On Thursday, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, launched an Instagram account where she announced a brand new enterprise, American Riviera Orchard, which appears to be a kitchen and lifestyle brand. Little is thought concerning the brand beyond a 15-second video containing grainy footage of Meghan arranging roses and hydrangeas, posing from a distance in a black dress and cooking in what appears to be her Southern California kitchen.
The duchess’s representative confirmed her involvement with the project, but declined to supply further details.
Still, there are clues: A trademark application American Riviera Orchard filed in early February in search of trademark approval for its retail store, cookbooks, tableware and impressive catalog of spreads: “Jellies, Jams; marmalades; fruit preserves,” the list begins, in addition to “garlic-based spreads; sesame-based spreads and fruit and nut butters.
American Riviera Orchard’s website displays its logo, a calligraphic gold crest, and an email address to enroll to receive notifications of upcoming products.
The statement follows every week of untamed speculation about Catherine, Princess of Wales, Meghan’s sister-in-law, who apologized on Monday for publishing a corrected photo of herself. The photo caused a public relations scandal and fueled conspiracy theories concerning the princess’s health since her abdominal surgery in January.
Meghan and her husband, Prince Harry, haven’t publicly commented on the row, although Meghan participated in a panel last week on women’s representation within the entertainment industry on the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas.
The couple stepped back from royal duties in 2020 and moved to Montecito, California, a wealthy enclave on the eastern fringe of Santa Barbara where Oprah, Ellen DeGeneres and Katy Perry even have homes. The name American Riviera Orchard is probably going a nod to the world’s repute because the “American Riviera.”
American Riviera Orchard is the newest in a string of ventures for Meghan and Harry, including a podcast partnership with Spotify that ended last 12 months and a multi-year take care of Netflix. The Harry & Meghan docuseries, released by Netflix in 2022, offered fastidiously curated insights into their lives as a pair.
From 2014 to 2017, Meghan posted about fashion, travel and cooking on her lifestyle blog, The Tig, which she described as “a hub for discerning palates.” She has published cocktail recipes, interviews with stars equivalent to Serena Williams and travel recommendations on the Amalfi Coast.
Time will tell how much American Riviera Orchard may have in common with The Tig, but audiences still appear to welcome its recommendations. Within hours of her recent brand’s first post on Instagram, her account had over 200,000 followers.
