Speaker 1: Calorouga Shark Media, Hello and welcome to Palace Intriguga. Post Francis,
Speaker 1: the Duchess of Sussex, finds herself at the center of
Speaker 1: yet another branding controversy, as the mayress of Pereras, a
Speaker 1: small town in Majorca, has accused Megan Michael's new lifestyle
Speaker 1: brand as Ever of copying their historic coat of arms.
Speaker 1: The logo in question, featuring a palm tree in two birds,
Speaker 1: bears a remarkable resemblance to Perera's own emblem, which dates
Speaker 1: back to thirteen seventy. Shuske More, of the town's mares,
Speaker 1: described the situation as surreal, telling l Pay that while
Speaker 1: a lossit would be prohibitively expensive for the town. They
Speaker 1: are formally calling for the logo to be changed to
Speaker 1: sue for plagiarism is complicated and costly, and a small
Speaker 1: town council like ols is not in a position to
Speaker 1: fight against the English Crown, she said. For her part,
Speaker 1: Meghan has presented the design as a personal nod to
Speaker 1: her family's California home, incorporating elements significant to the Sussexes.
Speaker 1: Prince Harry is particularly fond of Hummingbird's. Reports suggest that
Speaker 1: a thorough trademark search was conducted before the launch. Further
Speaker 1: adding to the intrigue, the maress pointed out that Meghan's
Speaker 1: first product, a jar of jam, also bears an uncanny
Speaker 1: link to Perras, which prides itself on producing what Mara
Speaker 1: calls the best jam in the world. While stressing that
Speaker 1: legal action is unlikely, she playfully invited the Duchess to
Speaker 1: visit and perhaps even hosts the town's patron Saints festival, adding,
Speaker 1: the farmers will be happy if Megan wants to market
Speaker 1: our jam. But wait, there's more. A New York based
Speaker 1: vintage clothing brand of the same name has now weighed
Speaker 1: in on the situation, making it clear that they are
Speaker 1: not affiliated with the Duchess's new lifestyle brand. The small business,
Speaker 1: run by husband and wife team Mark Kolski and Astid Dahl,
Speaker 1: has been operating under the as Ever name since twenty fifteen,
Speaker 1: officially launching in twenty seventeen. In the wake of the
Speaker 1: media storm surrounding Meghan's announcement, they took to Instagram to
Speaker 1: acknowledge the surge of attention, writing wow and hello. In
Speaker 1: the last thirty six hours, there has been an outpouring
Speaker 1: of support and concern regarding recent events around our namesake brand.
Speaker 1: We are aware, we are not affiliated. While the post
Speaker 1: remained diplomatic, it carries a subtle warning affirming that they
Speaker 1: will continue promoting their brand as they always have. We
Speaker 1: will continue as ever. In the Telegraph, Hannah Ferness writes
Speaker 1: under the headline it seems Megan is still blaming the
Speaker 1: royals for her woes. Duchess relaunches her new brand, complete
Speaker 1: with dubious In the motive backstory, as Ever, Hannah tells
Speaker 1: us the Duchess of Sussex has been seemingly prevented from
Speaker 1: sharing her true loves of cooking, crafting and gardening with
Speaker 1: the will for the past few years. She says, I
Speaker 1: haven't been able to share it with you in the
Speaker 1: same way. She does not use the words because of
Speaker 1: the royal family, but anyone familiar with the Sussex law
Speaker 1: is likely to hear it as such. Never Mind that
Speaker 1: the Duchess produced a best selling cookbook while a working
Speaker 1: member of the royal family, that the King is one
Speaker 1: of the most famous gardeners in the world, or that
Speaker 1: the Sussexes have been free of royal duties for a
Speaker 1: full five years now, not to mention Hgrove has its
Speaker 1: own range of produce, or that princes, princesses and duchesses
Speaker 1: are invited to try their hand at some form of
Speaker 1: arts and crafts in half the royal engagements they do.
Speaker 1: During her Instagram video, the joy and relief in the
Speaker 1: Duchess's voice about being able to finally share her passions
Speaker 1: as clear now, she says, I can. In the short
Speaker 1: self filmed edit, the Duchess crouches and what appears to
Speaker 1: be a Montecito vegetable patch to address her fans directly.
Speaker 1: It also features the obligatory inclusion of the Duke telling
Speaker 1: his wife that her camera is on before leaving. Her
Speaker 1: original idea American Riviera Orchid sounded like a great name,
Speaker 1: but limited me to things that were just manufactured and
Speaker 1: grown in this area. As such, she claims she is
Speaker 1: changing her mind to go back to her real roots.
