Meghan Markle faces flak as fans spot bizarre detail in her fruit-picking picture: 'She's such a fraud'

MONTECITO, CALIFORNIA: At first glance, Meghan Markle’s candid Instagram post of garden fruit-picking seemed like the perfect nod to her cottagecore-inspired lifestyle brand. But it quickly turned into a mini mystery when royal fans noticed one glaring detail. 

On Sunday, June 29, the 43-year-old Duchess of Sussex took to the Instagram account of her lifestyle brand As Ever, to share a candid snap of herself picking fresh fruit in the garden, according to the Daily Mail.

Royal fans spot bizarre detail in Meghan Markle’s fruit picking snap

“Weekend plans: choose, snack, repeat,” she captioned the photo, which was presumably taken on her Montecito estate, where she lives with her husband, Prince Harry, and their two children after stepping down from royal duties in 2018.

In the post, the 'Suits' alum is seen standing beneath a fruit tree, reaching up while wearing a loose-fitting outfit paired with a wide-brimmed straw hat monogrammed with her initials.   

The mother-of-two appears to be picking a ripe apricot; the photo suggests she had just plucked it from the branch moments before it was taken.

However, eagle-eyed fans quickly pointed out an odd detail: the fruit in her hand appeared ripe and orange, while the rest on the tree were still green.

Royal fans troll Meghan Markle over embarrassing detail

Pointing out the embarrassing detail, one Reddit user wrote, “Is it just me or is that fruit not even attached to the tree and she’s just holding it in place to make it like she’s picking it fresh off the tree???”

“She’s just posing while holding the fruit in the air? She’s such a fraud, as ever,” one user mocked. Another added, “What’s the point of pretending to pick an apricot when it’s now well known she sourced her spread from a white-label supplier?” A third user questioned, “Is this false advertising, trying to mislead people into thinking she grew the fruits herself?”

“I also thought this. It also looks like she is smugly sucking on a lemon while doing it. She’s so performative and fake, it’s really bizarre,” the fourth user trolled.

“Isn’t she getting tired of swanning around pretending to be a lady of the manor master gardener yet?” the fifth user wrote while the sixth user commented, “She's just trolling everyone, hoping she can say she's being bullied.”

“Such a fraud! Who is she kidding? There is not one semi-ripe piece of fruit anywhere near that shot. We have marked her on her food/produce several times. Is she that thick to try it yet again? Insufferable,” another user said.

“She can't even fake plucking fruit from a tree properly. At least photoshop the fruit on the tree to make them orange,” one more commented.

Questions sparked over Meghan Markle’s home-crafted raspberry jam

This came after it was revealed that Meghan Markle’s $8.90-a-jar raspberry jam, marketed as a small-batch product “inspired by the recipe Meghan crafted in her home kitchen” is manufactured by The Republic of Tea, a commercial food giant that also produces her £9 ($12) herbal teas and £20 ($28) orange blossom honey. 

The company also makes a 'strawberry and wild rose' preserve as part of a collaboration with 'Bridgerton,' the hit Netflix series set in Regency-era England. 

While its headquarters are located in Larkspur, California, about 350 miles from the Duchess’s Montecito estate, the brand’s sprawling manufacturing facility sits some 2,000 miles away, in an industrial park in Illinois.

A source close to the brand told the Daily Mail that to create the final product, they “started with the version Meghan makes at home and worked to develop a version of it that could be produced at scale.”

Still, after months of marketing the preserve as homemade, the revelation has only intensified concerns over the brand’s sustainability claims and transparency.