November 27, 2025 • 8 mins
Meghan declares Thanksgiving in Montecito “low-key,” which apparently means harvesting sage in poetic slow-motion while launching a $32 Sage Honey from her backyard bees. A glossy As Ever video shows her glazing a turkey in a $297 satin gown paired with nearly a quarter-million dollars in jewellery — prompting the internet to ask why anyone would cook in couture. Critics also pounced on her muted “manila envelope” holiday palette, accusing her of recycling the same beige aesthetic she once blamed on royal protocol.
Meanwhile, PR experts say her recent influencer-style reels expose a growing authenticity problem, with Tom Sykes calling out her “staged November 16 Christmas decorating” and comparing the misstep to the infamous upside-down jam tongs.
Grant Harrold says the Sussexes are now “eating humble pie,” Harry is reportedly desperate to go home for Christmas, and insiders claim he’s homesick, lonely, and waiting for the King’s green light. Expect Meghan to go “offline” for her peaceful Montecito feast — and let's see of we get a photo of Harry looking miserable watching the Cowboys.
Hear our new show "Crown and Controversy: Prince Andrew" here.
Check out "Palace Intrigue Presents: King WIlliam" here.
👑 Follow our hit series Crown and Controversy! Season 1 is fully available now for everyone. Season 2 has new episodes every Sunday on the regular feed. GET THE FULL SEASON 2 BEFORE REGULAR LISTENERS as a subscriber! Hit that "UNINTERRUPTED LISTENING" Banner on the top of the Apple player. AND listen to Crown and Controversy "NORWAY'S ROYAL REBELS" here and get the full season as a premium subscriber now.
👑 The Palace Intrigue Social Hub is Live! Join the conversation on Facebook and Instagram or click the links to start your royal journey!
Meanwhile, PR experts say her recent influencer-style reels expose a growing authenticity problem, with Tom Sykes calling out her “staged November 16 Christmas decorating” and comparing the misstep to the infamous upside-down jam tongs.
Grant Harrold says the Sussexes are now “eating humble pie,” Harry is reportedly desperate to go home for Christmas, and insiders claim he’s homesick, lonely, and waiting for the King’s green light. Expect Meghan to go “offline” for her peaceful Montecito feast — and let's see of we get a photo of Harry looking miserable watching the Cowboys.
Hear our new show "Crown and Controversy: Prince Andrew" here.
Check out "Palace Intrigue Presents: King WIlliam" here.
👑 Follow our hit series Crown and Controversy! Season 1 is fully available now for everyone. Season 2 has new episodes every Sunday on the regular feed. GET THE FULL SEASON 2 BEFORE REGULAR LISTENERS as a subscriber! Hit that "UNINTERRUPTED LISTENING" Banner on the top of the Apple player. AND listen to Crown and Controversy "NORWAY'S ROYAL REBELS" here and get the full season as a premium subscriber now.
👑 The Palace Intrigue Social Hub is Live! Join the conversation on Facebook and Instagram or click the links to start your royal journey!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Calorogus Shark Media. Hello and welcome to Balance Intrigue. I'm
your host, Mark Francis. It will supposedly be a quiet
Thanksgiving in Montecito, if the marketing is to be believed.
Megan Michael used the as Ever newsletter to share a
highly curated glimpse of Thanksgiving preparations at the Sussex's Montecito estate.
(00:28):
The Duchess says she Prince Harry and their children harvest
sage from their garden to season the family meal, describing
how those strolls with Archie and Lily running in tow
were the sun drenched moments that made an everyday walk
something a bit more magical, which is how normal people talk.
The anecdote also serves as the origin story for her
(00:49):
newest as Ever product, a thirty two dollar Sage Honey
with honeycomb, which Megan says was inspired by adding homegrow
and sage to honey from their backyard bees. The newsletter
calls it a stunning sage honey, aromatic and earthy, and
encourages fans to drizzle it on Thanksgiving Turkey vegetables, vinaigrettes,
or a spoonful in your tea She also offers a
(01:11):
recipe for an as Ever Sage honey glaze for those
hoping to create their own Montecito Thanksgiving love story. A
video on the brand's Instagram shows Megan in a burgundy
holiday gown, blazing a turkey and setting an elegantly muted table.
It arrives just days after she faced criticism for a
beige in depressing holiday promotion for as Ever eclipped, some
(01:31):
viewers said lacked color, warmth, or any sense of Christmas brightness.
Comments included where are the Christmas colors? And it's depressing
unseasoned Manila envelope drabness. Megan's dress, which features a V
neckline and black bow tied straps, originally retouled for four
ninety five, but it's currently listened to two hundred ninety
seven dollars. Her accessories lifted the overall value of the
(01:53):
ensemble considerably. She wore her basil cut Lorraine Schwartz Pinky
Ring estimated it between sixty two and seventy thousand dollars.