Speaker 1: There is no mention of the fact that American Riviera
Speaker 1: Orchard ran into such extensive copyright issues that it had
Speaker 1: to be completely reimagined or dropped. No mention of the
Speaker 1: fact that the Duchess has already soft launched its first product,
Speaker 1: a website and a social media campaign and that this
Speaker 1: is a complete about turn in her plans. In fact,
Speaker 1: she intimates it is what she wanted all along, Just
Speaker 1: as Elizabeth I suggested. Recollections may vary compared with the
Speaker 1: Sussex's account of their time in her family, so too
Speaker 1: may those who have worked on the Duchess's more recent projects.
Speaker 1: The video includes giggles over a lot of public curiosity
Speaker 1: about her fledgling business, although she does not explain how
Speaker 1: it came to her attention. While she famously does not
Speaker 1: listen to the noise, the expressions and gesture that the
Speaker 1: Duchess's followers are coming to know and love her all
Speaker 1: there the half whisper, the hand on forehead in a
Speaker 1: difficult moment. The influencer style sign off thanks guys. As ever,
Speaker 1: when said in Britain, lends itself too easily to jokes.
Speaker 1: Already people are inserting their own adjectives into as blank
Speaker 1: as ever, or adding it as an easy punchline to
Speaker 1: the Duke and Duchess's latest escapades. The Sussexes are rebranding,
Speaker 1: as ever? Was that a dig at the royal family?
Speaker 1: As Ever? In The Daily Mail, Richard Eden writes as
Speaker 1: John Cleese said of the dead parrot in the classic
Speaker 1: Monty Python sketch, the company has ceased to be It's
Speaker 1: expired and gone to meet its maker. Eden points out
Speaker 1: this week's embarrassing u turn over the Duchess's hastily named
Speaker 1: lifestyle brand has come as little surprise to some of
Speaker 1: the royal officials who had to work with her after
Speaker 1: she became engaged to Harry in twenty seventeen. One insider
Speaker 1: told Eden, this is further evidence of what we've seen
Speaker 1: time and again with Megan. She doesn't like to take advice.
Speaker 1: I'm sure she would have been advised that it was
Speaker 1: better not to launch her company until everything had been
Speaker 1: thought through carefully. Megan was offered so much advice and
Speaker 1: support after she moved to Britain, including from the late Queen,
Speaker 1: but most of it she ignored. Palace entry will be
Speaker 1: a ride back. Footage has emerged showing the decapitated head
Speaker 1: of Norburne's King George the Fifth Statue being set a
Speaker 1: light on a barbecue during an Australian Day protest, reigniting
Speaker 1: debate over the vandalism of colonial monuments in the country.
Speaker 1: The head, which had been missing since June of twenty
Speaker 1: twenty three, appeared in an Instagram video shared by activist
Speaker 1: groups Whistleblowers, Activists and Communities Alliance and Disrupt Wars. The
Speaker 1: footage depicted the statue's head engulfed in flames on a
Speaker 1: barbecue with an Australian flag in the background. The post
Speaker 1: was captured cooking with the King and included hashtags such
Speaker 1: as hashtag Invasion Day, hashtag not our King. A note
Speaker 1: accompanying the footage, sent anonymously to Disrupt Wars stated we
Speaker 1: will barbecue a monarch every year on January twenty sixth
Speaker 1: until Australia Day is abolished hashtag not my King, the
Speaker 1: colony will fall. The statue, located in Melbourne's King's Domain
Speaker 1: on lineleth Gow Avenue, was first vandalized on June tenth,
Speaker 1: during the King's Birthday holiday. At the time, police confirmed
Speaker 1: that the head had been removed and red paint thrown
Speaker 1: at the monument. Despite ongoing investigations, authorities had been unable
Speaker 1: to locate the missing peace until now. Melbourne's Lord Mayor
Speaker 1: Nick Reese condemned the act and confirmed that the city
Speaker 1: was working with police to retrieve the statue's remains. The
Speaker 1: damage to the King George the Fifth Statue was extensive
Speaker 1: and it is not a simple restoration. Ways to restore
Speaker 1: this statue are still being investigated, he said, adding that
Speaker 1: such acts of vandalism come at a cost to rate
Speaker 1: payers as specialists must be engaged to repair the damage.
Speaker 1: The statue itself remains standing headless while authorities assess the
Speaker 1: next steps for its restoration. And there you have it.
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Speaker 1: Francis my thanks to you, John McDermott. This is Palace
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