As we discussed, on a recent episode of the UK show Dragons’ Den, the founders of jewelry brand Kimai revealed that their business grew by leaps and bounds right after the Duchess of Sussex wore a pair of their lab-grown diamond earrings in January 2019, to a Smart Works event. Kimai’s founders, Sidney Neuhaus and Jessica Warch, told the panel that they got Meghan to wear the earrings by “cold emailing” her. The British papers have been ranting about it for several days, trying to say that Meghan accepted the earrings as freebies and she should have said no, or she should have shared with staffers or blah blah blah. As it turns out, while Meghan did hear about the company through a cold email, she actually purchased the earrings she wore in 2019. She also purchased another pair from the brand, and wore the second pair during last year’s Invictus Games.

Whenever Meghan Markle wears something, it’s sure to be a swift sellout — and the founders of London-based fine jewelry brand Kimai recently shared that they raised $1.2 million in investments after the Duchess of Sussex wore a pair of their diamond earrings. Sidney Neuhaus and Jessica Warch, co-founders of the ethical lab-grown diamond company, appeared on “Dragons’ Den” (the BBC’s version of “Shark Tank”) last week, sharing that they “launched without investment” and managed to convince Markle to wear one of their pieces just two months later.

The duchess sparkled in Kimai’s 18k yellow gold Felicity crawler earrings during a 2019 visit to the Smart Works charity, with the soon-to-be-relaunched style — which retailed for $845 per earring — featuring three diamond eye charms dangling from a wave of pavé stones.

Warch shut down rumors that Markle accepted the earrings as freebies, confirming to Page Six Style that the Duchess of Sussex purchased them from Kimai directly.

On “Dragons’ Den,” Warch explained that after the royal wore the earrings, the company was able “to grow the revenue significantly,” enabling Kimai to raise $1.2 million in investments.

“I think for us as a young brand starting out it’s very hard to get out there, and her wearing our designs really attracted people’s attention from a design perspective but also from a lab-grown diamond perspective,” Warch tells Page Six Style, adding “it was the first time royalty was seen wearing lab-grown diamonds.”

The jewelry pro told us that, in 2019, lab-grown stones were “a very new and controversial topic” and that the Duchess of Sussex’s support “definitely launched” the business.

When “Diary Of A CEO” podcast host Steven Bartlett, who serves as one of the show’s “dragons,” asked how they pulled off getting a member of the royal family to wear the unknown brand, the duo admitted that they sent “cold emails.” Bartlett went on to offer the duo a £250,000 ($316,000) investment in their business, telling Warch and Neuhaus, “The story you told me of you hounding down Meghan Markle was the moment you had my heart, because that’s what it takes.”
The Duchess of Sussex has since gone on to wear Kimai ‘s semi-hoop earrings ($795 each) at the Invictus Games in 2023, and stars like Jessica Alba and Emma Watson have also worn the ethical brand.

[From Page Six]

I’m sort of in awe of Meghan’s ability to do research into the smallest things and have this kind of impact. I mean, a jewelry brand cold-emailed her and she purchased a pair of lab-grown diamonds, wore them to a royal event and she had this huge impact for the brand but she never said a word. It’s incredible. Anyway, I wonder if the British papers will still be screaming about the earrings now that the founder has come out and said that Meghan purchased them. I hope Kimai gives her some free earrings though, damn.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Calista Flockhart works so rarely in television or films, it always feels like an event when she’s actually out of the house. She’s now starring in Feud: Capote vs. The Swans, and she plays Lee Radziwell, Jackie Kennedy’s sister. She’s joined by Naomi Watts (Babe Paley), Diane Lane (Slim Keith), Chloe Sevigny (CZ Guest), Molly Ringwald (Joanne Carson) and Demi Moore (Ann Woodward). Calista recently gave a pretty great interview to Maureen Dowd at the NY Times about Feud, about being married to Harrison Ford and about life in general. She also touches on the ‘90s sh-t – all of the conversations about her short skirts and whether she had an eating disorder. Some highlights:

She would have had lunch with the Swans: “Maybe once. I felt very sorry for them. Here they are, the toast of New York — rich, jewels, apartments, houses in the country, houses in Europe. They travel all the time on private planes. They have yachts. They are dictating what is in and what is not. Underneath all that, they were very sad, very lonely and really unhappy women.”

