ARO thread 2

[OneHeartySnail]

To continue the discussion...

What next? What did the launch aim to achieve? Did it get the desired result?

The Instagram page says it is by 'Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex'. So she is using her title, even if incorrectly.

I think the 'Sandringham Agreement' was just an informal agreement between the Sussexes and the Queen. I don't think the royals could do much if they do decide to use their titles for commercial activities. As has been regularly pointed out in these discussions, Sarah Ferguson has done so for years. I think as far as the royals are concerned, the important thing is that they don't use HRH, which is why that was specified in the 'Agreement'. HRH is basically the trademark of royalty. Dooks and dookesses are ten a penny after all.

True,,,

Had anyone heard of Flamingo Estate before this?

People in America California clearly had. They are very successful, and sell movie stars' honey.

I had a look at the website. I don't want to smell like a tomato so I decided to pass. It's like Duchy Organics but a little bit bonkers.

Thanks everyone - I'm just reading this and cannot work out what's going on. Why launch the website/online shop just to keep it dormant?
It's all a bit of a mess.

It all seems massively ill-thought through.

What a surprise 😂

Indeed, @Geebray I think that they just don't take advice at all.

@Abouttimeforanamechange "...collaborate with...without having legal agreements in place"

They tried that once before.

No, but apparently those who follow Oprah knew all about it as she is a big fan of theirs and she endorsed them. It's a fairly new company too, they started during the pandemic.

The Oprah connection makes sense. I suppose its just an American thing.

Indeed they are really big with the elite in the us. Not mainstream as such. A lot of celebs linked to them, Martha Stewart even did the foreword. Harry and Megan’s home had their gardening books in in an early interview a few years back.

it does appear she tried to be an active partner, and there were several meetings, and of course as she was looking to invest she’d have had forensic detail on their operations. The owner then declined to proceed. For reasons he isn’t saying, and then it seems she tried to copy him and go it alone. And he brought in the legal big guns to stop her infringing his trademarks as apparently it was going to be a very close copy. And here we are.

if that’s the case, she’s going to have to do a lot of tweaking to ensure she doesn’t infringe.

it would be utterly cringe if she tried to mimic him.

Does anyone know what penalties yhey would incur by breaking the Sandringham Agreement?

Apart from the loss of the Sussex title, which would just mean she'd move to Princess?

The agreement isn’t a contract, it was just a meeting where they all agreed. It’s not a breach of contract if they go against it, it would be up to Charles what if anything he did.

Removing the peerage titles would require an Act of Parliament. I don't see that happening at all.

I think the Sandringham Agreement was a 'gentlemen's agreement' of sorts. I don't think Charles could or would do anything if they breached it. As I said above, I do think the HRH styling is much more important than the Ducal titles. Without the HRH, they're not really 'royal'.

Charles won't do anything about it. Meghan is using the version of her title that she has chosen, she'll carry on with that. It's essential to her marketing and publicity.
What is she without it?

Well there's a surprise - MM trying to piggy back off the back of someone else again - stamping all over someone else's knowledge and hard work to flash her plastic smile in front of some well placed photographer or two ... he had the audacity to say no - I'll steal his ideas anyway ... 🤔

I don't suppose the 'Sandringham Agreement' is legally enforceable, or if it is, not without a huge mess.

The more H&M trample over it, however, the more they make themselves ridiculous and cheap.

So, as ever, best for the RF to keep on ignoring their shenanigans

As a pp said it’s just a gentleman’s agreement rather than a contract. If they breach and I’m not sure they have as they don’t use royal or hrh then it would simply be about what Charles decided to do. They are flying close to thr wind though. Where they are now though he won’t take action. They need to make money and he knows that. They don’t call themselves royal or use hrh. They are close to the wire. But honestly as everything they do turns to shit. I would also look the other way if I was Charles.

let’s face it it is highly unlikely they will make a success of aro, assuming they ever get it off the ground. Flamingo estate exists. They don’t need a second version and the owner is very well respected. It’s a crowded market at the top, and their name would not be enough of a usp to make it fly. The opposite in fact as they are not respected, and copying someone else won’t change that.

I guess for Charles and the other senior royals, the crucial thing is that the Sussexes are not considered to be representing the Monarchy or the United Kingdom. They really don't want some sort of 'rival court' in the Orchard Riviera.

I agree that the Sussexes are sailing close to the wind with their pseudo royal 'Office of the Dook and Dookess' website, complete with coat of arms. But with everything that has gone done over the past few years, no reasonable person could possibly think that they are representing the King, whatever fancy titles they may have. They just look completely ridiculous at this stage.

Watching with interest.

This is a funny story about Chrissie Tiegan and Flamingo Estate.

Christiansen didn’t know Teigen when she sent him a direct message on Instagram in August of 2020, except in the same way her other 38 million followers do. “Can John and I come over on Friday for dinner?” Teigen wrote. (John is John Legend, her pop-star husband.)

Christiansen and Harvey recall that in preparation for the arrival of Hollywood royalty, they cleaned the house with “a toothbrush”.

Then, Christiansen says, “Chrissy walks in with John, the kids and her mum, sits on the sofa and says, ‘Where are the tables?’ I was like, ‘What tables?’ She’s like, ‘Isn’t this a restaurant?’. I was like, ‘No, it’s my home. There’s my bed. There’s a kitchen. It’s a one-bedroom house.’ ”

I don't there would be any insuperable hurdles from the Sandringham agreement to her (or their) having a lifestyle website and selling things (directly or by affiliate links) provided that it's the sort of stuff that owners of stately homes would stock

What I don't understand is the gap between the announcement and the brand actually doing anything. I've yet to see an explanation, from anyone who knows about this kind of launch, about why this would make good sense (ie be going according to a business plan)

Couldn’t resist popping back.

The thing is MM has never done anything original!

Even getting herself a role as a “UN advocate” was a trodden path. She saw another actress do this and get a heightened profile. She and PR company therefore aggressively pursued it (Tom Bower wrote about this very clearly in his book which I read). She was hacked off she wasn’t promoted to Angelina Jolie’s status as ambassador (something like that) which is why she was furious in South Africa apparently when she espied the UN and left a royal visit after 6 minutes.

Bandwagon. Jump. Is her USP! Hence changing from the “Aspirational Toronto Lifestyle It Girl” and Tig to BLM-Oppressed race baiter American Feminist in the UK. It’s whatever is in fashion - and specifically serves her purpose.

Now we are all “people of our time”, affected by the clouds of current social and political trends in some way, that’s human. It’s just the way it is, for good or bad or in between. I think what sticks in the claw, perhaps for me, is that she will use current trends, totally and ruthlessly to her material and status advantage, even if she seems unconscious of her aims. She’s so quick - and of course trips herself up. Now there is a company with a ridiculous name, no products and not even a CEO. She appears to be little else than a floating material girl, looking for the next $$.

Often with launches you will see teasers for a while until the full launch, the only teaser so far was that ridiculous video, so I think it is as the above poster said, Flamingo Estate got the lawyers on it and it is now on pause while they figure it out..

It is interesting that very soon after the insta page was announced, there was 'a leak' about their previous business dealings and efforts to join up with Flamingo Estate, not a whisper of that leaked during the discussions or after it had been turned down.

Insider dealing and corporate espionage LOL, is there anything they don't get up to.