Meghan Markle’s lifestyle company has launched a scented candle linked to her eighth wedding anniversary with Prince Harry, adding another product to the growing commercial portfolio surrounding the couple’s public image and personal brand.

The product, marketed through Markle’s lifestyle label As Ever, was promoted through the brand’s Instagram account on Wednesday with messaging centered on the couple’s relationship milestone.“The feeling of warm sunshine and blue skies, surrounded by love and laughter,” the social media post stated.

“Celebrating 8 years of our founder Meghan and Prince Harry’s love story.”The campaign directed consumers to a product identified as Signature Candle No. 519, priced at $64, or roughly £48. According to product descriptions published by the company, the candle contains notes of Moroccan mint, white tea leaves and cardamom, and is intended to evoke “the freshness of a day in the English countryside.

”The release reflects the continued commercialization of celebrity identity and personal milestones within the lifestyle retail sector, where public figures increasingly market products tied directly to their personal narratives, relationships and domestic aesthetics. Consumer brands associated with celebrities frequently use anniversaries, family experiences and curated lifestyle imagery to build emotional engagement with audiences.

Markle’s brand expansion has included food products, home goods and wellness-oriented merchandise aimed at premium consumers. The anniversary-themed candle joins a broader category of celebrity-backed luxury home products that rely heavily on branding and aspirational marketing rather than functional differentiation.

The launch also generated criticism on social media and in commentary columns questioning the pricing strategy and the broader premise of consumers purchasing products designed to commemorate the private relationship milestones of public figures.

Critics argued that while celebrity-branded food or household items can appeal through practical use or product quality, anniversary-themed merchandise tied specifically to a couple’s marriage asks consumers to participate in a highly personalized branding exercise.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex married in 2018 at St George’s Chapel in a ceremony watched globally and closely covered by international media. Since stepping back from official royal duties in 2020, the couple have increasingly pursued independent commercial ventures across entertainment, publishing, digital media and lifestyle branding.

Markle has only rarely returned to the United Kingdom in recent years, with reports indicating her last substantial visit occurred in 2022. Nevertheless, the company’s marketing materials continue to reference imagery associated with Britain, including countryside aesthetics and royal-adjacent themes that remain commercially recognizable to international audiences.

Luxury candle products have become a profitable segment of the premium home goods market over the past decade, particularly among celebrity and influencer-backed brands.

Industry analysts have noted that scented candles increasingly function as status-oriented lifestyle accessories rather than simple household items, allowing companies to sustain higher price points through packaging, storytelling and association with public personalities.

The ceramic packaging and curated fragrance profile featured in the As Ever release are consistent with broader trends in luxury wellness branding, where minimalist design and emotionally framed narratives are used to justify premium pricing strategies.Public reactions to the product have been mixed.

Supporters described the candle as consistent with Markle’s established brand identity and broader wellness-oriented marketing approach, while detractors questioned whether consumers would view a royal anniversary as sufficiently meaningful to justify the cost of commemorative merchandise.

The launch highlights the continuing commercial appeal of the Sussexes despite persistent public polarization surrounding the couple in Britain and the United States.

Media attention surrounding their projects remains substantial, particularly when products or campaigns directly reference their relationship or royal history.

Under trees, inside narrow sheds, and along dusty alleyways, artisans work for hours arranging colourful threads into narrow patterned strips that are later stitched together into wider cloth used for ceremonial wear, designer outfits, shoes, bags and accessories. Despite rising international demand and repeated attempts to modernise production, many weavers insist that aso-oke must remain handwoven to preserve its authenticity.

Located about 200 kilometres from Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial and fashion hub, Iseyin is widely recognised as the historic centre of aso-oke production. The fabric, whose name roughly translates to “cloth from up country,” has long been associated with Yoruba identity and social prestige.

Traditionally worn by wealthy families and ruling elites during weddings, festivals and major ceremonies, aso-oke has expanded far beyond formal occasions. It now appears in contemporary fashion collections across Nigerian cities and on international runways in London and Paris, reflecting both the influence of Nigeria’s fashion industry and the visibility of its diaspora abroad.