She loved the costumes but her real style isn’t like that: “I should have lived in the ’60s, for sure…[but] I’m not going to wear a purse that says Gucci all over it, because that just seems strange. I’m also just very frugal. I have some really beautiful designer clothes, but 90 percent of my wardrobe is from Nordstrom. Just what’s comfortable, what works. I have a uniform. I switch from a gray sweater to a black sweater back to the gray sweater to a black sweater.”

On Lee Radziwell: “Truman Capote recognized that she was living in her sister’s shadow, and he would say things: ‘You’re so much prettier. You’re so much smarter. You’re more interesting. You have better style.’ She really needed to hear that. I think it made her really love Truman. He was fun, and she confided in him, like they all did.”

On all of the criticism of Ally McBeal’s short skirts: “I have a lot of distance and perspective, and I’m still incredulous. I cannot believe that I was scrutinized and pursued like that. It was intense and it was unfair.” Ms. Flockhart recalled how casually that wardrobe decision had been made: “I said to the costume designer: ‘It either has to be long or short. It can’t be in the middle, because that doesn’t make my leg look good.’ She said, ‘OK, let’s go short.’ I said, ‘Cool, let’s go short.’ And then all of a sudden there was this huge short-skirt scandal, which was really fun.”

The conversations about whether she was anorexic: “I don’t think that would ever happen today. They call it body-shaming now. I haven’t thought about it in a long time, but it’s really not OK to accuse someone of having a disease that a lot of people struggle with. It wasn’t the case, and there was nothing I could do to convince anybody or get out of it. If I had worn a big padded bra, they probably would never have been able to target me in that way. I look back at pictures, and I’m the same then as I am now, and nobody says a word now. I was an easy target, I guess. It was painful, it was complicated. I loved working on ‘Ally McBeal,’ and it just made it sour. I was very sleep-deprived and I was depressed about it. I did think that it was going to ruin my career. I didn’t think anybody would ever hire me again, because they would just assume I had anorexia, and that would be the end of that.”

She’s always been naturally small: “I honestly have never been in a situation where I have to watch my weight. My mom is 4-11 now, and she weighed 93 pounds when she was married. Talk about a little tiny elf. I just have small bones, and I just am lucky.”

Why her marriage to Harrison has worked: She mused that one of the reasons that it has worked is because she was “really content being home” as a full-time mom. “I didn’t have the same dreams at the time, so we weren’t competing with each other. We’re very independent of each other in some ways and probably incredibly codependent on each other in others.”

Her independence startled him at first. “It scares him, I think, sometimes. When I first met him, he said, ‘You are the most self-sufficient woman in the world, and I don’t know how I feel about that.’ I remember I said, ‘What are you talking about?’ Because I didn’t recognize I was self-sufficient. The other reason it works is, we’re both pretty introverted. We stay home a lot, homebodies, which is nice.”

[From The NY Times]

If you go to the full piece, there’s a cute back-and-forth between Harrison and Calista about how they met (Harrison was interviewed separately). Basically, Harrison caught a glimpse of Calista at the 2002 Golden Globes and he was like “who is that??” He went over to her and tried to chat her up but she was ambivalent, but they kept talking later in the evening and he asked her out, and they’ve basically been together since their first date. She doesn’t make a big deal about “oh, I’m the wife of a Hollywood power player,” and it feels like neither of them really revel in that side of things. She’s just happy at home, raising her son and living her life. I also believe her when she says that she’s just naturally small. Some people are just fine-boned. And yes, all of those conversations about her body were gross at the time.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.

