Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, debuted an Instagram account on Thursday that introduced a brand new enterprise, American Riviera Orchard, which seems to be a kitchen and life-style model. Little is understood concerning the model past a 15-second video that options grainy footage of Meghan arranging roses and hydrangeas, posing from afar in a black robe and cooking in what seems to be her kitchen in Southern California.
A consultant for the duchess confirmed her affiliation with the mission however declined to offer additional particulars.
Nonetheless, there are clues. A trademark application for American Riviera Orchard that was filed in early February seeks trademark approval for a retail retailer, cookbooks, tableware and a powerful catalog of spreads: “Jellies, jams; marmalades; fruit preserves,” the record begins, plus “garlic-based spreads; sesame-based spreads,” and fruit and nut butters.
An internet site for American Riviera Orchard shows its brand, a calligraphic gold crest, and an e mail sign-up to be notified about forthcoming merchandise.
The announcement comes amid every week of wild-eyed hypothesis about Catherine, Princess of Wales, Meghan’s sister-in-law, who apologized on Monday for releasing an edited picture of herself. The picture has wrought a public relations scandal and fueled conspiracy theories concerning the princess’ well-being since her belly surgical procedure in January.
Meghan and her husband, Prince Harry, haven’t commented publicly on the fracas, though Meghan participated in a panel on ladies’s illustration in leisure on the South by Southwest convention in Austin, Texas, final week.
The couple stepped again from royal duties in 2020 and relocated to Montecito, Calif., a rich enclave on the japanese fringe of Santa Barbara the place Oprah, Ellen DeGeneres and Katy Perry additionally personal houses. The identify American Riviera Orchard is sort of possible a nod to the world’s popularity because the “American Riviera.”
American Riviera Orchard is the newest in a sequence of enterprises for Meghan and Harry, together with a podcasting partnership with Spotify that ended final 12 months and a multiyear take care of Netflix. The documentary sequence “Harry & Meghan,” launched by Netflix in 2022, supplied fastidiously curated glimpses into their life as a pair.
From 2014 by way of 2017, Meghan shared style, journey and cooking dispatches on her life-style weblog The Tig, which she described as “a hub for the discerning palate.” She posted cocktail recipes, interviews with stars like Serena Williams and journey suggestions for the Amalfi Coast.
It stays to be seen how a lot American Riviera Orchard could have in frequent with The Tig, however there nonetheless seems to be an viewers wanting to devour her suggestions. Inside a couple of hours of her new model’s first put up on Instagram, its account has greater than 200,000 followers.
