Getting ready to join Prince Harry at the opening of the Invictus Games in Vancouver, Meghan is facing challenges and criticisms, as usual.
One recent instance is her Instagram video where she enthusiastically shows off a Billie Eilish T-shirt she bought as a ‘good deed’ for a teenager who lost her home in the Altadena fires.
‘A T-shirt, for a girl who’s just lost her home? What’s she meant to do? Stick a couple of poles in it, and use it as a tent?’ asked one critic.
Some critics pointed out that Meghan posted the video on Instagram before reaching out to the teenager and her mother. Additionally, some felt that repeatedly mentioning her celebrity friends, musician Adam Levine and his model wife Behati Prinsloo, was not the best decision.
Oddly, neither Levine nor Prinsloo, who are credited with passing on Meghan’s voice message asking for help to singer Eilish, have retweeted or liked the post. Eilish is also silent. Perhaps the singer prefers her philanthropy to be private, or on a larger scale.
Meanwhile, although we are only a few weeks away from the delayed launch of her Netflix TV show, With Love, Meghan, nobody seems to be paying attention to the social media of her associated lifestyle merchandising brand, American Riviera Orchard.
American Riviera Orchard, which still has only 598,000 followers on Instagram (against 1.6 million for Meghan’s personal account), has been embarrassingly affected by a rejig in the app’s format as it appears on some accounts.Â
The grid, which once proclaimed ‘American Riviera Orchard, Montecito’ in swirling gold script, now reads: ‘Amen Riviera chard, ontecit.’
It seems Meghan Markle is pinning her hopes on her new Netflix lifestyle show to claw back some popularity as she’s pictured here picking out a posy of flowers, which she hand ties
And, in a further cause of consternation for the Duchess, who fiercely protects the privacy of her children, her old friend, the activist and journalist Gloria Steinem, has accidentally shared a clear image of both Archie and Lilibet.
In a photoshoot at her New York home for the magazine Architectural Digest, a card from the couple is prominently displayed on a table by Steinem’s desk, featuring the family of four apparently lying down on the lawn.
Archie is playfully resting his palm on Meghan’s forehead as she giggles. Both he and Lilibet are looking directly at the camera.
The inadvertent publication of a private card – presumably a Christmas greeting – feels like yet another misstep which Meghan could do without. Indeed, the history of her media interactions since Megxit is fraught with nasty public slaps.
There was South Park’s ‘Worldwide Privacy Tour’ episode in March 2023, following publication of Harry’s memoir Spare, then Spotify boss Bill Simmons called her and Harry ‘f***ing grifters’ in June that year after their deal with the platform was dropped.
Last month, Vanity Fair published an unflattering profile of the couple, with the cover line: ‘Five years after leaving the monarchy, Meghan and Harry are trying their damnedest to just be normal moguls.’
Now, with the future of the Netflix deal apparently up in the air (it expires later this year), it seems Meghan is pinning her hopes on the lifestyle show to claw back some popularity. To that end, With Love, Meghan doubles as a PR exercise and aims to convince the audience of her saintly qualities – as a friend.
Her close pal Abigail Spencer, a former co-star on Suits who appears on the series, has spoken about Meghan’s ‘heart-song magical-thoughtfulness’ and it can be revealed that this ‘magic Meghan’ is the theme of the show.
Another friend who features on With Love, Meghan, charity founder Kelly McKee Zajfen, has also talked on Instagram about ‘the magic that is Meg’.
A select few have been able to see a preview of the series, and one told me that a wand has certainly been waved over Meghan’s tricky public image.
Prince Harry makes a rare appearance in one of the episodes but is barely glimpsed or mentioned throughout the whole series
The Duchess of Sussex, with guest Mindy Kaling, in her Netflix series With Love, Meghan
The source said: ‘I think the most interesting thing about it is seeing the pains she takes to give absolutely no offence.
‘All her shows up to now have been Meghan with an agenda – if you look back to the Oprah interview or Harry & Meghan. But this is her on her own and she takes pains to say absolutely nothing which is in any way controversial or newsworthy.
‘What she does is create a beautiful dreamworld of candles and flowers and friends.’
The source adds: ‘It’s not a cooking show, it’s about how to be a perfect host and, by extension, how to be a great friend.’
A cynic might point out that, with so many of her family relationships in ashes, she certainly couldn’t deliver a show about hosting family gatherings. One of her first guests is the make-up artist Daniel Martin, who did her make-up for her 2018 wedding to Prince Harry.
Meghan is shown picking out a posy of flowers for his guest room, which she hand ties. The source said: ‘She shows you how to make your guest room pretty, how to dry a home-made potpourri to put by the bed.
‘She shows what she cooks for dinner – but not really how. There aren’t recipes, she just talks about a lovely dish of pasta or baking bread. It’s very aspirational. Everything is perfect.’