Last year, for St. Patrick’s Day, Prince William formally turned over his honorary position as colonel-in-chief of the Irish Guards. The position was handed over to his wife, the Princess of Wales. In turn, William took an honorary position with the Welsh Guards, because I guess the Prince of Wales can’t do f–k all for both the Welsh Guards AND the Irish Guards at the same time. In any case, Kate was always supposed to attend the St. Patrick’s Day shamrock ceremony with the Irish Guards, except for the time she skipped because she didn’t feel like it. Well, she’s obviously still recovering from her abdominal surgery this year, so the Irish Guards’ royal patron will be MIA. Weirdly, it doesn’t sound like they’re sending anyone in Kate’s place?

Recuperating at Windsor, the Princess of Wales, who is off duty until Easter, will not be able to down a Guinness while presenting shamrock to the Irish Guards on St Patrick’s Day. Just over a year ago Kate replaced William as their Royal Colonel. She hopes to be fit in June when No 9 Company troop the colour for the King.

A week earlier she is due to take the salute at the Colonel’s Review, the first female regimental colonel to do so since Princess Elizabeth in 1951.

[From The Daily Mail]

Notice how effortlessly they’ve pushed back Kate’s comeback – we’ve gone from “after Easter” to “maybe we’ll see her in June.” Last year, King Charles handed Kate several other military patronages, and none of those units will probably see her for a full year. While last year’s Irish Guards parade was widely criticized online, the whole shamrock ceremony is something cute which has been done by a senior royal woman for decades. It seems weird that they can’t or won’t just send Anne or Sophie or even Camilla for just one St. Patrick’s Day.

Meanwhile, Page Six had some lukewarm tea about how Kate’s surgery was a big surprise to her closest aides:

Kate Middleton is “thrilled” to be home with her children — after even her closest staff were kept in the dark about her major abdominal surgery. The Princess of Wales, 42, returned home to Adelaide Cottage on the Windsor estate Monday after two weeks in the hospital.

Even her closest aides did not know what exactly was wrong, sources told Page Six, as she and Prince William wanted to protect her privacy.

A Kensington Palace spokesperson said Monday that the royal “is making good progress.” The Princess of Wales is said to be extremely glad to get home.

“But for a twist of fate and meeting William, friends often comment she’d likely have preferred a quieter countryside life,” said a source. “Family and bringing up her children is the most important thing to her.”

[From Page Six]

A quieter country life is what Pippa ended up getting – after spending the first years of her marriage in London, Pippa and Terribly Moderately Wealthy James moved into a palatial estate in Berkshire with plenty of room for live-in nannies. Kate really made a Faustian bargain for the ring. As for Kate’s closest aides being kept in the dark… I don’t even know anymore. Again, wherever Kate is, I hope she’s okay.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Backgrid.

With King Charles, Prince William and the Princess of Wales all out of royal commission for one to five months, it was looking like Queen Camilla was being left in charge for a lengthy period of time. I still believe that Camilla is going to enjoy her little solo daily events for the next month, but the royal press isn’t looking forward to it. Which is why they’re desperate to convince themselves that everyone has been dying to see what Princess Anne and the Duchess of Edinburgh are up to. Anne and Sophie will also be out and about in the next month – although Sophie only seems to have one event on her calendar – but don’t expect to see much of Prince Edward. He’s either on strike or he just needed a break after jetting around the world with zero attention.

With the King temporarily out of action and the Princess of Wales laid up recovering from surgery, there was only one thing for it. The women of Windsor, as ever, have stepped up to the plate. The Queen, Princess Royal and Duchess of Edinburgh are to hold the fort for the coming week as the only senior members of the Royal family on public engagements.

The Queen will be out and about every day on visits, the details of which will be kept under wraps until her arrival for security reasons. Princess Anne, whose reputation as the hardest-working member of the Royal family precedes her, is doing two or three engagements on most days, travelling from London to Moray in Scotland, to Cardiff in Wales and then Wiltshire, Nottingham and back again. Close to her home in Windsor, the Duchess of Edinburgh will do one engagement in Surrey.

The unexpected royal matriarchy will end only on Feb 7, according to plans, when the 79-year-old Duke of Gloucester enters the fray, followed by the Duke of Edinburgh on the 8th. Prince Edward is taking a short break from public duties after his trips overseas in January to South Africa and St Helena.

