Meghan Markle has stirred debate online after flaunting an $860 tote bag with her royal initials emblazoned on the front, despite no longer being an active member of the royal family.
The 44-year-old former actress took to Instagram on Thursday to share a video montage from her trip to Washington D.C., where she appeared at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit to discuss her business ventures.
Set to the international women’s working anthem of ‘9 to 5’ by Dolly Parton, the clip followed the Duchess through her stay in the US capital, from her hotel arrival to her on-stage moments and a private flight out.
But eagle-eyed viewers were quick to notice her standout accessory: a personalised Longchamp ‘My Pliage L Travel Bag’ featuring the initials DS, short for Duchess of Sussex.
The luxury canvas tote, which retails for around $860 AUD, can be customised with large monogrammed letters.
The bag appeared repeatedly in the short film, carried by a staff member and later seen with Meghan in an elevator, where she playfully stuck out her tongue at the camera.
“Please don’t tell me she had a bag made with the initials DS for Duchess of Sussex? Didn’t she say in the Fortune monologue that she was ‘recovering from her time in the institution’?” one royal watcher wrote on X.
“Not even the real original royals have that LOL,” said another, while a third added, “This is crass, not classy.”
A fourth remarked: “Old Megs hates the monarch and future monarch but at the same time can’t let go of the title.”
Another commenter claimed Meghan “has only visited Sussex once and doesn’t care about its people or history.”
Others, however, defended her fashion statement.
“Gosh, let her have the monogrammed bag! I think it’s amazing,” one wrote, while another reasoned: “Most people call her the Duchess of Sussex, why can’t she call herself that?”
A third user wrote: “People just want a reason to dislike her.”
Although Meghan and Prince Harry stepped down from royal duties and relocated to the US in 2020, she has continued to use her HRH title.
In April, she was seen using her former ‘HRH’ styling on a gift card, a move viewed by some as an act of defiance against the late Queen Elizabeth II’s 2020 instruction that the couple “will not use their HRH titles as they are no longer working members of the Royal Family.”
During an episode of her cooking show With Love, Meghan, the duchess even corrected her friend, actress Mindy Kaling, for calling her Meghan Markle rather than Meghan Sussex.
“It’s so funny, too, that you keep saying Meghan Markle. You know I’m Sussex now,” she said.
“You have kids, and you go, ‘No, I share my name with my children’. It just means so much to go, ‘This is our family name, our little family name’.”
Kaling replied: “Now I know. And I love it.”
Just days before unveiling her DS tote, Meghan faced criticism for sharing a video showcasing her designer shoe collection- only hours after she and Prince Harry were named Humanitarians of the Year at a New York event recognising their work in mental health and digital advocacy.
“Such compassionate humanitarians, really showing up and doing good by: going on date nights at exclusive clubs, staying at luxurious hotels surrounded by bodyguards, travelling on private jets, bringing dozens of shoes and ensembles that we can barely afford even on an annual salary,” one commenter wrote.
“Had you just donated the expense of this pointless vanity PR blitz trip to NYC, maybe you would have had some credibility restored.”
Still, many fans leapt to Meghan’s defence.
“Meghan is an amazing person and allowed to share whatever videos she wants to,” one user said.