Her diamond studded Cartier is just to include necklace that
eighteen grand her eight thousand dollars Cartier Love braceslit She
also wore her diamond engagement ring from Prince Harry, estimated
around one hundred and fifty thousand in totally outfit and
(02:15):
jewelry amounted to two hundred and forty seven one hundred
and forty five dollars. Reaction online was mixed. When user
wrote on x nothing screams authenticity quite as remarkably as
a woman basting a chicken in a satin frock without
an apron. Another commented typical more about how she looks
them what's on the table? A third added, how do
you even consider cooking in a satin dress? One speacire
(02:36):
that oily looking sauce would ruin it. Critics also noted
that Megan once claimed she muted her wardrobe to blend
in with senior royals. In her current aesthetic again leans
heavily into muted tones. Social media users remark the latest
look browns olives and neutrals echoes in the same palette
she previously said she adopted only out of royal necessity. Megan, however,
(02:58):
maintains the holidays a mon to see her are pretty
low key, centered around Archie and Lillibet. She says the
children are now old enough to understand the celebrations, adding
I just can't wait to see it through their lens
every year. Meghan also babbled something about cooking a turkey
and being fearless. I hope they see the value of
being brave. They saw it when the jam was just
a pot on the stove bubbling. When you're young, I
(03:20):
think you were a little bit more fearless, and as
we get older, we lose some of that. With a
Netflix special next week to promote, we'll see if Meghan
stays off social media for her low key day, we
are likely to get some pics of Harry looking miserable
watching the Dallas Cowboys. Former royal butler Grant Harold believes
Harry and Meghan may be experiencing a big shift in
(03:42):
their approach to work in public life. Grant said, when
Meghan first joined the royal family, the late Queen gave
her blessing for her to continue acting, which was quite unusual.
But Meghan decided against it and wanted to try her
way of doing royal life. But it's all backfired a bit.
I think she's realized that stepping away was a mistake
and she's backtracking a bit. This is them eating humbled
(04:02):
pie a bit. She's now got lots of other projects
that she's working on, mainly her as ever range, and
I don't think she'll give that up to make acting
her only venture. She's made clear her passion lines in
the lifestyle world, and I think that's where the main
focus will remain. We're also seeing Harry continue his tours solo,
carrying out more traditional styled royal engagements, focusing on courses
(04:26):
he's passionate about. It's like they are both going back
to their roots. It's like they're going back to their
original plan in the Royalist. Tom Sykes was not impressed
by one of Megan's recent videos, Sykes Riots. In a
second long clip uploaded to Instagram on Sunday, Meggan the
peers in a silky olive green blouse and skirt, her
hair scraped into a ballerina bun, while hanging stockings in
(04:49):
a room that eagle eyed viewers will recognize as the
office where she filmed the video for her short lived
forty by forty mentoring program. It could be an ordinary
influencer post, but arriving as it does at the tail
end of photo gate, I would argue that never has
it been more critical for Meghan to really think through
what she is posting. Unfortunately, Megan appears to have given
(05:11):
the most significant issue of it all, authenticity, no thought
at all, because here she is gayly pretending that she
is decorating her home for Christmas on November sixteenth. That
would be fine if Megan had not spent months insisting
that as ever as a glimpse of her real life
distilled into Jam jars Berry Bush's handwritten labels and kitchen rituals,
(05:31):
it is reminiscent of the Jam Tom's fiasco when in
a promotional image posted to her site, Megan was shown
using a jar lifter upside down. There was a trivial mistake,
but it became a mean because she's made her jam
and a foundation, myth and a metaphor for her sincerity.
If you tell the world Jam is your Jam, you
had better know which way up the tools go, or
(05:52):
risk viewers noticing the yawning authenticity gap at the heart
of your brand. Faking putting up Christmas decorations in your
own home on November sixteenth only matters if your entire
enterprise depends on belief in you. The video didn't do
well on social media, with many questioning Megan's choice of colors.
Online reaction has been swift and largely unflattering. Many social
(06:15):
media uses criticizing the muted color palette in the latest
holiday collection. One person on ex wrote, a color scheme
can be a beautiful thing, but a Christmas one based
on the color brown as tricky as all get out.
She and the artistic team missed the mark in a
very big way with this pretentious attempt at sheaicness. Another
comment described it as a vomit green holiday collection. Others
(06:39):
question the ongoing use of neutral shades, with one user
saying she just can't be honest and admit that she
likes beige and there is nothing wrong with that. The
only problem is she could just admit that she lied
about having to wear the color while in the UK.