The Princess of Wales was also discharged on Monday and is now at home in Windsor and reunited with her three children. She is not expected in public until Easter, with a long period of recuperation from abdominal surgery. She will be able to complete some of her work at home, closely following her Early Years project, but will not be making any in-person visits until at least April in a major change to the Royal calendar. The Prince of Wales is due to return to his own public engagements after taking time off to be by his wife’s bedside, but only once when she is settled at home.

The Duke of Sussex and Duke of York, who years ago would also have been undertaking royal duties and would have stepped in to fill the gaps left by the King and Princess, are no longer working members of the family.

[From The Telegraph]

Gee, is the Telegraph going to mention why Harry and Andrew are no longer working royals? So eager to lump them together, never eager to explain why! Andrew isn’t a working royal because he raped teenagers who were trafficked to him by Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein. Prince Harry, on the other hand, married a Black woman who was good at her royal job, and four years later, none of these people have ever recovered from it. As for Edward… it’s not a permanent hiatus, and most of these royals believe that they need a month’s rest after a few days abroad. Anyway, Anne sounds busy. Sophie does not. Camilla isn’t busy either – she’s doing busywork stuff like “visiting a dollhouse” and “dropping off her son’s watch at a repair shop.”

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Avalon Red.

Chloe Sevigny is currently promoting Feud: Capote vs. the Swans, and she finally sat down for a Vogue “15 Looks” video. I genuinely enjoyed hearing her talk about the ‘90s and her quirky fashion. You can tell how much she cares about it. [OMG Blog]
I’m still not ready to talk about the Australian Open men’s final. [Socialite Life]
Keanu Reeves took relatively small salaries for the John Wick movies because he had a backend deal on the whole franchise. [JustJared]
Dev Patel directed himself in Monkey Man & it looks so good! [LaineyGossip]
Yeah, Jonathan Glazer has been a well-known music video & commercial director for a very long time. That Jamiroquai video! [Pajiba]
Funny tweets from women! [Buzzfeed]
Calista Flockhart’s suit game is very good. [GFY]
Oprah Winfrey turned 70 years old on Monday! [Hollywood Life]
What’s Stephen Amell up to? [Seriously OMG]
Louis Vuitton made their brand ambassador Ana de Armas fly to Australia just to present the trophy at the Australian Open. [RCFA]

Well, Rebecca English at the Daily Mail has an exclusive about the Princess of Wales’s discharge from the London Clinic and her return home to Adelaide Cottage. While I believe that all is not as it seems, the conspiracy theories have gotten crazier and crazier in the past two weeks. As I’ve said before, you really have to watch what the other Windsors are doing – they don’t seem panicked, they’re carrying on like usual, and the king and queen are even using Kensington Palace’s crisis-mismanagement to draw a very pointed and vivid contrast. Enter Becky English and her “exclusive.” Again, no one saw William or Kate anywhere near the London Clinic yesterday and the British media is just itching to talk about that. So English insists that William was there, at the hospital, and he picked up his wife around 11 am on Monday, hours before Charles and Camilla left the same hospital and managed to do a full photocall.

The Princess of Wales has been reunited with her three children for the first time in two weeks after finally leaving hospital. Kate, who is said by Kensington Palace to be ‘doing well’, left The London Clinic in Marylebone yesterday morning after being admitted for surgery on January 16. King Charles was also discharged yesterday after surgery for an enlarged prostate, with the two royals leaving the central London hospital within hours of each other.

The King has been advised to avoid public engagements for up to a month, although he will be working through his red boxes of state papers almost immediately. Kate, 42, is unlikely to be seen in public until after Easter.

The Mail can reveal that Prince George, ten, Princess Charlotte, eight, and five-year-old Prince Louis were not taken to visit their mother in hospital after she recovered from what has been described as ‘abdominal surgery’. As her children would have been in school when she arrived back at her Windsor home, it is likely they would only have seen her for the first time when they returned to Adelaide Cottage later in the afternoon from Lambrook School, a ten-minute drive away. It will almost certainly be the longest period the Princess has been away from them.

