The first episode of the much-anticipated Netflix series featuring the Duchess of Sussex reveals her unique pasta-cooking style, which may surprise even native Italians.
Early on in ‘With Love, Meghan’, released recently on Netflix, Meghan Markle is shown cooking a dish called ‘skillet spaghetti’. She mentions that this is a dish she frequently prepares for Prince Harry and their children.
This show offers viewers an insider look at Meghan’s home life, with the ex-royal sharing with her friend Daniel Martin, a make-up artist, how this Americanized version of the classic Italian dish is a hit with her children, five-year-old Archie and three-year-old Lilibet.
While there’s no expense spared in the utensils, the Duchess uses a Le Creuset dish, beloved of the middle classes on both sides of the Pond – and makes the dish using a cooker that’s thought to have cost around £15,000, Italians might wince at the technique.
Traditional methods might see the pasta submerged in a large pan of salted boiling water, but here, the Duchess simply pours ‘three cups’ of boiling water onto the spaghetti and then puts a lid on.
Another moment that might besmirch an entire European nation? The duchess also calls the popular Italian pasta ‘noodles’ at one point.
Meghan says: ‘When I make this, I make it for my family’ before clarifying ‘not that my children are eating heaps of noodles but I will make enough so that I can put leftovers in their lunchbox.’
Describing how the cherished dish harks back to her days of creating lifestyle content for her previous website The Tig, she says: ‘This skillet spaghetti would have been on there’.
To make the meal, Meghan removes the dry pasta from a jar and precedes to lay it into the dish, which has feta and cherry tomatoes already in a layer on the bottom of it.
There’s scant detail on measurements, except to say ‘an entire pack of spaghetti’ is used – and ‘three and a half cups of boiling water, give or take’ should be added.
After adding lots of lemon zest, she tells viewers: ‘You just pour boiling water on top and that’s it’. When the cooking is almost done, chard and kale are added.
Meghan filmed the series in a lavish reality TV mansion that’s just two miles from the £11million Montecito property she shares with Prince Harry and their children.
The mansion where the Netflix show was filmed last year, an idyllic $8million (£5million) estate nestled within a gated community, boasts eight acres of avocado trees and lemon groves and is owned by Montecito’s influential Cipolla family.
Tom and Sherrie Cipolla, fixtures in the high society circles of the American Riviera, are both in their 70s.
They are prominent philanthropists with a $20million property portfolio, which includes a physical therapy practice with over $1.3million in annual sales.
Their 4,500 sq ft home, with four bedrooms and four bathrooms, has stunning French doors that open to a patio, lawn, and breath-taking mountain views.
And it is the stage for Meghan to showcase her cooking and homemaking skills including a number of British-inspired recipes such as a classic Eton mess and a Victoria sponge.
In it she gives fans a sneak peek of her cooking, baking, cocktail making, flower arranging and party planning using its kitchen’s £15,000 cooker, £600 pans, £60 chopping boards and hosting friends across the property’s stunning rooms, garden and orchards.
Alongside her were famous friends including actress and producer Mindy Kaling – an early recipient of American Riviera Orchard Jam – while The Lovin’ Spoonful’s Do You Believe in Magic plays over the top of the teaser trailer released to promote the show.
She is also shown high-fiving other guests in candid moments that include accidentally squeezing lemon in her eye and missing a plate when serving some sweet treats.
Meghan has vowed ‘share the joys of gardening, friendship, and entertaining’ with guests in the luxurious home of the Cipolla family.
The property features the centerpiece of the estate: a spacious kitchen with Caesartone countertops, estimated to cost about £200 to £550 per square metre and a 48-inch Thermador range cooker, which comes with a hefty price tag of around £15,000.
Behind her, cream-coloured Shaker-style cabinetry and a farmhouse-style sink is punctuated with contrasting black hardware.
Alongside other kitchen staples such as copper pans, for around £200 to £600 and her favourite Vitamix E320 Explorian Blender, which is loved by countless other stars such as Miranda Kerr, Gwyneth Paltrow and Zac Efron but will set you back £450.
Donning the back of the stove you see a selection of black walnut chopping boards, which provide an easy aesthetic vibe to the kitchen but each one should cost about £60.
In perfect influencer style she also uses an array of state-of-art Le Creuset cookware, all in matching white. A single pot online retails for about £180-£250.
In one shot, the mother-of-two served a caprese appetizer – adorably made to look like ladybirds.
Sitting on small pieces of bread, the bodies were made of baby tomatoes with small black dots with olive heads and sat on a bed of mozzarella and salad.
They sat on a blue floral patterned plate, which is believed to be the Blue Peony Plate from Earth and Element, a female owned ceramics studio located in Los Angeles. The plate prices start from £32 ($40) for each bread plate and £57 ($70) for a dinner plate.
In another shot, a beautiful salad bowl sits on top of the stunning island bench.
The bowl resembles one found to be from Astier de Villatte – a line of ceramic made in Paris from black terracotta clay finished with a signature milky white glaze.
The websites notes that each piece is handmade and will feature unique variations, with the large Adelaide Salad Bowl retailing for £280 ($345).
Meghan also served guests a dessert that appears to resemble Eton Mess, containing strawberries, cream, mint and a berry coulis.
She serves the pink sweet in a old fashioned ice-cream dish, with similar versions found on Crate and Barrel for an affordable £3 ($3.95) per cup.
Meghan’s cooking show is not only part of her personal reinvention but also a key component in her $100million Netflix deal with Prince Harry.
However, the reality has proven far more challenging than the fairytale narrative Meghan may have envisioned.
