Furious Majorcan mayor blasts Meghan Markle for ‘plagiarising’ town’s coat of arms with her new logo for lifestyle brand
It is the latest in a string of rebrands and business failures for the former actress
THE Duchess of Sussex has been accused of copying a Majorcan town’s coat of arms for the logo of her new lifestyle brand.
Francisca Mora Veny, mayor of Porreres, is considering legal action and has called for its removal.
The Duchess of Sussex, 43, revealed her new “As ever” project and logo — with palm tree and two birds — in a cringing online post yesterday.
Ms Mora was stunned by similarities to the Porreres badge, said to date from 1370. She warned: “We don’t want it perverted.”
Meghan gushed about her lifestyle project “As ever” which had been hastily rebranded after a trademark row.
But its new logo — featuring a palm tree and two birds — infuriated the Majorcan mayor who said it was a blatant copy of her town’s coat of arms, believed to be 655 years old.
Ms Mora told The Sun: “We don’t want our coat of arms to be perverted because it belongs exclusively to Porreres.
“The only difference with their logo and our coat of arms is that theirs shows two hummingbirds and in ours are either swallows or pigeons — historians cannot agree.
“We will ask Meghan to remove the logo from their website.”
She admits they may not be able to afford a legal battle — but she invited Meghan to her small Balearic town.
She will then “show her all the places where the coat of arms is engraved so she can see it is something that’s been in our town for thousands of years”.
The Sun understands that the logo for ‘As ever’ was drawn up after a “comprehensive global searches of registered trademarks”.
The logo incorporates a palm tree as a nod to the couple’s home in Montecito, while the two hummingbirds are said to be a favourite of Prince Harry’s.
‘Real reason’ Meg renamed brand to ‘As Ever’ is a HUGE faux pas – it’s flopped before she’s even started, PR pro slams
The Duke claimed he saw a hummingbird after the death of Queen Elizabeth.
The shape enclosing the birds and tree was designed to “create a unique and personal emblem”.
Meghan had planned to call her brand American Riviera Orchard, but was told locations cannot be trademarked.
Undeterred, she posted a 70-second Instagram video yesterday, apparently filmed by Harry who is heard saying: “It’s recording.”
She said the original name would have limited what she could sell.
Meghan went on: “This new chapter is an extension of what has always been my love language, beautifully weaving together everything I cherish — food, gardening, entertaining, thoughtful living, and finding joy in the everyday.”
It is the latest in a string of rebrands and business failures for the former actress.
PR expert Mark Borkowski said: “This is organised chaos.”
A spokesman for Meghan was approached for comment.
