Source : PERTHNOW NEWS
Charles Spencer appears to be taking a leaf out of Meghan Markle’s lifestyle playbook – with the Earl registering his Althorp brand for everything from honey and marmalade to tea, cheese, cider and wine.
The 62-year-old is said to be on the verge of moving to expand the commercial potential of his family’s historic Althorp estate in Northamptonshire just days after the publication of his controversial Princess Diana memoir, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister.
Intellectual Property Office records cover a wide range of food, drink and retail products connected with the Spencer name, while the development comes as Meghan, 45, continues to build her As ever lifestyle business around fruit spreads, marmalade, honey, wine and other products.
A source told The Sun: “First Spencer imitated Prince Harry with attacks on the royal family, and now he is doing a Meghan – and appears to be planning to make jam.”
Meghan’s As ever business currently sells raspberry and strawberry spreads, orange marmalade and honey, alongside tea, wine, candles and other lifestyle products.
The brand says its preserves grew out of jams Meghan made at home for friends and family.
Charles’ apparent proposed venture would have an unmistakably personal backdrop.
Althorp has been the Spencer family seat for centuries and is also where Diana was laid to rest following her death aged 36 after a car crash in Paris in 1997.
Charles is going through a turbulent time following the publication of his Swan Song memoir, which has generated a bitter public dispute over his account of Diana’s life and death.
Charles has made a series of disputed allegations about King Charles III, 77, including claiming the then-Prince of Wales sounded “giddily elated” following Diana’s death and later told him: “Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough.”
Buckingham Palace took the unusual step of publicly challenging his account.
The Palace said: “While we do not comment on books as a matter of principle, His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss.”
Charles has stood by his recollection and said he did not write the book as an attack on the King.
The book has also led to a separate dispute with Piers Morgan, 61, who has threatened legal action over claims involving photographs of Diana exercising at a gym.
Charles apologised after incorrectly assuming Piers was editor of the Daily Mirror when the pictures appeared.
They were published by the Sunday Mirror in 1993, while Piers did not become editor of the Daily Mirror until 1995.
Diana’s former butler Paul Burrell has meanwhile challenged Charles’s portrayal of his relationship with his sister during the final years of her life.
Speaking on Piers Morgan Uncensored, Paul said about the siblings’ relationship before Diana’s passing: “They barely spoke. He was not part of her world.”
Discussing Swan Song, Paul told The Sun: “I’d think (Diana’s) last five years… are pretty vague in the book because (Charles) knows nothing about them.”
Paul also quoted Diana as saying: “My family only want me when they want the best seats in the best restaurants or want to sit in the Royal Box at Wimbledon.”
Charles has said the approaching 30th anniversary of Diana’s death prompted him to record his memories in his memoir from his perspective.