A series of high-profile missteps and cancellations have cast a shadow over her post-royal ventures, leaving many to question whether her brand can recover.
From the axing of her Netflix series ‘Pearl’ to the discontinuation of her Spotify podcast ‘Archetypes’ and the as yet unrealised promise of her lifestyle brand, Meghan’s attempts to reshape her public persona have met with limited success.
This comes as the Duchess launched her personal Instagram account at the start of this year with a video – filmed by husband Harry – of herself laughing on a beach near their home in Montecito.
Meghan’s foray into the lifestyle sector with American Riviera Orchard has encountered several obstacles.
Launched with the ambition to rival established brands like Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop, the brand focuses on home, garden, food, and general lifestyle products. However, it has faced trademark issues, staffing challenges, and delays in product launches.
In March 2024, Meghan filed for a trademark for American Riviera Orchard, followed by a soft launch on social media.
However, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) rejected the trademark request due to inconsistencies in the application.
Further complications arose when the food company Harry & David filed a protest, claiming that American Riviera Orchard is too similar to their own Royal Riviera trademark.
Additionally, reports have surfaced about difficulties in staffing. In August 2024, it was reported that 18 staff members had exited the business, and by November, a CEO had allegedly not been found to lead the brand.
And last month Meghan rebranded the firm, naming it ‘As Ever’. But the shift was labelled a disaster and a ‘total rush’ for using ‘recycled’ promos made a year ago.
As revealed by MailOnline, the relaunch leaked online at least a day before her Instagram announcement.
One communications veteran ridiculed the shambolic revamp, saying: ‘You wouldn’t catch Kim Kardashian doing this’, adding the 11th hour name change ‘telegraphed inauthenticity’.
‘As Ever’ was launched in a breathless selfie-style video and will sell jam – first trailed by Meghan and her famous friends last year – plus what looks set to be huge homeware and gardening ranges in the US.
There was also a subtle dig at the Royal Family because Meghan told followers she had not been able to share her passion for food and home for ‘years’ until now. She shut her blog The Tig and social media accounts when she fell in love with Prince Harry.
However, within hours of the official announcement of As Ever, it faced a fresh crisis – after a tiny Spanish town accused Meghan of copying their coat of arms for the lifestyle brand’s logo.
Civic bosses in the sleepy Mallorca community of Porreres had been so stunned at the similarity of the design that they looked into potentially launching legal action against the Duchess – although this was later ditched.
The logo, which depicts two birds hovering on either side of a palm tree, is nearly identical to Porreres coat of arms.
The striking similarity sparked fierce criticism online, with onlookers accusing Meghan of ‘clear cut plagiarism’ and making an ‘exact copy’ of the design.
Local mayor Xisca Mora said the likeness was ‘surreal’ but told EL PAÍS that although the town is not in a position to take legal action over alleged plagiarism, they are demanding that the logo be removed.
The town’s heraldic coat of arms dates back to 1370 and is a significant part of the town’s cultural heritage.
Xisca told MailOnline: ‘We are still a bit shocked, we thought it was fake news at first, we didn’t know what was happening.
‘Then loads of newspapers and media started calling us and we realised it was serious.’
She said the similarities were ‘undeniable’, adding: ‘They are the same, except the birds are a little different and they used different colours, but they are nearly identical.’
A wave of backlash flooded in on social media after the row, with people online ridiculing the situation.
‘Meghan Markle’s love of plagiarism is the same AS EVER,’ jibed one YouTuber.
And in yet another humiliating blow for the Duchess, the name of her new lifestyle brand also sparked controversy at it was revealed to be the same as a US clothing retailer which had been in business for years.
Mark Kolski, the designer and owner of New York vintage clothing studio ‘As Ever NYC’, was left ‘reeling’ from the news Meghan decided to relaunch her ‘American Riviera Orchard’ company under the same name as his own clothing label.
The owner of the Big Apple independent retailer even looked into whether or not to take legal action over potential trademark infringement.
However, after exploring his options, Mr Kolksi, 58 last week revealed he’s no longer planning any legal response and is simply going back to work.
He also denied there has been any ‘battle’ between himself and the Duchess over the name and their teams have not spoken to one another.
Speaking in an interview with the New York Times, he said: ‘I’m not trying to mount some legal offensive here.
‘Right now, I’m just going back to work, and I’m trying to keep the awareness on my brand. If any conflict eventually arises that affects my business, I’ll evaluate that then.
‘What it feels like is out there people are making comments, and the media they want to create a rift between us, but there isn’t. I haven’t talked to them. They haven’t talked to me. There’s no battle going on.’
Speaking on Monday ahead of her new show’s release, Meghan insisted she was not an influencer, despite her two million-strong following on Instagram.
‘I see myself as an entrepreneur and a female founder and if the brand ends up influential, then that’s great,’ she told People magazine in an interview to promote her ‘make or break’ cookery show.
It comes as Meghan opened up about her family life in California and revealed how her five-year-old son, Archie adoringly tells her ‘mama don’t work too hard’.
‘It was the sweetest thing,’ the duchess adds as she recounts the advice from the young prince.
During her interview, Meghan also described how the Sussex title is now ‘part of our love story’ between herself and Prince Harry.
And she said filming her new show had helped her to rediscover her creativity – and that it had reignited ‘a spark’ in Harry’s eye.
She claimed that Harry – who only makes a fleeting appearance in the final episode of ‘With Love, Meghan’ – loved seeing her step back into her creative groove.
‘I see this spark in his eye when he sees me doing the thing that I was doing when he first met me,’ she told People.