It is understood that Prince William, who had cleared his diary to be by his wife’s side throughout, was at the hospital when she was discharged and is likely to have driven her home. It is thought the princess left through a private exit at around 11am in a car with her husband. Kensington Palace staff were seen leaving half an hour later, one with an arrangement of white orchids in their car.

Kate will now recuperate at home and her return to official duties will depend on medical advice closer to the time. It has been suggested she might not be able to undertake public duties until after Easter, meaning all planned engagements – including two foreign trips – have been cancelled, although aides hope they can be rearranged. It is understood William plans to restart public engagements once his wife is settled and recuperating at home, with further details to be announced. He has had help from the couple’s nanny, Maria Turrion Borrallo, and his in-laws, Michael and Carole Middleton, who will continue to lend a hand.

Kensington Palace said they will not discuss the princess’ condition any further and that it is her ‘wish’ for her personal medical information to remain private.

[From The Daily Mail]

From what I’ve seen, English is the only one firmly claiming that Kate absolutely checked out of the London Clinic yesterday and William absolutely picked her up. Given the number of photographers outside of the hospital and the number of times Queen Camilla was photographed entering and exiting the hospital over the weekend, I just find that so unlikely, but hey, what do I know. I’m not even entirely convinced that Kate is currently recuperating at Adelaide Cottage either. As I’ve said before, the absence of Carole and Michael Middleton at the hospital might be explained if Kate was already recovering somewhere else, and I would totally believe that Kate would rather recuperate at her parents’ house than at Adelaide Cottage. Wherever she is, I hope she’s safe and doing well.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.

We should just sit back and relax and wait to see which British outlet is the first one to “break.” One of them has to do it – they can’t wait to do some more critical stories about Prince William, Kate and Kate’s mysterious health crisis. This might be the calm before the storm, where they’re laying it on thick about Prince William’s caretaking duties and how William will wait on Kate hand and foot:

Grant Harrold, a former royal butler, told the New York Post: “Like any family, it’s always wonderful when a loved one is able to come back home. I’m sure the kids are really excited to have Kate back. It will also be great for William, because when your partner or your loved one isn’t home, it leaves a void.”

Harrold, who served Charles for seven years when he was the Prince of Wales, believes William will no doubt be waiting on his wife “hand and foot.”

He said: “He’s a very caring, very loving kind of character, and I noticed that a lot when I spent time with them both back in the day. I’ve no doubt that wouldn’t have changed; William will make sure Kate is cared for and that she has a quick recovery.”

Harrold speculated that once Kate swiftly recovers, the couple will resume their joint royal duties, which they both enjoy. He mentioned that the pair does not have a large household at their Windsor residence, and William will primarily be responsible for helping Kate in getting back on her feet.

[From The Daily Express]

Is it Opposite World or something? Even in the most generous assessment of William’s character, he is not a nurturing man and he does not fuss over Kate. It doesn’t even look like he bothered to visit her more than once during her hospital stay. And please, even if you believe that Kate has gone back to Adelaide for her recuperation, it will not fall on William to do everything. Speaking of, the Mail says that Nanny Maria is about to become even more important:

Prince William will take on additional parenting responsibilities and has cleared his diary of official duties as she recovers, supporting his wife and only returning to public engagements once she is settled. The family are also being supported by their staff, including loyal, long-standing nanny Maria Teresa Turrion Borrallo, whose role could be crucial in the coming weeks.

Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams told MailOnline: ‘Kate has obviously had significant surgery. As a hands on mother when possible, she will need to rest as much as she can. This means she will rely on Maria a great deal in the coming weeks and maybe months. There is going to be very considerable speculation as to when William is able to resume royal duties. Obviously, especially given the temporary incapacity of King Charles, the sooner the better. This makes Maria’s contribution at this difficult time all the more invaluable.’

Mr Fitzwilliams said that Kate has embarked on what everyone hopes will be a full recovery, but added that there will be a long ‘convalescence’.