Chef Roy Choi makes an appearance on Meghan’s new show which features a guest every week – usually a friendÂ
Produced by Meghan and her team at Archewell, with the help of a team at the Intellectual Property Corporation – an offshoot of Sony – With Love, Meghan’s promo material features the blurb: ‘Create wonder in every moment.’
A source says: ‘One of the moments of wonder is definitely her wardrobe. It’s pretty much all white, cream or beige with masses of gold jewellery and diamonds. She is absolutely pristine throughout, and perfectly styled.’
Presented as a sophisticated Californian home-maker, with a circle of influential friends, there is no trace of the jobbing actress who scrabbled her way up via a role as a ‘briefcase girl’ on Deal or No Deal.
Nor is there any sign of the philanthropist powerhouse who said she wanted to get her ‘boots on the ground’ as a new member of the Royal Family. Nor of the woman who cut off her own father over his perceived media betrayal.
I’m told: ‘She is sweetness and light on this show. No conflict, no sadness. It’s very sophisticated and elevated. Nothing folksy.’
Wisely, she acknowledges that she is filming the show in the house ‘next door’ to her own home and also admits that, contrary to the impression she may have given in the trailer, she is not a bee keeper.
Nor is she the one who has raised those perfect heads of lettuce which she picks.
She is, by some distance, the most famous person who features. A source said: ‘She has a guest every week. Mostly it’s a mate. A lot of them were previously on her podcasts.’
They include actress Mindy Kaling, author Alice Waters and chef Roy Choi. There are also a number of personal friends: as well as Daniel Martin, there’s Delfina Blaquier, who is married to Prince Harry’s best pal, polo player Nacho Figueras, and fashion designer Tracy Robbins, who is married to Paramount boss Brian.
With Love, Meghan doubles as a PR exercise and aims to convince the audience of her saintly qualities – as a friend, writes Alison Boshoff
Blaquier wrote on her Instagram stories last month: ‘Congrats for the love and hard work you put into this project of yours! So grateful to be a part of it – I can’t wait to see all you have to share.’
Tracy Robbins appears in the promo for the show, where she’s seen clinking glasses with her friend. She wrote on Instagram stories: ‘So excited to share! Congrats my friend.’
Meanwhile, Daniel Martin, who was at Meghan’s New York baby shower in 2019, says on his grid: ‘My culinary confidence is due to @meghan and I’m so excited for you all to watch this!’
Fellow Suits actress Abigail Spencer gushed on Instagram last month: ‘So elated for you @meghan! Happy New Year & 20twentythrive indeed! How lucky are we to get a glimpse into your heart-song, magical-thoughtfulness & deliciously wonderful ways. Can’t wait for all to fall in love with #WithLoveMeghan. Thanks for having me over & being truly the most wonderful friend a gal could get. Joy & bubbles abound. Here to learn. I’ll get the salt.’
And Kelly McKee Zajfen, who founded a charity The Alliance of Moms after the tragic death of her son, wrote: ‘Beyond excited for the world to see you and your magic!!! As I say, ‘Come on! It’s just so good!!’ Thank you for including me. You are the best hostess, mama, wife and best friend. Shine bright. Stay tuned . . . to see all the magic that is Meg.’
With Love, Meghan was supposed to start streaming on January 15 but was pulled from the schedules in the wake of the devastating California fires.
In a statement at the time, the Duchess said: ‘I’m thankful to my partners at Netflix for supporting me in delaying the launch, as we focus on the needs of those impacted by the wildfires in my home state of California.’
It will now launch on March 4. And it can be revealed that the ‘brand separation’ for her and Prince Harry continues, with Harry ‘barely glimpsed’ and ‘barely mentioned’ in the show, which is left to stand or fall on the charisma of the Duchess of Sussex alone.
This is surely wise, as Harry has been less than successful when it comes to Netflix. Aside from the epic score-settling of Harry & Meghan, he’s made two shows for the streamer: Heart of Invictus about the work of his charity for injured servicemen, and Polo, about the sport.
Heart of Invictus was one of the worst performing shows for the streamer in 2023, drawing just 300,000 views globally, according to figures released by Netflix.
No figures have been released for Polo, but it didn’t make any of the global Top Tens around the week of its release.
With the couple’s £80 million Netflix deal running out this autumn, With Love, Meghan could be their last contribution to the streaming giant. Numerous other projects, such as a film adaptation of the chick-lit novel Meet Me At The Lake, have come to nothing.
So, if they are to have any chance of getting the deal renewed, it must be a hit.
The stakes are even higher because With Love, Meghan is intended to act as a launchpad for American Riviera Orchard, which is expected to start selling its first products imminently, despite ongoing niggles over trademark.
That business, which is understood to be run in conjunction with Netflix, could be the couple’s financial lifeline. It all depends, of course, on members of the public worldwide actually wanting to buy what she’s selling.
My source says that Netflix has great hopes for it. ‘You come away from watching it feeling more positive about her than when you went into it,’ I’m told.
We shall find out if that translates into an uptick in her popularity – and a new income stream – soon enough.
