Meghan Markle And Prince Harry Trademark Over 100 Products Under Their 'Royal Sussex' Brand As Everyone Speculates How They Will Make Money
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are already traveling on the road to being “financially independent.”
Not long after publicly announcing to the world their decision to “step back as ‘senior’ members of the Royal Family,” on Wednesday (Jan. 8), news surfaced that the royal couple have already trademarked their Sussex Royal brand on more than 100 items including clothing, footwear, accessories—even pajamas.
According to the Daily Mail, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been working towards their new lifestyle over the past year as they successfully submitted trademark applications, last June, in hopes to stamp their name on dozen of products and services. Think book deals, TV deals, public speaking, brand partnerships and more!
With everything from fashion to greeting cards listed, there's no denying the couple will be making some major money moves in the future.
Going off the trademark documents published by the Intellectual Property Office, here are a few items we may be able to expect to purchase from the Sussex Royal brand:
- Instructional and teaching materials; printed educational materials; printed publications; educational books; textbooks; magazines and newsletters.
- Clothing; footwear; headgear; t-shirts; coats; jackets; anoraks; trousers; sweaters; jerseys; dresses; pajamas; suits; sweatshirts; hooded tops; caps; hats; bandanas; headbands; socks; scarves and neckwear; gloves; sportswear.
- Charitable purposes; providing volunteering opportunities and recruitment of volunteers and information, advisory and consultancy services.
- Periodicals; printed reports; fact sheets; brochures; programs; booklets; pamphlets; leaflets; manuals; journals; diaries; calendars; posters; art prints; notebooks; postcards and greeting cards.
So, what’s with all the items?
Trademark lawyer Nicole Murdoch told the Daily Mail, “This could be because they may lose their titles as part of leaving the Royal Family. So this is a defensive move to allow them to continue using the titles or a name that alludes to the titles.”
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Murdoch also suggests the Duke and Duchess seemed to have planned to leave the Royal Family since last summer.
“Their Royal Titles are gifted by the Queen – will they lose their Royal Titles when they step back from Royal duties,” she added. “Legally there also must be an intention to use the trademark on the goods/services of the application at the time of the application. Unless it is a defensive mark (which requires a prior registration).”
She continued, “When the trademark move was publicized in December there was a lot of uncertainty over why they were doing it. But now it's become very clear. This was a strategic move and it happened in the middle of last year so it's not some decision the pair made during their Christmas holidays.”
As if Meghan’s unique ability to sell out any item she wears isn’t enough inclination of how well the Sussex brand will do, Daily Mail also spoke to a few experts to get their professional opinion about the brand that could generate revenues of $522,456 (£400 million).
“This will just be the stepping stone for higher value products being launched later down the line,” retail expert Andy Barr said. “With his [Prince Charles’ business] revenue estimated to be [$261,228] £200million in the last year, we would not be surprised to see Harry and Meghan more than double that from scratch with their combined global appeal.”
“Harry loves Meghan and can see what she's going through,” said PR expert Mark Borkowski. He went on to add, “They are going to, they have to make a lot of money to fuel the lifestyle and everything that they need. It's not that easy to separate yourself, security issues alone are enormous, and they are a target for security - how they live, how they operate.”
Despite acknowledging the couple will have to work hard—especially since the Queen reportedly didn’t approve the departure—Borkowski suspects the couple stands to make “a fortune” in countries such as China, India and of course, the United States.
The news source estimates the Duke and Duchess of Sussex—who wed back in May 2018— already have about $44,416,070 (£34 million) in private fortune to fund their new lifestyle, which includes splitting their time between the U.K. and North America with their newborn son, Archie.
