Why Markle’s lifestyle brand was always going to be success

Amber Raiken, The Independent

Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle is expanding her resume with her new lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard. Although she hasn’t launched the business to the general public yet, she’s quietly made its presence known, and fans are eagerly waiting to know more. In March, Meghan announced American Riviera Orchard by launching its Instagram, which also marked her return to the platform. A video shared to the brand’s Instagram Story showed the Suits alum picking flowers and cooking in a kitchen, set to “I Wish You Love” by Nancy Wilson. The bio for the Instagram page simply reads: “by Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex” and “Established in 2024”. There are only nine posts on the profile, which showcase the brand’s script-like logo and the word “Montecito” — the neighbourhood in California where Meghan, her husband Prince Harry, and their children, Archie, four, and Lilibet, two, live.

There’s little information on American Riviera Orchard’s website, which only includes the brand’s logo and a place for visitors to enter their emails, so they’ll be notified with updates about the company’s launch and new products. Details about the company are still scarce, although a March report from Page Six said the business will focus on home, garden, and general lifestyle content. Some of the items that will reportedly be sold include cookbooks, food, and kitchenware. Last month, Meghan sent 50 jars of strawberry jam — each of which featured a handwritten number between one and 50 — to influencers and famous friends, including Chrissy Teigen and Suits co-star Abigail Spencer. Unsurprisingly, the two actors raved about the brand’s jam and how they can’t get enough of it. According to public relations experts, Meghan’s decision to send the jam to a select few and quietly rejoin Instagram were the best moves for her business. Speaking to The Independent, Australia-based PR consultant Lucinda Pikkat — who’s worked with multiple fashion and food brands throughout the last 30 years — said she wasn’t surprised by Meghan’s rollout of the brand. She suggested it wasn’t shocking that Meghan is starting a business, considering it has been four years since she and Prince Harry stepped down from their roles as senior members of the royal family.

“We forget that it’s been almost four and half years since they exited the royal family, so time has passed. I think they spent the first half of that time trying to share their story of what happened, and they did that with that Oprah Winfrey interview,” Pikkat said, referring to the couple’s bombshell conversation with the TV host in March 2021. “That was them resetting their narrative, and it’s now their time to rebuild their brand.” However, Meghan isn’t a stranger to the lifestyle world. When she was still starring as attorney Rachel Zane in Suits in 2014, she launched her blog, The Tig, where she wrote about all things travel, food, fashion, and fitness-related. She often interviewed influential women in her life for the blog, as it was centered on civil rights issues and female empowerment. In 2017, one year before she tied the knot with Harry, the lifestyle blog officially shut down. Even though Meghan is re-entering the realm of home goods and food with the launch of American Riviera Orchard, it’s still a new chapter of her career. Celebrity publicist Waylon Tate — the founder of J Waylon Associates, a public relations and marketing firm located in Dallas, Texas — addressed the importance of Meghan announcing her business on her own, after working alongside her husband on so many projects, including their 2022 Netflix documentary. “What I’ve seen so far, although she’s been pretty clandestine about everything surrounding this new brand, is that it’s Meghan and it’s Meghan alone. You can even see that on Instagram. It’s not Meghan and Harry, it’s by Meghan,” Tate said. “This is the emancipation of Meghan.