Meghan Markle‘s relationship with luxury gifting is back in the headlines, and not in a flattering way. A years-old claim from a bestselling royal biography has resurfaced online, and fans are once again picking sides.
The claim traces back to The Palace Papers: Inside the House of Windsor, the Truth and the Turmoil, journalist Tina Brown’s deep dive into the modern monarchy.
Brown had already reported that Meghan had built a reputation among luxury-brand marketers for being warmly receptive to bags of designer swag during her acting days and her time running the now-defunct lifestyle blog The Tig. What’s fueling the latest round of backlash is what allegedly happened after she actually became a royal.
Meghan Markle’s Alleged Message To A Publicist After Her Royal Wedding
According to Brown’s reporting, even after Meghan married Prince Harry in 2018, a member of her new team reached out to a publicist with a message meant to keep the freebies coming.
“Make sure [the publicist] knows that she can still send me anything,” Meghan reportedly said.
The timing is the whole story. Royals are traditionally expected to distance themselves from the kind of brand gifting that’s common in Hollywood and influencer circles, precisely to avoid the appearance of using their position for personal gain.
A request like this, framed as coming through her own team rather than an outside brand, reads to skeptics as Meghan trying to have it both ways, keeping her celebrity-era perks intact while wearing a royal title.
Defenders of the Duchess point out that Brown’s book leans heavily on unnamed sources and secondhand accounts, a pattern common across most Palace Papers reporting on Meghan and Harry. Meghan herself has never addressed this specific claim publicly, and there’s no confirmation from her camp that the alleged message was ever sent.
Still, the anecdote fits neatly into a broader narrative that’s followed Meghan since she stepped back from royal duties in 2020, one that frames her as more comfortable with celebrity trappings than palace protocol. Whether that’s a fair read of one quoted line or an oversimplification of a much messier gifting culture is debatable.