Meghan Markle's New AI Shopping Partnership Could Undermine Prince Harry's Legal Battle: Royal Expert
Meghan Markle's new partnership with an AI-powered shopping platform in the United States has raised fresh questions in London about what happens if Prince Harry wins his ongoing legal battle over taxpayer-funded security in the UK.The Duchess of Sussex, 44, has signed a commercial deal with OneOff, an artificial intelligence-driven shopping service that allows users to buy versions of clothes worn by celebrities.Under the arrangement, Meghan will reportedly earn a share of the profits from outfits sold through the platform, including garments she wore during a recent and much-debated tour of Australia with Prince Harry. That unofficial trip, packed with charity engagements and walkabouts, looked to many observers very much like a royal tour in all but name.
It is the overlap between that quasi-royal activity and her new AI-linked income stream that has given some royal commentators pause.Prince Harry is still fighting to restore automatic, publicly funded security for himself and his family when they are in Britain, after losing that entitlement when he and Meghan stepped back as working royals in 2020. He challenged a Home Office decision in the High Court and, after an adverse ruling, the case is under further review.Royal journalist Stacy Schaverien argued that Meghan Markle's OneOff tie-up complicates that fight. 'If Harry wins back the right to taxpayer-funded security for him and his family, how will that play out when he and Meghan visit the UK?' she asked, pointing to the risk that official-looking trips could double as money-making opportunities.
X
Schaverien went further, suggesting critics 'would rightly question' whether the British public should be paying for close protection officers if Meghan uses UK visits, even those centred on charities, to drive sales of her wardrobe through AI-powered shopping tools.The concern is not simply about optics. It cuts to the uneasy line Harry and Meghan have tried to walk since quitting as senior royals: half in the public sphere, half in the commercial one, and always under scrutiny.AI Shopping Deal Puts Meghan Markle's Brand On A Collision Course With Royal Protocol
The Meghan Markle partnership with OneOff is, on paper, straightforward. The platform uses artificial intelligence to identify, catalogue and recommend clothing based on images and online content.When Meghan wears a particular dress or coat, fans can visit OneOff to find lookalike or identical items and purchase them. A portion of the profits then flows back to her. Most of the pieces currently being pushed are from that controversial trip to Australia with Prince Harry, which reportedly took place last month.The tour included appearances at charities and public events that, to outside eyes, strongly resembled the sort of engagements carried out by working royals on official visits. Sources have described Meghan and Harry's travel as a 'faux-royal tour,' a label that barely hides the discomfort in royal circles.
Entertainment Tonight/YouTube Screenshot
The same model is expected to apply to future overseas trips, including potential visits to the UK. Meghan will still be able to earn from the clothing she wears during charity events or public appearances, long after the photographs leave the front pages. In an age when every outfit can be monetised with a link, the duchess has leaned into that reality.The Mirror and Hello! magazine both note that this creates a potential clash if the couple are ever used informally by the Royal Family on the world stage again. Rumours persist that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex could be deployed in some 'half-in, half-out' capacity, especially as the working royal roster shrinks.
Youtube Screenshot/@LostBeyondPluto
If that happened and Prince Harry regained automatic taxpayer-funded security, Meghan's commercial pipeline from those outings would be impossible to ignore.Prince Harry, Legal Security Fight And The Question Of FairnessAt the centre of all this sits a much drier, but more consequential, battle over police protection. Automatic security in the UK is normally reserved for working members of the Royal Family and is funded by public money. When Meghan Markle and Prince Harry stepped away from that role six years ago, they lost those protections.Harry has argued that his safety, and that of Meghan and their children, is still at genuine risk when they travel to Britain. He has taken the British government to court over the decision not to grant him the same level of security as before, even though he is willing to pay for some elements. The High Court initially ruled against him; that decision is now under review.
If he ultimately succeeds, the implications go beyond one family's travel plans. The sight of Meghan flying in, holding charity events, and then quietly earning a slice of AI-driven wardrobe sales, while police units surround the couple at public expense, would land awkwardly with many voters.The question is not whether she is allowed to make money from her image. She clearly is. It is whether the state should underwrite that business model by treating every visit as if she were still a full-time royal.On the other hand, Meghan and Harry's defenders point out that since they broke with the monarchy, they have had to build their own income. Their high-profile deals with Netflix and Spotify, heavily trailed as proof they could thrive independently, have now run their course.
In their place, Meghan's lifestyle brand, As Ever, and now the AI-backed OneOff arrangement, have emerged as fresh revenue streams. Products linked to her name reportedly sell out quickly among loyal fans.With the Invictus Games due to return to the UK next year, and Harry set to visit Birmingham later this year to support preparations, the timing of this new partnership is awkward. Security arrangements for those trips are already sensitive.The added layer of commercialisation, algorithmically tracking every outfit and purchase, risks turning a constitutional argument about royal protection into a row about who is really paying for Meghan Markle's wardrobe.