A separate comment read nothing screams festive, holiday and celebration
like beige. One would think that after she felt compelled
(06:59):
by the Royal family to wear only beige, that it
would be the one color she would avoid after her
great escape. Some suggested the palette simply didn't capture a
seasonal atmosphere. The holidays are supposed to be colorful and
bright lights, full of jeer and excitement and laughter from
the children, wrote one user in a more sardonic take
another joke. There she is the woman finally free to
(07:20):
wear bright colors. More Paladin, just a moment. Meghan often
eight behind the scenes look at her new Harper's Bizarre
cover shoots during a monochrome video on her Instagram account,
Thinking the team involved, thank you at Harper's Bizarre, us
at Samira Naser and this extraordinary team for a special
(07:43):
and unforgettable experience, she wrote. Editor in chief Samir Naser added,
at Meghan is our winter cover star. This cover is
the culbination of a conversation that began five years ago.
I am eternally grateful to Meghan and her wonderful team
for their collaboration and trust. An insider tells closer Harry
is on the tenterhooks waiting to get the go ahead
to visit King Charles and England at Christmas, and his
(08:05):
adamant that he needs to be with his father any
chance he gets. Truth is he's terribly homesick and finding
Hollywood a very lonely and foreign place to be right now,
and he'd love to see his family and catch up
with some of his old friends too. He's talking seriously
about extending the trip and blocking off much of December,
but until he gets the approval, he can't plan anything.
(08:27):
And there you have it. If you'd late to email
us addresses the Palace Intrigue at gmail dot com. I
hope you're all having a wonderful Thanksgiving, Oh Mirk Francis,
many thanks to John McDermott's Palace Intrigue. Good terms
Calorogus Shark Media. Hello and welcome to Balance Intrigue. I'm
your host, Mark Francis. It will supposedly be a quiet
Thanksgiving in Montecito, if the marketing is to be believed.
Megan Michael used the as Ever newsletter to share a
highly curated glimpse of Thanksgiving preparations at the Sussex's Montecito estate.
(00:28):
The Duchess says she Prince Harry and their children harvest
sage from their garden to season the family meal, describing
how those strolls with Archie and Lily running in tow
were the sun drenched moments that made an everyday walk
something a bit more magical, which is how normal people talk.
The anecdote also serves as the origin story for her
(00:49):
newest as Ever product, a thirty two dollar Sage Honey
with honeycomb, which Megan says was inspired by adding homegrow
and sage to honey from their backyard bees. The newsletter
calls it a stunning sage honey, aromatic and earthy, and
encourages fans to drizzle it on Thanksgiving Turkey vegetables, vinaigrettes,
or a spoonful in your tea She also offers a
(01:11):
recipe for an as Ever Sage honey glaze for those
hoping to create their own Montecito Thanksgiving love story. A
video on the brand's Instagram shows Megan in a burgundy
holiday gown, blazing a turkey and setting an elegantly muted table.
It arrives just days after she faced criticism for a
beige in depressing holiday promotion for as Ever eclipped, some
(01:31):
viewers said lacked color, warmth, or any sense of Christmas brightness.
Comments included where are the Christmas colors? And it's depressing
unseasoned Manila envelope drabness. Megan's dress, which features a V
neckline and black bow tied straps, originally retouled for four
ninety five, but it's currently listened to two hundred ninety
seven dollars. Her accessories lifted the overall value of the
(01:53):
ensemble considerably. She wore her basil cut Lorraine Schwartz Pinky
Ring estimated it between sixty two and seventy thousand dollars.
Her diamond studded Cartier is just to include necklace that
eighteen grand her eight thousand dollars Cartier Love braceslit She
also wore her diamond engagement ring from Prince Harry, estimated
around one hundred and fifty thousand in totally outfit and
(02:15):
jewelry amounted to two hundred and forty seven one hundred
and forty five dollars. Reaction online was mixed. When user
wrote on x nothing screams authenticity quite as remarkably as
a woman basting a chicken in a satin frock without
an apron. Another commented typical more about how she looks
them what's on the table? A third added, how do
you even consider cooking in a satin dress? One speacire
(02:36):
that oily looking sauce would ruin it. Critics also noted
that Megan once claimed she muted her wardrobe to blend
in with senior royals. In her current aesthetic again leans
heavily into muted tones. Social media users remark the latest
look browns olives and neutrals echoes in the same palette
she previously said she adopted only out of royal necessity. Megan, however,
(02:58):
maintains the holidays a mon to see her are pretty
low key, centered around Archie and Lillibet. She says the
children are now old enough to understand the celebrations, adding
I just can't wait to see it through their lens
every year. Meghan also babbled something about cooking a turkey
and being fearless. I hope they see the value of
being brave. They saw it when the jam was just
a pot on the stove bubbling. When you're young, I
(03:20):
think you were a little bit more fearless, and as
we get older, we lose some of that. With a
Netflix special next week to promote, we'll see if Meghan
stays off social media for her low key day, we
are likely to get some pics of Harry looking miserable
watching the Dallas Cowboys. Former royal butler Grant Harold believes
Harry and Meghan may be experiencing a big shift in
(03:42):
their approach to work in public life. Grant said, when
Meghan first joined the royal family, the late Queen gave
her blessing for her to continue acting, which was quite unusual.
