Meghan Markle's Jam Makers 'Sworn To Secrecy' With NDAs, Royal Biographer Claims

Meghan Markle's much-hyped As Ever jam is being produced under such tight secrecy that even the manufacturers have signed non-disclosure agreements, royal biographer Tom Bower has claimed in a fresh swipe at the Duchess of Sussex's lifestyle brand.

The news came after months of scrutiny over As Ever, the California-based label Meghan Markle launched last April with a glossy roll-out of small-batch strawberry jam, decorative dried flower petals, wine, and pancake mix. Billed as an elevated, homespun brand rooted in her Montecito life, it was quickly met with questions about price, provenance, and whether the products matched the carefully curated story around them.

For context, earlier reporting in the Daily Mail suggested Meghan's jam is packaged about 2,000 miles from Montecito, although the exact location was not disclosed on the label. Labelling experts described the wording on the jars as 'purposefully vague,' noting that there was no clear indication of where the fruit spread is actually made, beyond the standard US regulatory information.

In the latest edition of the Daily Express's Daily Expresso supplement, Bower said he had gone to unusual lengths to trace the jam's production chain. 'I spent a lot of time and a lot of money trying to track down firstly, where the jam was made, and secondly, who produced the jars,' he told the publication.

According to Bower, that trail ran into a wall of legal paperwork. 'She is so careful about controlling the narrative that even the jam makers had to sign non-disclosure agreements [NDAs] to protect the secret of Meghan's jam,' he claimed.

None of this has been independently verified. As Ever has not publicly commented on Bower's allegations, and the use of NDAs around celebrity-fronted products is not in itself unusual. Without confirmation from the company or the manufacturers, the claims about specific contracts and conditions remain unproven and should be treated with a degree of caution.

Meghan Markle, As Ever And The Question Of Provenance

For starters, the argument around Meghan Markle's jam is not really about strawberries and sugar. It is about authenticity, price, and the way celebrity brands sell a story as much as they sell a product.

The As Ever spreads were initially presented with a heavy emphasis on craft and lifestyle, amplified by limited-number PR drops to influencers and friends. Yet experts quoted by the Daily Mail suggested the jam is likely 'mass-produced' and possibly made in a 'co-packaging' facility, where manufacturers produce goods for multiple labels under private arrangements.

On one level, that is simply how much of the food industry works. On another, it puts Meghan in a slightly awkward spot: the Duchess has positioned herself as a tastemaker and storyteller, and customers willing to pay a premium often expect absolute clarity over where and how such goods are created.

Those expectations were not helped by a separate critique from one retail expert, who told the Daily Mail that parts of the As Ever collection amounted to 'a rip-off of Aldi' and warned consumers they 'would be a fool to buy them' at the prices charged. That language is obviously pejorative, but it fed into a wider narrative among some of Meghan's critics that the brand trades heavily on her name while offering little that could not be sourced more cheaply elsewhere.

Again, there is no evidence in the material provided that As Ever has breached any labelling rules or misrepresented the nature of the jam. The dispute is largely about perception and value rather than hard regulation.

New As Ever Candles Put Meghan Markle's Children In The Spotlight

While the jam row simmered, Meghan Markle moved ahead with a fresh As Ever release for US Mother's Day, and it has stirred its own backlash for a different reason entirely.

The latest collection features two 'Signature' candles openly dedicated to her children, six-year-old Prince Archie and four-year-old Princess Lilibet. One is marketed as 'Signature Candle No. 604,' a reference to Lilibet's 4 June birthday, and the other as 'Signature Candle No. 506,' tied to Archie's 6 May birthday.

On the As Ever website, the descriptions explicitly state 'Prince Archie of Sussex's Birthdate' and 'Princess Lilibet of Sussex's Birthdate,' folding royal titles directly into a commercial product line. Critics have accused Meghan of 'splashing' her children's names across merchandise to bolster sales, an allegation that inevitably reopens long-running arguments over how far the Sussexes should monetise their royal connections.

Supporters would no doubt counter that celebrity lifestyle brands have long referenced family members, milestones, and personal dates, and that Meghan has the same right to build a business narrative around her home life as any other public figure. Still, the optics are delicate. When the children's royal titles appear on a premium candle, it sharpens the broader question that hangs over As Ever: where is the line between authentic self-expression and commercialising the trappings of royalty?

So far, neither Meghan nor Prince Harry has offered a public defence of the branding, pricing, or secrecy around As Ever's production. There has been no detailed breakdown of sourcing, no on-the-record comment about NDAs, and no attempt to address directly whether the jam is indeed being churned out in a large co-packing facility hundreds of miles from Montecito.

Absent that transparency, critics such as Tom Bower are likely to keep probing, and the jars of As Ever jam will remain, somewhat fittingly, a little more opaque than their sugar-glossed labels might suggest.