Meghan Markle has found herself in the middle of a "copycat row" after her now-cancelled Netflix series Pearl drew accusations of copyright infringement. Originally announced in 2021 through Archewell Productions, Pearl was set to follow a 12-year-old girl inspired by historical female icons. Meghan was on board as executive producer alongside David Furnish and others.

However, children's author Mel Elliott has claimed that Pearl bore “striking” similarities to her own book series Pearl Power, which had been released between 2014 and 2016. Elliott said she had already started developing an animated adaptation in 2019, including a concept where her character meets women in history—mirroring Meghan’s proposed plot.

Elliott reportedly sent a legal letter and two follow-ups to Archewell Productions. Though Meghan's team claims talks with Netflix began as early as 2018, all references to the series have since been quietly scrubbed from Archewell’s website, and Pearl has been officially dropped.