Meghan Markle ‘broke royal guidelines’ by accepting free gifts

2023-01-19

Meghan Markle allegedly broke Royal rules by accepting free gifts while she was a working member of the Royal Family.

Usually, any unsolicited gifts sent to the palace for free are to be returned, but Prince Harry, 38, has revealed that Meghan, 41, accepted "freebies" and shared them all with the "women in the office".

In his explosive memoir Spare, Harry says of his wife: "She shared all the freebies she received, clothes and perfumes and make-up, with all the women in the office."

There are said to be strict guidelines that members of the Royal Family must follow when it comes to accepting free gifts.

According to Express.co.uk, gifts offered to the Royals by businesses in the UK should "normally be declined" unless they are offered as a souvenir of an official visit to the business' premises, to mark a Royal marriage or other special occasion.

Should a gift be accepted, the consent of the Royal Family member should depend on the business not exploiting the gift for commercial purposes.

The guidelines also state that unless it is not justifiable due to costs, gifts should "always be returned". If they are not returned, they should then be treated as "official gifts".

Official gifts are received on behalf of the monarch and are not the private property of the person who receives them, and they should always be traceable "wherever possible".

It has previously been reported that Meghan was keen to accept free gifts during her time as a working Royal, with experts sharing an insight into what happened.

Writing in the Telegraph, royal expert Camilla Tominey, said when Meghan first "came on the scene" she expected to "keep some of the dresses" she was loaned.

Meanwhile in his 2021 book Courtiers, Royal author Valentine Low claimed palace sources had said Meghan and her assistant Melissa Toubati had clashed over accepting free gifts companies would send to Meghan.

Valentine wrote: "Toubati was apparently punctilious in following the household rule that members of the Royal Family cannot accept freebies from commercial organisations. Her approach did not go down well with Meghan."

However, in Spare, Harry shot down claims of clashes between Meghan and Royal staff.

The dad-of-two wrote: "I never heard her speak a bad word about anybody, or to anybody. On the contrary, I watched her redouble her efforts to reach out, to spread kindness.

"She sent out handwritten thank you notes, checked on staff who were ill, sent baskets of food or flowers or goodies to anyone struggling, depressed, off sick."

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