Meghan Markle’s new lifestyle business venture is doomed to be a flop, critics have claimed. The Duchess of Sussex, 42, debuted her new brand
American Riviera Orchard on
Instagram on Thursday, in a move that has surprised even her most loyal fans. The brand, which has already been compared to Martha Stewart as well as Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop, will reportedly focus on homewares, with rumours that Meghan launched the brand to coincide with a new cookery show on
Netflix . While the promotional video for American Riviera Orchard teased only vague details on social media, trademark documents filed in the US revealed Meghan is planning on branching out into homewares, with the release of tablecloths, serveware and crockery. She’s also looking to release her own line of jellies, jams, nut butters and oils, as well as cookbooks and recipes, and in another surprise move, it was revealed in the official documents that she wants to sell items from her brand in retail stores across the US. For all the latest on news, politics, sports, and showbiz from the
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Meghan Markle chose launch date for new brand American Rivieria Orchard Meghan's blog The Tig was scrapped when she married
Prince Harry ( Image: Getty Images) She launched the brand on Instagram, despite speaking out against
Social Media at a recent panel ( Image: Getty Images) However, critics have dubbed the launch of American Riviera Orchard a failure, just hours after it debuted, with many pointing to Meghan - and Harry’s - previous business ventures that have ended badly. Johnny Oleksinski from the
New York Post called Meghan’s new lifestyle brand “a glorified Etsy page,” and reminded fans of the former Suits star’s now-defunct blog The Tig. The website was shut down before she married Prince Harry in 2018, but did share articles and blog posts on food, health and wellness during its short stint online. Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams claimed Meghan only launched the project after their previous deals with Netflix and Spotify failed, so she was forced to return to go back to her days of blogging to drum up more interest in the Sussex brand. “There's no doubt at all that the Sussex is making use of the material they have to do a bit of oneupmanship. It's obvious,” he told The Sun. “Today, they're pointing out that they're still in the running and links with Netflix are strong and Meghan is back on Instagram - that is the message.” Meghan and Harry have a string of failed deals under their belt ( Image: AFP via Getty Images) Harry and Meghan have also seen their £16 million ($20 million) Spotify deal implode last year, after it was revealed they did not meet “productivity benchmarks”, with the mother-of-two’s panned Archetypes podcast the only project launched on the
music streaming site. Their relationship with Spotify was further damaged when the company’s executive Bill Simmons called the couple out for their alleged lack of work. “The f**king grifters. That’s the podcast we should have launched with them,” he fumed. Their Netflix deal, which was a whopping £78 million ($100 million), is coming to an end next year, but the Duke and
Duchess of Sussex have barely released any projects on the streaming giant. Back in 2021, their docu-series Harry & Meghan was released, and in September last year, Harry’s
Invictus Games documentary hit the streamer, but there have been no rumblings of any more TV or movie projects from the Sussexes. However, the rumours are swirling that Meghan will front a cookery show on Netflix in order to promote her new lifestyle brand, but that has yet to be confirmed. Follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram ,
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