Meghan Markle and Prince Harry slammed for making two announcements that clash with William's speech

It marked a rare joint appearance from the estranged brothers, however, they spoke hours after each other at the event.

Just moments before William arrived at the event, Meghan Markle, 42, launched a new lifestyle brand on Instagram - American Riviera Orchard - with an accompanying website.

A short time later, while William was still speaking at the legacy event, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex revealed the winner of their $100,000 NAACP – Archewell Foundation Digital Civil Rights Award.

Dr Joy Buolamwini was announced as the 2024 winner for her advocacy and research to overcome racist and sexist biases in artificial intelligence.

In a video shared on the Archewell Foundation website, Meghan and Harry personally delivered the news to Buolamwini.

"You won!" Meghan told her before congratulating her with a hug. Prince Harry then also warmly embraced Buolamwini.

Meghan Markle has launched her new lifestyle brand: American Riviera Orchard

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by @americanrivieraorchard

Buolamwini said in the video: "Y'all got me good."

The timing of this announcement shortly after Meghan's new lifestyle brand was revealed has been questioned by royal commentators.

Pandora Forsyth told GB News: "Bad timing. I thought that as soon as it happened last night, I thought surely this would be an event on both of their calendars.

"Let's say that they don't talk and they don't share calendars anymore because they're not two separate royal households, I would have thought that the Diana Awards and the Diana Legacy Award last night would have just been something that would have been crossed over.

"I'm really, really surprised at this because Harry was also involved in it and has been involved with it for many years.

"I mean, it was only a few years ago he was up on stage with his brother William. I mean, how times have changed.

"But yeah, really bizarre timing. We know that she was going to be launching a lifestyle brand in terms of what it might have been, well, I guess now we know.

"You can buy homeware items and cookery items if you so wish. And this will tie into Netflix as well, where we'll probably be seeing Meghan cooking if that takes your interest too."

Forsyth added: "A big project like this would have had a date in the diary for many, many months," when asked if the timing of the announcements was "deliberate".

Another royal commentator stressed: "The Sussexes in my opinion do nothing by accident".

Richard Fitzwilliams told The Mail: "The Sussexes in my opinion do nothing by accident and timing is often absolutely pivotal.

"We found that out one way over the weekend and we've now just been reminded that there may be more shots in their locker than some of us thought. And it's no accident."