Its growing global presence was highlighted when Meghan Markle wore an aso-oke wrapper and shoulder shawl during her 2024 visit to Nigeria with Britain’s Prince Harry, bringing renewed international attention to the textile.For many weavers in Iseyin, however, the craft remains less about fashion visibility and more about livelihood.

Waliu Fransisco, 34, sits at his wooden loom weaving a cream-and-blue fabric, the repetitive click of the machine filling the workshop. A decade ago, he left his job as a nightclub singer in Lagos to learn the physically demanding work of weaving.

“Now I earn a decent living from weaving aso-oke and I’m satisfied,” he told AFP.Like many younger artisans entering the trade, Fransisco represents a generational shift in an industry traditionally dominated by middle-aged men.

Rising unemployment and limited formal job opportunities have drawn young people, including university graduates, back to Iseyin to learn the craft.The work remains labour-intensive. Historically, artisans prepared threads from raw cotton or silk by cleaning, spinning and dyeing fibres manually before setting them on wooden looms.

Colours were limited, and production was slow.Today, many weavers use pre-prepared threads in a wider range of colours, often imported from China, allowing for more varied designs while preserving the manual weaving process.

According to 42-year-old weaver Abdulhammed Ajasa, imported loom-ready thread has made it easier to experiment with patterns and respond to changing market preferences without abandoning traditional production methods.Still, the weaving itself remains entirely manual.Artisans spend hours arranging and tightening threads before weaving narrow, densely patterned strips.

The final product depends heavily on precision, rhythm and experience, qualities many say machines cannot replicate.“This is what Iseyin is known for,” said Kareem Adeola, 35, speaking from behind his loom. “We inherited it from our forefathers.

”Efforts to mechanise aso-oke production have largely failed, according to local weavers, who argue that machine-made versions lose the texture, strength and visual depth associated with authentic handwoven fabric.“If you use a machine to weave aso-oke, it won’t come out as nice as if it was handwoven,” Adeola said while working on a yellow-and-olive design.

“People have tried it before, and it did not work. It is meant by God to be handwoven.”That resistance to mechanisation reflects both economic and cultural concerns.Handweaving creates jobs in Iseyin, where much of the local economy depends directly or indirectly on textile production.

It also preserves a cultural identity tied closely to Yoruba history and craftsmanship.The physical cost, however, is significant. Long hours of sitting at wooden looms can cause chronic pain and other health problems, particularly for older weavers. Yet many continue to accept the strain as part of preserving the craft.For designers, aso-oke’s international rise presents both opportunity and concern.

Ayomitide Okungbaye, creative director of Lagos-based fashion label Tide Chen, has exhibited aso-oke designs in London and sees its growing global appeal as a positive development.“There is nothing wrong with your culture being worn by other people,” the 31-year-old designer said.But she warned that global recognition also raises questions about ownership and misuse.

“Where we start to have a problem is when there’s misappropriation or people start to claim ownership,” she said.The concern is not theoretical. Another Yoruba textile tradition, adire — produced using tie-dye techniques — has already faced challenges from counterfeit versions manufactured abroad, particularly from China. Designers fear aso-oke could face similar risks if demand continues to grow without stronger protections for local artisans.

At the same time, the expansion of aso-oke into mainstream and international fashion has changed how the fabric is used within Nigeria itself.“It is no longer reserved for special occasions,” said Isiaq Yahaya, a 45-year-old mathematician observing the shift in consumer behaviour.

Today, aso-oke appears not only at weddings and traditional ceremonies but also in everyday fashion, adapted into shoes, handbags, purses and contemporary ready-to-wear collections.This evolution has helped sustain the craft economically while keeping it visible to younger generations who may otherwise see traditional textiles as outdated.

In Iseyin, finished rolls of brightly coloured cloth are stacked in small shops waiting for buyers from Lagos, Abuja and overseas markets. Some weavers now collaborate with graphic artists and fashion designers to develop new patterns that appeal to younger customers without losing the fabric’s traditional identity.

The balance between innovation and preservation remains delicate.For artisans here, the question is not whether aso-oke should evolve, but how far that evolution can go before the fabric loses the very qualities that made it valuable in the first place.

As global demand grows, Iseyin’s weavers continue to work under open skies and wooden sheds, preserving a process that has survived generations not because it was the easiest method, but because it carried something machines could not reproduce.