‘William will be with her and forgoing royal duties for as long as he feels it is necessary. He has always put his family first,’ he said. ‘Kate has been as hands on a mother as her role permits, but she has said that having a nanny is indispensable. Maria Teresa is, according to reports, extremely popular with the children but her training at Norland has meant she is ideal for whatever this role requires. She is of course a background figure, who is seen at some important royal occasions and who is indispensable at a time like this. Her training at the prestigious Norland College in Bath where she learnt a huge variety of skills and to work long hours if needed, will be particularly useful during the pivotal weeks of Catherine’s recovery.’

‘The coming weeks may be difficult and will be a test of this redoubtable figure, who is so trusted by the future King and Queen.’

[From The Daily Mail]

It feels like Fitzwilliams is telling William to get back to work and leave everything to the nanny? Interesting. The longer this goes on, the timeline gets more and more squishy too – Kate will be out until Easter, no, past Easter, well, we’ll definitely see her at Trooping the Colour in June. William was supposed to be out for a few weeks, and now it’s completely open-ended, just whenever he’s confident that Kate is being looked after? Hm.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Camilla Tominey at the Telegraph wrote a somewhat interesting – but mostly sycophantic – piece about King Charles’s workaholic habits. Charles has always been known as a voracious reader and someone who enjoys letter-writing and paperwork, but Tominey makes it sound like Charles spends 18-20 hours a day fussing with his papers and reading everything sent to him, and I can’t imagine that’s what he’s really like. Tominey also added something curious about how Charles basically has to be “staffed” 24-7 because no one knows when he’s going to need a note or letter sent out. No “5 am emails,” but 5 am phone calls and letters. Some highlights from “What does a typical day in the life of ‘workaholic’ King Charles look like?”

It’s a struggle to keep up with Charles: “The people who work for him are worried he is doing too much for a man of 75,” confirmed one well-placed insider. “It’s sometimes a struggle to keep up with him.”

He regularly works 18-hour days: No stranger to early morning starts and post-midnight finishes, the grandfather-of- five was once described by his sons Princes William and Harry as so obsessed with paperwork that he would regularly fall asleep at his desk. “He does need to slow down, this is a man who has dinner ridiculously late at night,” revealed Harry in a 2018 documentary to mark his father’s 70th birthday. “And then goes to his desk later that night and will fall asleep on his notes to the point where he’ll wake up with a piece of paper stuck to his face.” Even phone calls with his son and heir are scheduled, taking place every Sunday.

No cell phone or emails: Because the King does not own a mobile phone, he makes the calls on a landline. (If anyone ever needs to get hold of the monarch in an emergency, they invariably contact a member of his protection team, who are with him 24/7). [Later in the morning], the King will then typically sit at his desk and go through his non-red-box paperwork. Because he “doesn’t do emails”, he will either write to people by hand or dictate more formal letters to his “executive secretary” before signing them, with a fountain pen. As demonstrated during the signing of a visitors’ book at Northern Ireland’s Hillsborough Castle after the late Queen died in 2022, he prefers not to use a fountain pen when he can avoid it and instead is never without a felt tip, usually red, to annotate the reams of paperwork he pores over on a daily basis.

He doesn’t mind a stiff drink in the evening: He will then return to his desk to plough through more paperwork before eating a late supper, usually of fish (very seldom red meat) at around 9pm. He rarely drinks but if he does fancy a tipple, it’s usually a Dubonnet – the royal family’s favourite aperitif – or a dry martini, which he is said to mix “very generously” for visitors. While the Queen relaxes by watching television, the King prefers to read and will often return to his desk after dinner.

Late night calls & messages: Because he prefers to work late into the night, there is a special roster of evening executive secretaries so someone is always on duty to set up telephone calls, take notes and pass on messages. Often staff will wake up to receive correspondence that has been delivered in the small hours.

