Meghan Markle makes the ultimate leap into influencer-territory with launch of ShopMy page | Opinion

“I see myself as an entrepreneur and a female founder and if the brand ends up influential, then that’s great.”

That was a line from Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, last month when asked by a journalist about her return to Instagram after a lengthy break when she was part of the British royal family.

The duchess, who now has 2.6 million followers, started posting on January 1 and she’s just made the ultimate leap into influencer-territory with the creation of a page allowing followers to buy the clothes and beauty products she herself wears and recommends.

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This week Meghan launched her own ShopMy page, sharing first the details of her outfits and two days later her favourite beauty “essentials”, the carefully-curated lists containing items including a Uniqlo trench coat ($200), Ray-Ban aviators ($400), Frame jeans ($300), MAC eyeliner pencil ($41), Dewy Skin Cream by Tatcha ($118), a two-piece leather travel case set by Cuyana ($266) and a $440 Tata Harper face mask set.

A popular budget Australian beauty product has made Meghan’s list too: Lucas’ Papaw Ointment, with a 15g tube retailing for just $6.80.

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Even if Meghan doesn’t like the label – or archetype, to borrow one of her favourite words – she is, without any doubt, an influencer.

But Meghan’s not the only royal cashing in on their fame and royal connections for personal fortune and she won’t be the last.

This week Sweden’s Princess Madeleine announced the launch of a natural skincare line MinLen in collaboration with Swiss giant Weleda. Unlike Meghan, however, the princess is using the name ‘Madeleine Bernadotte’ due to it being “a private initiative” with no connection to the Swedish royal family.

Princess Madeleine is just the latest in a number of royals (European and British) who have their own brands or commercial endeavours, allowing them to make money in lieu of taxpayer-funded allowances.

This year has seen a burst in output from the Duchess of Sussex starting with the launch of her Instagram page, followed by the premiere of her eight-part lifestyle program on Netflix With Love, Meghan which debuted in early March to mixed reviews.

Her long-awaited brand As Ever will launch in the coming weeks after undergoing a hefty revamp due to copyright issues. A selection of products – fruit preserves, edible flower sprinkles, tea and honey – are being promoted on the official website but they are not yet available to buy.

Meghan’s new podcast series Confessions Of A Female Founder will be available on April 8, promising listeners a deep dive into the “highs – and the lows – and the kind of advice that turns small ideas into billion-dollar businesses”.

“And of course, we’re going to get some girl talk,” she added, in the two-minute trailer released this morning.

This week saw Meghan’s ShopMy page which puts her firmly in ‘influencer’ territory.

The platform allows the duchess’ social media followers the chance to emulate her style by purchasing the same high-end clothes and accessories she wore either during the filming of With Love, Meghan or at recent events.

Meghan will receive commission on some, but not all, of the products featured.

The duchess is expected to earn a hefty sum from her ShopMy page, which is billed on its website as a way to “monetise your influence”.

From Meghan’s Instagram page, her followers click through to a collection of fashion and beauty items described by its owner as “a handpicked and curated collection of the things I love”.

Not all items have commissionable links attached, but most do.

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The commission earned through purchases depends on the influencer’s reach and Meghan, with her global profile, likely has top earning power.

On average, brands tend to offer 10 per cent commission but some offer as much as 50 per cent.

Meghan is one of the world’s most instantly-recognisable women and there is a huge appetite for fans to have what she’s having.

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Before meeting Prince Harry and becoming a royal, Meghan ran a popular lifestyle website The Tig and her new Instagram life is an extension of this.

This time around, though, Meghan has a much larger audience: she’s a global icon whether you like or loathe her.

Last week Ted Sarandos, the CEO of Netflix, said the duchess was ”underestimated in terms of her influence on culture”, adding that Meghan and Prince Harry “are overly dismissed”.

A well-placed source told The Telegraph UK Meghan “thinks she’s going to be a billionaire” through her new business ventures and that the team of executives she has hired can get her there.

Meghan knows she has the power to elevate a little-known brand to a household name.

In August, the duchess told the New York Times she uses her global spotlight to help sell clothes.

“Times where I know there is a global spotlight, and attention will be given to each detail of what I may or may not be wearing, then I support designers that I have really great friendships with, and smaller, up-and-coming brands that haven’t gotten the attention that they should be getting,” the duchess said.

“That’s one of the most powerful things that I’m able to do, and that’s simply wearing, like, an earring.”

Meghan’s ShopMy page includes a $1400 handbag from Cesta Collective, a brand she revealed she had invested in during that same interview.

After Meghan was photographed wearing a bag made by the brand to a dinner with Gwyneth Paltrow and Cameron Diaz months earlier, Cesta Collective had more sales in one day than it had ever experienced.

