Meghan Markle picked fresh fruits from her garden in a candid Instagram post this weekend – but royal fans quickly noted an odd detail about the photo.
The Duchess of Sussex, 43, shared a snap of her out in the garden picking fresh fruits to her lifestyle brand, As ever’s Instagram account on Saturday.
She captioned the picturesque image, believed to be taken on her estate in Montecito: ‘Weekend plans: pick, snack, repeat,’ followed by a peach emoji.
In the photo, Meghan can be seen standing under a fruit tree reaching up while dressed in a relaxed outfit which included a monogrammed wide-brimmed straw hat.
And she appeared to be plucking a newly ripe apricot from one of her trees – with the image implying she’d freshly pulled it off the branch before the snapshot was taken.
But eagle-eyed social media users soon noted that the fruit Meghan had picked was a different colour to those still on the tree.
One royal fan wrote: ‘All the other fruit is so green,’ while a second added: ‘She’s picking green fruit!’ and the third said: ‘The other fruit isn’t ripe…’
By comparison, they said the apricot Meghan was holding was ‘yellow’ and seemed to be ‘glowing’.
Meghan Markle (pictured) has left royal fans baffled with her latest As ever Instagram post
The Duchess of Sussex appeared to be picking apricots from her Montecito-based garden, but fans soon noted the fruit was ‘glowing’
Others pointed out that Meghan seemed to be holding the fruit ‘upside down’ as she was holding the ‘stem end’ – which should have been still facing the tree.
People wrote: ‘It’s amazing how this supposedly freshly picked apricot is upside down and there isn’t a stem or leaves attached’;
‘At this point I wouldn’t even believe this apricot was ever attached to the tree’;
‘I saw someone say she’s holding it upside down’;
‘Looks like she’s trying to put an apricot back on the tree. It’s not connected and the others are not ripe’;
‘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???’
However, the colour difference could just be the lighting or editing of the photograph – as apricots are currently in season in Santa Barbara, where the Sussexes live.
As Meghan released an apricot fruit spread for her second business launch earlier this month, the candid photograph is apt timing.
This isn’t the only time Meghan’s wholesome content has been questioned by critics claiming to spot flaws in her seemingly perfectly-arranged images and footage.
Last month, she posted an image of the Sussexes’ beagle Mia sniffing a basket of fresh produce apparently grown in the garden of her Montecito home in California.
But eagle-eyed social media users immediately claimed there was something suspicious about her fruit and veg, including a lack of any mud on them and the time of year they were picked.
The Duchess was once accused by fans of staging a video with adorable ducklings to upload on Easter Sunday, while her suspiciously perfect St Patrick’s Day waffles were called into question.
Followers suspected that Meghan had ‘set up’ the ducklings video, while others noted her waffle maker was a different shape to the sweet treats she’d produced.
Her candid ‘writing in the sand’ video to announce her new Instagram account in January featured multiple attempts to perfect the writing, as followers saw her walk past another ‘2025’ written in the sand.
It could be seen in the left hand corner, perhaps hinting that she filmed the clip multiple times in order to get a flawless take.
Royal fans previously spotted how ‘clean’ Meghan’s vegetables were – despite being freshly picked
On New Year’s Day, Meghan launched her official Instagram account @meghan and shared a clip of her writing ‘2025’ in the sand
On Easter Sunday, the Duchess was accused of ‘staging’ a sweet video that shows her watching a flock of ducks crossing a road in Montecito
On St Patrick’s Day in March, Meghan whipped up some picturesque green waffles for Archie, Lilibet and Harry to enjoy at breakfast time but people say the images look different
In her latest post, the Duchess had her hair pulled back into a low messy bun and was wearing a white linen button-down and had the hat hanging over her back.
Eagle-eyed fans were able to track down Meghan’s hat and noticed she had customised it to suit her specific style.
The Mariella Vilar Rancher hat is available for purchase online for $105, or £76, but is currently sold out with only waitlist slots open for potential buyers.
The stylish accessory can be made custom to each customer by choosing the chin strap and adding a burnt branded monogram.
Fans on Instagram pointed out that the mother-of-two has customised her sun hat by adding a single ‘M’ monogram and a ‘Boot Leather’ strap in the shade ‘Camel.’
Meanwhile, over on her own Instagram account, Meghan shared a sun-soaked beach picture to her page on Saturday.
She captioned the post: ‘That weekend feeling’ followed by a sun emoji and musical notes.
In the image, the Duchess is seen walking barefoot along the sand, dressed in a relaxed cream button-down and matching white shorts.
Meghan took to Instagram on Saturday to post a breezy beach photo
The Duchess of Sussex’s TV show ‘With Love, Meghan’ (pictured) came out on Netflix on March 4
The post offers a rare candid glimpse into her off-duty style – which was complete with oversized sunglasses and a wide-brimmed sun hat.
Meghan shared the photo with her 3.9 million Instagram followers, although fans weren’t able to leave messages of support since Prince Harry‘s wife has comments turned off on all her posts.
The decision to limit interaction on her account has sparked disappointment, though it’s consistent with her controlled return to the platform.
The new post follows the official launch of Meghan’s lifestyle brand, As Ever, which debuted in April 2025.
Since then, she has consistently shared promotional content and product updates, including the release of fruit spreads, jams, and baking mixes.
The brand has been positioned as a modern, upscale take on domestic living and has quickly gained traction online.
Her Instagram account features a mix of personal snapshots and As Ever product features, offering followers a curated look at her life in California.
The latest beachside photo does not appear to be tied to the brand, but comes amid steady engagement on her main page and the As Ever handle.
The berries for both her raspberry spread and newly launched apricot spread are said to be Californian-grown and bottled
Earlier this month, she revealed a trio of new products as she launched a Napa Valley rosé wine, an apricot spread and a new honey.
Over the weekend, the Mail revealed the truth about where Meghan’s £6.50-a-jar raspberry spread really comes from.
The sweet treat is manufactured by the same US giant which sells her £9 packs of herbal tea.
It also makes her sold-out orange blossom honey – priced at £20 ($28) a jar.
Additionally the factory makes a ‘strawberry and wild rose’ preserve as part of a tie-up with Bridgerton – the hit series set in Regency England made by Netflix, with whom the Sussexes also have a deal.
The firm – which has the decidedly un-Royal name The Republic of Tea – is headquartered in Larkspur, California, 350 miles away from Meghan’s Montecito mansion.
The Duchess has gone to great lengths to portray the preserve as an artisanal product. There was an enchanting video posted to her Instagram Stories showing a bubbling pot of the jam and featuring four-year-old Lilibet
However its factory is 2,000 miles away in Illinois.
With half-a-million visits to her As Ever website after the last ‘product drop’ on June 20, a tie-up with a commercial manufacturer was inevitable to satisfy customer demand.
Neither the Sussexes nor Netflix has yet confirmed exactly where the spread – currently marked on Meghan’s website as ‘coming soon’ – is made, or where the raspberries are sourced.
But a source close to the Duchess said that in order to formulate the commercially available product, they ‘started with the version Meghan makes at home and worked to develop a version of it that could be produced at scale.’
