A royal insider has rubbished suggestions King Charles is trying to “compete” with his estranged daughter-in-law Meghan Markle and claimed the monarch would never “sink so low”.
King Charles has been taught a new handshake while welcoming the West Indies cricket team.
The Monarch met the players at Buckingham Palace ahead of their first Test match against England at Lord’s this week.
Debutant Jeremiah Louis took some extra time with his interaction to show off the elaborate handshake.
Speculation Charles sees Markle as a rival went into overdrive earlier this year after the Duchess of Sussex unveiled a line of strawberry jams, the first product from her business venture American Riviera Orchard.
The King, 75, already sells an organic version of the strawberry preserve online via The Highgrove Shop and also sells jams through his Duchy Originals line at Waitrose supermarkets.
However, Ms Bond, a veteran palace insider, rubbished suggestions of a rivalry and insisted the monarch would never “sink so low” as the Sussexes and play into their media antics.
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Jennie Bond claimed Charles refuses to “sink” to Meghan’s level and compete over jams. Picture by Henry Nicholls-WPA Pool/Getty Images.
“I absolutely refuse to buy into suggestions of a petty rivalry between Meghan’s products and the release of new products from the Highgrove estate,” she told OK! Magazine on Tuesday.
“Highgrove has been coming up with new products for years now.
“The marketing might have become more sophisticated over time, but there has always been publicity about the organic produce from the farm and gardens.”
While sales have Charles’ jams have reportedly shot up since the American Riviera Orchard announcement, Meghan is yet to actually sell a single jar as the first batch was strictly gifted to influencers.
Meghan’s first product, a line of strawberry jams, was hand numbered one through 50. Picture: Instagram.
The Duchess of Sussex has since teased further jams and a line of dog food from her lifestyle brand, but no details have emerged about when the public could buy the products.
Ms Bond said the so-called jam wars were a “load of old nonsense” and pointed out Charles was likely keen to make amends with Markle and not make relations even worse.
“I really don’t think that Charles or his marketing people would sink so low as to try to deliberately compete with or scupper Meghan and her team,” she said.
“Why would Charles want to make things worse than they already are?
“So I think it’s a load of old nonsense and would be beneath him.”
Meghan only allows Charles to talk to his grandchildren via FaceTime. Picture by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Project Healthy Minds.
The update comes weeks after royal author Tom Quinn revealed Charles was frustrated his only interaction with his grandchildren Archie and Lilibet is via Facetime.
“King Charles has been putting pressure on Harry to do just this as he is angry that his only relationship with his grandchildren so far is via video calls, which Charles hates,” Mr Quinn told the Mirror newspaper.
“William and Kate’s children would spend the weekend at Highgrove and Harry’s children could then easily pop over from their house nearby.
“This would neatly get round the problem of Meghan – she just wouldn’t need to be there and the children could be whisked back to the States after a week or two.”