Meghan Markle has been accused on two separate official occasions of wearing earrings of ‘blood money’ donated by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Markle wore the earrings – initially a gift to Queen Elizabeth – during a state dinner in Fiji during a royal tour that includes Tonga, Australia and New Zealand in October 2018, just three weeks after Washington Post writer Jamal Khashoggi, was killed in Saudi Arabia. . The United States has accused the Crown Prince of ordering Khashoggi’s death.
“The earrings were bought with blood money and given to her by a murderer,” Michael Eisner, a lawyer who fought for Khashoggi, told The Daily Mail. “She has no business carrying them.”
“The earrings were bought with blood money and given to her by a murderer. She has no business to wear them.”
The crown prince allegedly gave the chandelier earrings to the queen as an official wedding gift during a luncheon at Buckingham Palace in March 2018. There is no evidence that Markle met or met him at the time.
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Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, will wear earrings from the leader of Saudi Arabia on 14 November 2018 in London. (Getty Images)
Markle’s lawyers insisted she was unaware of the Saudi prince’s involvement in the killing at the time, but a source told the Telegraph she was advised by assistants not to wear the earrings. Also, every garment and piece of jewelry is usually carefully selected for a royal tour.
The story was all over the media at the time.
“Royal Household staff members sometimes give advice on their options,” a source told The Telegraph. “But what they want to do with the advice is a very different matter.”
And while it is customary for royals to accept gifts, “there is nowhere in the gift policy that you should wear them,” a source told the Daily Mail.
Markle wore the earrings a second time a month later at Prince Charles’ 70th birthday party at Buckingham Palace.
Prince Harry apparently looked ‘shocked’ when an assistant approached him at the party over the earrings, according to The Telegraph.
Kensington Palace staff members told reporters at the time that the earrings were “borrowed” but did not expand, according to The Telegraph.
Eisner is the chief operating officer of Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), which was founded by Khashoggi.
“She needs to inform herself as a member of the royal family about current events and politics and what’s going on,” Eisner told the Daily Mail. He noted that she had been photographed with a Saudi women’s rights activist two years earlier. “It is surprising that she did not know the circumstances surrounding Khashoggi’s murder and would understand that MBS had blood on his hands.”
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Markle was defended by some over the timing of the criticism – three years later – claiming that her criticism was ‘racist’ and ‘sexist’, as many politicians did not use force against the crown prince.
The reports appeared before her celebrity interview with Oprah Winfrey, which was to be broadcast on Sunday night.
Others noted that Markle’s earrings and other scandals were pale in comparison to the allegations of sexual misconduct against Prince Andrew.