Nacho Figueras, a professional polo player and pal of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, faced scathing criticism for royal fans after his social media post over the weekend

Meghan Markle’s friend Nacho Figueras could face the wrath of royal fans after threatening to overshadow Trooping the Colour at the weekend.

The annual ceremony, also known as the King’s Birthday Parade, has extra significance this year as Princess Kate made her return to the public eye while continuing her cancer treatment. However, with Prince Harry and Meghan once again missing – they haven’t attended since 2019 – a PR move has left many seething.

Professional polo player Nacho, 47, took to Instagram hours before the event on Saturday to show off their latest gifts from the Duchess of Sussex. He uploaded images showing a new raspberry jam and dog biscuits, but the timing of his post hasn’t gone down well.

The products included dog biscuits ( 
Image:
@nachofigueras/instagram)

Nacho Figueras and Prince Harry ( 
Image:
Getty Images for Sentebale)
Hitting out at the Argentinian on social media, one fan branded his actions as “shameful” and “tasteless”. Another fumed in the comments section of his upload: “What a tasteless gesture to publish content with Harry and Meghan products on the day Kate returns to public life!”

A third agreed, adding: “Disgusting prank to try and upstage Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales. You owe your fans an apology. What a small person you are.”

However, it wasn’t all negative comments, with some of his followers jumping to his defence. One user went as far as apologising for other people’s response.

The decision to share the product over the weekend was branded “naive” by a royal expert too. Richard Fitzwilliams told the Mirror “To do this on the same day as Trooping the Colour shows a very naive approach to marketing as they know journalists keep an eye on what they do.

“Nacho Figueras, Harry’s polo playing friend, posted that he’d received jam and dog biscuits and posted photos. Whereas cynics might say the raspberry sums up the Sussexes destructive attitude to the royal family rather well, on the jar it said two of two. If she wants her brand to succeed, Meghan better be more adventurous than this!”

However, a PR expert went on to disagree, saying they don’t believe such timing was done with any malice. Lynn Carratt commented: “She [Meghan] didn’t have any control over when Nacho would post them. And it didn’t overshadow anything.”