Meghan has recreated one of Princess Diana’s iconic looks as she gave a tour of her garden in a social media clip. The Duchess of Sussex was sporting a purple Northwestern University jumper identical to one worn by Prince Harry’s late mother in 1995.
The 45-year-old filmed herself walking around her garden in the exclusive Californian suburb of Montecito, with the caption: “A small break from work to soak in the weekend sunshine.”. The 43-year-old smiled while wearing sunglasses in the clip, before using an orange from the garden to make a drink, as Prince Harry can be heard laughing.
One of the couple’s two children - Archie and Lilibet - can be heard saying: “Mummy, I can do it if you want me to" before watering plants with a hose. The purple jumper is identical to one worn by Diana after a visit to Northwestern's Evanston campus in 1995 to raise funds for the university's Robert H. Lurie Cancer Center.
The Duchess of Sussex was also a student at Northwestern, graduating with a double major in theatre and international studies in 2003. It comes after Meghan was given the green light to launch her new household goods brand, which will tie in with her upcoming Netflix leisure show.
However, the Duchess of Sussex will not be able to use her 'As Ever' brand to sell clothing as originally planned, due to a naming conflict with a Chinese fast-fashion retailer. Her lawyers applied to the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in October 2022 to trademark the 'As Ever' name for products including aprons, jams, and dog biscuits.
Her claim was met with a 145-page 'partial rejection' from USPTO in 2023 because her brand name was too close to that of budget Chinese clothing outlet ASEVER. ASEVER supplies high street shops such as H&M and is based in Shenzhen, China. USPTO stated: "The marks are identical in sound and virtually identical in appearance and are thus confusingly similar for the purposes of determining likelihood of confusion.
"Registration of the applied-for mark is refused because of a likelihood of confusion.". The duchess's lawyers made a revised application in January last year, removing any mention of clothing. USPTO has now approved the trademark. Her line of 'As Ever' products will launch just as Netflix begins streaming her new lifestyle show 'With Love, Meghan' on March 4, with the products available in Netflix stores in Dallas and Philadelphia.