But Meghan decided against it and wanted to try her
way of doing royal life. But it's all backfired a bit.
I think she's realized that stepping away was a mistake
and she's backtracking a bit. This is them eating humbled
(04:02):
pie a bit. She's now got lots of other projects
that she's working on, mainly her as ever range, and
I don't think she'll give that up to make acting
her only venture. She's made clear her passion lines in
the lifestyle world, and I think that's where the main
focus will remain. We're also seeing Harry continue his tours solo,
carrying out more traditional styled royal engagements, focusing on courses
(04:26):
he's passionate about. It's like they are both going back
to their roots. It's like they're going back to their
original plan in the Royalist. Tom Sykes was not impressed
by one of Megan's recent videos, Sykes Riots. In a
second long clip uploaded to Instagram on Sunday, Meggan the
peers in a silky olive green blouse and skirt, her
hair scraped into a ballerina bun, while hanging stockings in
(04:49):
a room that eagle eyed viewers will recognize as the
office where she filmed the video for her short lived
forty by forty mentoring program. It could be an ordinary
influencer post, but arriving as it does at the tail
end of photo gate, I would argue that never has
it been more critical for Meghan to really think through
what she is posting. Unfortunately, Megan appears to have given
(05:11):
the most significant issue of it all, authenticity, no thought
at all, because here she is gayly pretending that she
is decorating her home for Christmas on November sixteenth. That
would be fine if Megan had not spent months insisting
that as ever as a glimpse of her real life
distilled into Jam jars Berry Bush's handwritten labels and kitchen rituals,
(05:31):
it is reminiscent of the Jam Tom's fiasco when in
a promotional image posted to her site, Megan was shown
using a jar lifter upside down. There was a trivial mistake,
but it became a mean because she's made her jam
and a foundation, myth and a metaphor for her sincerity.
If you tell the world Jam is your Jam, you
had better know which way up the tools go, or
(05:52):
risk viewers noticing the yawning authenticity gap at the heart
of your brand. Faking putting up Christmas decorations in your
own home on November sixteenth only matters if your entire
enterprise depends on belief in you. The video didn't do
well on social media, with many questioning Megan's choice of colors.
Online reaction has been swift and largely unflattering. Many social
(06:15):
media uses criticizing the muted color palette in the latest
holiday collection. One person on ex wrote, a color scheme
can be a beautiful thing, but a Christmas one based
on the color brown as tricky as all get out.
She and the artistic team missed the mark in a
very big way with this pretentious attempt at sheaicness. Another
comment described it as a vomit green holiday collection. Others
(06:39):
question the ongoing use of neutral shades, with one user
saying she just can't be honest and admit that she
likes beige and there is nothing wrong with that. The
only problem is she could just admit that she lied
about having to wear the color while in the UK.
A separate comment read nothing screams festive, holiday and celebration
like beige. One would think that after she felt compelled
(06:59):
by the Royal family to wear only beige, that it
would be the one color she would avoid after her
great escape. Some suggested the palette simply didn't capture a
seasonal atmosphere. The holidays are supposed to be colorful and
bright lights, full of jeer and excitement and laughter from
the children, wrote one user in a more sardonic take
another joke. There she is the woman finally free to
(07:20):
wear bright colors. More Paladin, just a moment. Meghan often
eight behind the scenes look at her new Harper's Bizarre
cover shoots during a monochrome video on her Instagram account,
Thinking the team involved, thank you at Harper's Bizarre, us
at Samira Naser and this extraordinary team for a special
(07:43):
and unforgettable experience, she wrote. Editor in chief Samir Naser added,
at Meghan is our winter cover star. This cover is
the culbination of a conversation that began five years ago.
I am eternally grateful to Meghan and her wonderful team
for their collaboration and trust. An insider tells closer Harry
is on the tenterhooks waiting to get the go ahead
to visit King Charles and England at Christmas, and his
(08:05):
adamant that he needs to be with his father any
chance he gets. Truth is he's terribly homesick and finding
Hollywood a very lonely and foreign place to be right now,
and he'd love to see his family and catch up
with some of his old friends too. He's talking seriously
about extending the trip and blocking off much of December,
but until he gets the approval, he can't plan anything.
(08:27):
And there you have it. If you'd late to email
us addresses the Palace Intrigue at gmail dot com. I
hope you're all having a wonderful Thanksgiving, Oh Mirk Francis,
many thanks to John McDermott's Palace Intrigue. Good terms
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