Meghan Markle launched her new lifestyle brand American Riviera Orchard last week, but around 90 percent of Mirror readers won’t be following the new venture.
The Duchess of Sussex introduced her new business on Instagram with a 16-second trailer showing the royal baking and arranging flowers in her Montecito mansion. According to reports, the new lifestyle and cooking brand will tie in with Meghan’s new Netflix cooking show.
There are limited details about American Riviera Orchard, but the trademark application suggests plans to trade kitchen and home goods. This includes tableware, textiles, cookbooks, and jellies and jams among the goods and services. An industry insider told Page Six Style: "She’s been working on this for over a year and it’s all the things that are close to her heart - all the things she’s passionate about." Sean O'Meara, the founder of the Essential Content PR business, believes that Meghan deliberately excluded her name from the brand, due to her declining popularity in the US.
Speaking to the MailOnline, he said: "Meghan and Harry's collective and individual approaches to 'personal branding' have been gradually shifting, ever since the backlash to their Netflix documentary. They've each been less enthusiastic about associating their names and images with the projects they're working on.
"Last summer, PR advisors were speculating that this might be on the advice of their own team, who seemed to have been urging them to step back from the limelight." Meghan previously ran her own lifestyle blog - The Tig - and she regularly shared her favourite recipes and cocktails on that page as well as an array of other posts.
She closed this down in 2017 after embarking upon her romance with Prince Harry - but it seems likely her new launch will follow a similar structure, just with an elevated level of sophistication. We asked Mirror readers if they will be following the Duchess’ new lifestyle brand, and 90 percent said they won’t be keeping tabs on the project.
A whopping 3,278 people took part in our poll, and a staggering 2,968 selected the option ‘No’. Voicing their thoughts in the comments section, one reader penned: "It sounds so boring. And like she’s trying way too hard. Nah, I’ll pass thanks," while a second added: "How many more ideas does she have so far nothing works, where's the big bucks gonna come from?"
Another wrote: "The woman may well be hiring PR to plot a better image for herself to the citizens of the UK. However she will be throwing her dollars away on that one." A fourth posted: "Markle's rhetoric was something new and exciting, well that went down like a lead balloon. Nothing to peak the interest, nothing innovative, just a rehash of others."
Meanwhile, nine percent of readers will be following American Riviera Orchard, and took to X to express their support. One user gushed: "Remember in that sad interview when Meghan Markle said the point of life was not to survive but to thrive. As they are trying to bring her into that mess she drops her new lifestyle brand. Good for her."
Another echoed: "Meghan launching her beautiful lifestyle brand American Riviera Orchard. Santa Barbara is known as the American Riviera I’ve been there multiple times and it’s beautiful!! I am so looking forward to the products."
A third wrote: "Meghan Markle coming out with a home decor/lifestyle brand is EXACTLY what I needed to finish up my space! I absolutely adore her tastes and have loved her style tips since The Tig," as a fourth confessed: "I just loove the look and feel of Meghan’s new lifestyle brand. So elegant, just like our Duchess. Super proud of her."
Only one person selected the option ‘Other’ in our poll.
Please note that the poll is still live, so these results may change after the article has been published.
You can still vote in the poll HERE to have your say on the topic. Will you be following Meghan’s new lifestyle brand? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.