6 Times Meghan Markle Has Faced Copycat Allegations From Royal Watchers

Despite the old saying that "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery," no one likes to be accused of being a copycat. It gets even stickier when that imitation is called plagiarism or copyright infringement. When the accused is a member of the royal family, it becomes a juicy bit of gossip — and when that family member is Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, it's yet another blow to her already precarious reputation. Meghan and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, have been involved in numerous scandals over the years: their decision to step down as working royals; their TV tea-spilling with Oprah; Harry's explosive memoir. Even one of their babies caused a kerfuffle: One royal insider claims the late Queen Elizabeth was misled about Lilibet's name, thinking Harry and Meghan were going to use "Elizabeth" and not her special childhood nickname.

No longer a working actress or a working royal, Meghan has struggled to maintain a viable presence. In doing so, she's faced numerous accusations of swiping from other sources, from her style choices to her branding. Some of them seem to have merit, while others come off as an attempt to stir the pot when things get too dull. Through it all, the duchess has shown true royal style by not engaging in public arguments or whataboutism. She may not be associated with the palace anymore, but she's learned the wisdom of following the queen's policy: "Never complain, never explain." 

We offer here some of the most famous examples of times the former "Suits" actress was accused of copycatting. Were they justified? You decide.

During the men's final at Wimbledon in July 2026, all eyes were as much on the royal attendees as on the tennis pros. Catherine, Princess of Wales, was particularly stunning in a green Emilia Wickstead dress featuring a short cape over the right shoulder, which draped over the bodice. A few weeks later, Meghan Markle opted to wear a black Greta Constantine gown to the David Foster Foundation's 40th Anniversary Celebration in British Columbia. 

The dress might have passed unnoticed, if not for the floor-sweeping cape effect on the right side. Snarkers were quick to pounce, claiming Meghan was deliberately trying to mimic her sister-in-law's look. One representative comment quoted by the Express went: "My first thought was that it was a very badly executed riff on the beautiful green dress worn by the Princess of Wales on the final day of Wimbledon."

A commenter on the article begged to differ. "The two dresses look absolutely nothing alike," they said. "Aside from the fact that Duchess Meghan's dress is one-shoulder, the lengths, fits, and drapes are completely different. This isn't stretching the truth, it's pure fantasy."

The similarity between Meghan's caped gown and Kate's Wimbledon dress may have seemed like a stretch, but another side-by-side look of the two sisters-in-law struck some as a little too close for comfort. In June 2025, Meghan appeared in a promo post for her As Ever brand; the photo showed her in a yellow dress, sitting on a swing apparently set up in a wooded area of their property. This would have been great, if only the Princess of Wales hadn't also posed on an outdoor swing back in 2019 as she promoted the Chelsea Flower Show. 

Meghan is accused of being a copy-Kate again: Duchess takes to a swing to promote her new As Ever products in snap that is VERY reminiscent of the Princess of Wales https://t.co/prHaQXo0Fo

— Daily Mail (@DailyMail) June 21, 2025

The Daily Mail, always eager to dish up a bit of drama, called the duchess "copy-Kate" and pointed out the likenesses between the two photos. Surely, they argued, Meghan remembered her sister-in-law's photo from six years earlier and wanted to evoke the same nature-inspired vibes. Followers on X jumped at the chance to chime in: "Markle doesn't have the mental capacity to create anything original," snarked one. Another agreed: "Meghan is obsessed with Catherine because she will never be her." Still, the beleaguered duchess had some defenders: "So no one is ever allowed to have a photo in a swing ever again?! Got it!" smirked a supporter. A self-proclaimed Sussex fan declared that the pic was "nothing like lazy Katy's." They said, "Meghan's is a proper swing in her own garden. Kate's is a rope from a tree in the woods."

Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, wrote a children's book, "The Bench," in 2021, based on a Father's Day gift she once gave her princely husband. Maybe she should have used that as her inspiration for her Netflix children's show, instead of the one that got her into legal hot water. That same year, she and David Furnish (Elton John's husband) joined forces as the executive producers of a proposed animated series called "Pearl." The show was to "[center] on the heroic adventures of a 12-year-old girl who is inspired by influential women from history," according to a now-deleted announcement. British author Mel Elliott thought this a bit too coincidental. Her "Pearl Power" picture book series also features a girl named Pearl who challenges stereotypes and injustices.

Elliott's lawyers sent a threatening letter to the Sussexes' Archewell production company, claiming potential copyright infringement. Elliott told the Daily Mail, "Meghan is a feminist who sticks up for other women, so I was disappointed and confused to see how similar Netflix's proposed show 'Pearl' was to my own Pearl Power who had been created seven years earlier." The show never made it off the drawing board, so the feud never actually made it to court. In the meantime, Elliott's website mentions she's working on her own animated series about Pearl's encounters with historic women.

A number of flops in 2025 damaged Meghan Markle's already soured reputation even further, chief among them her attempt to position herself as a lifestyle influencer. In 2024, Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, filed a request with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to trademark her new brand, American Riviera Orchard. It was nixed; not only did it violate the laws about trademarking an actual location (Santa Barbara is associated with that nickname), but the Harry & David gift basket company also claimed the name was too similar to their Royal Riviera trademark. 

Undaunted, Meghan renamed the brand As ever, but the copycat drama didn't end there. A clothing company named As Ever cried foul, as did the Spanish village of Porreres, Mallorca, which claimed the brand's palm-tree-and-hummingbirds logo looked too similar to their coat of arms. Neither complaint ever made it to court, freeing the duchess to continue selling her $12 blackberry and strawberry spreads and $64 candles under her chosen name and design. The change worked out to Meghan's advantage; she noted that the original "Orchard" name might have restricted her from selling anything other than fruit products.

As if the trouble over her brand name and logo weren't enough, the Duchess of Sussex also caught flak over an ad she aired promoting As ever. The video showed Meghan preparing a meal in her gourmet kitchen, and both the prep and the surroundings looked suspiciously similar to a cooking video Gwyneth Paltrow had made some time earlier. Meghan had allegedly wanted to be just like Paltrow for years, even creating a blog called The Tig long before she married into the royal family. Naturally, rumors flew that the "Avengers" actress was outraged over the duchess's attempt to mimic her Goop empire of luxe-living products.

This time, Meghan's supposed rival had her back. In a 2025 interview with Vanity Fair, Paltrow was asked how she felt about the duchess' venture into the lifestyle space. "I was raised to see other women as friends, not foes," the "Shakespeare In Love" star said. "Everybody deserves an attempt at everything they want to try." To shut the haters down for good, Paltrow posted a video to her Instagram Stories (seen here on YouTube). Sitting in her kitchen answering a fan question about the alleged "beef," Paltrow says, "I genuinely do not understand this at all, whatsoever. Do you understand this?" The camera cuts to Meghan, who shrugs and takes a bite of the pie in front of her.

When the Duchess of Sussex started marketing her honeys and flower sprinkles, it was inevitable that she'd be compared to the doyenne of lifestyle branding. Even Martha Stewart herself gave Meghan a brief warning: "It doesn't sort of follow," she told People, that someone with Meghan's background would try to echo her success. Some feel Meghan is following Stewart a little too closely.

On August 17, 2026, the As ever Instagram account posted a video of someone (presumably the duchess) creating a loaf cake using her blackberry spread in both the pastry and icing. Users on Reddit noted the similarities to a jam-laden layer cake Stewart demonstrated on TikTok just a few weeks earlier. "Funny, Martha Stewart recently iced a cake with a whipped cream/blackberry jam icing, only her cake looked lovely and enticing," said one critic. "Meghan has no original ideas." Another writer was even blunter: "Dear Lord, she is copying Martha Stewart's new reel. Give it up, [Meghan], we will never buy your wares!!"