[From The Telegraph]

I can’t believe the royal press still screams and cries about Meghan’s “5 am texts/emails.” Remember that? Meghan has the audacity – the temerity! – to expect Kensington Palace staffers to complete tasks and she sent a few non-urgent reminder texts or what have you. She was ripped to shreds for it, and you would have thought those palace staffers had never met anyone who woke up early and expected them to work a full day. And then there’s Charles, who apparently works though the night and expects his staff to be on call 24-7 in case he needs a note sent at 1 am.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.

In January 2019, during the Duchess of Sussex’s first pregnancy, she made a visit to her patronage, Smart Works. It was a great event for her – she met some of the women being helped by Smart Works and she helped style them for their job interviews. I think she sat in on some interview prep sessions, and she looked through the available clothes and accessories. Maybe that was when she came up with the idea for the Smart Works capsule collection, one of her wildly successful initiatives while she was being held hostage in the UK.

As you can see, Meghan was dressed in a simple black dress and trench coat. We heard, at the time, that her earrings were from Kimai, and they were a pair of artificial diamonds. What we didn’t know until now is the backstory of how Meghan came to wear those earrings. The story was told by the Belgian jewelry designers on the UK show Dragon’s Den, which is the UK’s version of Shark Tank. Small business owners go in and “pitch” for investment, and that’s when the Meghan story was revealed:

Meghan Markle accepted £1990 worth of diamond earrings from a female-founded jewellery business, the owners have revealed. The Duchess of Sussex, 42, was sent the jewellery by artificial diamond brand Kimai when she was still a working member of the Royal Family in 2019. The mother-of-two wore the brand’s Felicity earrings, which are sold separately for £995, when she visited the charity Smart Works’ headquarters in London.

It comes after Prince Harry revealed in his memoir that his wife would keep freebies sent to her at Kensington Palace and distribute them among her staff – despite the Royal Family usually sending back unsolicited gifts.

Earlier this month, Kimai’s founders Sidney Neuhaus and Jessica Warch appeared on Dragons’ Den where they boasted about the Duchess of Sussex wearing their designs. The founders – who were looking for a £250,000 investment for a three per cent equity stake in their business – revealed how the royal endorsement boosted their business, just a two months after they first launched.

They explained: ‘We’ve launched without investment, and then two months after our launch we got Meghan Markle to wear our pieces, which enabled us to grow the revenue significantly, and from there we raised $1.2 million.’

Steven Bartlett – who ended up investing in the business – questioned the duo on how they managed to get the Duchess of Sussex sporting their jewellery.

Sidney said: ‘Cold emails.’ Jessica then added: ‘We’re big believers in cold emails!’

Despite also peaking the interest of dragons Deborah Meade, Sara Davies and Peter Jones, the pair ended up choosing Steven. The entrepreneur said he was convinced to make an offer after seeing that Meghan Markle had worn their designs.

‘The moment you told be about hounding down Meghan Markle, you had me,’ he said.

[From The Daily Mail]

As you can see, the British papers are picking this up and running it as a negative, like HOW DARE Meghan accept freebies, blah blah blah. Kate accepts freebies too, it’s just that the British media doesn’t climb up her ass when she does it. Instead of talking about the bloody freebies, talk about how Meghan received a cold email about lab-grown diamonds and she gave such a huge boost to female entrepreneurs!! She gave them millions in free advertising just by wearing their earrings once.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.

Brittany Mahomes completely changed her wardrobe after watching Suits. [Just Jared]
Colman Domingo is the moment! [LaineyGossip]
Review of Love Lies Bleeding (the latest Kristen Stewart movie). [Pajiba]
Britney Spears’ “Selfish” tops the charts after Justin Timberlake dropped his new single with the same exact name. LMAO. [Hollywood Life]
Would you drink Emma Watson’s espresso martini? [OMG Blog]
The GOP accidentally admits there are more than two genders. [Jezebel]
Naomi Watts’ fashion tour through New York. [RCFA]
This print is too busy on Lily Gladstone. [Go Fug Yourself]
Jojo Siwa replaced Nigel Lythgoe on So You Think You Can Dance. [Seriously OMG]
Who is Southern Hospitality’s Joe Bradley? [Starcasm]
Take this quiz if you want to feel ancient. [Buzzfeed]