackberries?

As the five-year Megxit mark approaches in January, as we light our candles for what could and should have been and offer our sincere hope that Harry has finally cornered and domesticated that elusive quarry, happiness, the question has to be asked: What the hell happened to Meghan?

‘What the hell happened to Meghan?’ Picture: Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images North America/Getty Images via AFP

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex pictured with Paul S. Viviano at the Children's Hospital Los Angeles Gala. Picture: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Children's Hospital Los Angeles

What happened to the woman and, said with complete sincerity, the trailblazer who was emerging around this time in 2019? Who stood on a tree stump in South Africa and who delivered one of the best royal speeches in the last few decades? Who was going to make a real difference on a meaningful scale? Who stood for something bold and brave and modern?

Everyone has bills to pay, like death and taxes they are inescapable, but her transformation from someone defined by her good works to someone who wants to peddle napkin rings to earn a crust is pretty astounding.

Over the last two years, while Harry has plugged on with his Invictus Games work and the pair have launched their Parents Network, while the duke has tried to claw back his humanitarian identity now he has cashed the cheques for Spare, Meghan’s brand has gone in one clear-cut direction: Towards Hollywood.

Posing with Kerry Washington and Kelly Rowland, taking a private jet to Las Vegas with Cameron Diaz, soaking up the VVVVVIP box at Taylor Swift’s Eras tour, attending Variety’s Power of Women event, lunching at paparazzi-magnet Cipriani in Los Angeles. You get the gist.

Prince Harry has been focused on charity work while his wife looks towards Hollywood. Picture: Brian Otieno/Getty Images for Sentebale

If InStyle had really wanted to sneak in a sideways dig, they didn’t even have to use two whole words, but could have settled for a single one which would have been far more cutting: Celebrity.

Really, aside from the fact that Meghan (and Harry) can hot glue gun their titles and a cipher on everything they do, how are they any different from your garden variety starry actor and Nespresso salesman who does some charity on the side? (Looking at you, George Clooney).

What the past couple of weeks have demonstrated is that the Sussexes seem to be pursuing different goals. The duke seems intent on going out into the world to stand on convention centre stages to deliver speeches about his core causes like the climate crisis (all very sound and fury signifying another keynote) while the duchess can stay home and plot and plan business-wise.

Meghan could and should be so much more than a “jam entrepreneur” and maybe this is just a more commercially-minded phase. But right now, it’s hard to sugar-coat it.

Daniela Elser is a writer, editor and a royal commentator with more than 15 years’ experience working with a number of Australia’s leading media titles

Originally published as ‘Crafty dig’: InStyle magazine’s subtle Meghan dig revealed