The duchess said she discovered the company, which specialises in handwoven bags made by a collective of women in Rwanda, while she was online shopping.

Meghan told the publication she had begun to appreciate her influence when she learned of the boost in sales she had caused for Strathberry, a Scottish company, after a public appearance wearing one of its handbags in 2017, her first official appearance as Prince Harry’s fiancée.

The founder of the company said the bag Meghan wore sold out online in 11 minutes after she was pictured wearing it.

Meghan also has the power to help her friends and their own commercial endeavours.

Her new online shop includes items made in collaboration with former Suits co-star Abigail Spencer, stylist Cleo Wade and designer Clare Waight Keller (who designed Meghan’s wedding gown).

The ‘beauty’ list also includes the Root Replenish Active Growth Serum ($139), a product owned by Kadi Lee, Meghan’s friend and hairdresser.

But the creator of the popular Royal Fashion Police account on Instagram thinks money isn’t Meghan’s “ultimate goal”.

“I believe her ShopMy page is more of a marketing strategy or a launch pad rather than her ultimate goal,” the page’s Sydney-based creator Samantha tells 9honey.

“It allows her to gauge which price ranges, pieces, and products resonate with her fans and buyers before potentially launching her own brand or taking her next step.”

Pages like Royal Fashion Police have built their online community through the ability to quickly identify outfits and accessories worn by royals, sharing the details with followers sometimes within minutes of an outing.

So, is Meghan’s ShopMy page likely to intrude upon their territory?

Samantha says her page won’t be affected in the way that some other royal clothing accounts on Instagram might be.

“Meghan starting a ShopMy page doesn’t really affect non-commercial pages like mine, as we don’t post affiliate links,” she says. “However, it does impact those who profit from affiliate links”.

The duchess’ page is also lacking in another key area that royal fashion watchers can’t get enough of.

“Her ShopMy page isn’t a complete catalogue of everything she has worn,” Samantha explains.

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“There are also items she recommends but hasn’t personally worn. She also doesn’t link the pieces to the occasions she wore them or include photos of herself wearing them.

“This is where pages like mine provide more detailed information, documenting when and where she wore specific pieces.

“It’s not direct competition, and I actually see it as an advantage – it helps ensure more accurate IDs directly from her, reducing misinformation.”

Other royals who’ve monetised their brand

Long before Meghan decided to launch her business endeavours, other royals have been doing it (albeit a little differently) for years.

King Charles has his own gin and a scotch produced on his Highgrove estate: Highgrove Organic London Dry and Highgrove Organic Single Malt Scotch. Highgrove, and the royal family’s Sandringham estate, also produces a number of other products that are sold through high-end retailer Fortnum & Mason.

Queen Camilla’s private estate at Ray Mill House in Wiltshire produces honey sold at Fortnum & Mason with all proceeds going to charity.

Other royals who don’t have a public allowance to fund their lifestyles have ventured into the commercial world out of necessity, while some do it because they have a passion for business.

This week Sweden’s Princess Madeleine announced her partnership with Weleda to develop MinLen, described by the 42-year-old as “the first natural, responsible, multi-generational skincare brand in Europe – created with the needs of both young and growing families in mind”.

“As this is a private initiative, I will use my name Madeleine Bernadotte in my work with MinLen,” she shared on Instagram to her 345k followers. She previously wrote a book under the same, private name.

The royal court said the decision to make the company had been made “in consultation” with Princess Madeleine, adding that “this private enterprise is compatible with Princess Madeleine’s role as a Royal Highness”.

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The palace added that Princess Madeleine had not received any funding provided to the royal family from the government and that “she participates in and carries out official engagements as needed and based on the King’s requests”.

Princess Madeleine recently returned to Sweden after living in Florida for nearly a decade and isn’t a working member of the royal family, unlike her siblings Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Carl Philip who, along with a business partner, created design studio Bernadotte & Kylberg in 2012.

In Norway, Princess Märtha Louise confirmed she would no longer represent her father or the royal household following anger over the use of her ‘princess’ title among her commercial endeavours.

Since then, there have been growing calls for Märtha Louise to lose her ‘princess’ title altogether after breaking the agreement with the king and the royal household multiple times.

Since the agreement was made with the princess and the Norwegian royal family in 2022, Märtha Louise has created a new Instagram page in which she has dropped ‘princess’ from the handle. She regularly shares her business endeavours, including updates from her clothing label Hest and her life with husband, American shaman Durek Verrett. A Netflix documentary about their love story is in the works.

And in Britain, the Duchess of York – Sarah Ferguson – has made a lucrative post-royal career from the sales of her books, with more than 80 titles to her name spanning various genres.

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