Okay, so American Riviera Orchard—super intrigued. Yesterday, Meghan Markle launched what appears to be a full-scale lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard, complete with a new website and a new Instagram page. The bio for the Instagram page reads, simply, “By Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex. Established 2024.” The brand’s first Instagram Story shows Meghan cooking in a kitchen and picking flowers set to the Nancy Wilson song “I Wish You Love,” and its logo also includes Montecito, the neighborhood where Meghan resides with Prince Harry and their kids Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
People reports that the name American Riviera Orchard seems to be a nod to Santa Barbara, the town where the Sussexes reside. According to Travel & Leisure, Santa Barbara has been known as the “American Riviera” for more than 100 years “because of its temperate climate and lush landscapes, as well as its robust food and wine culture.” A robust food and wine culture immediately brings us back to Meghan’s shuttered lifestyle blog, “The Tig,” which focused on food and wine, as well as travel, fashion, and personal inspiration. Back to wine for a moment: the name “The Tig” comes from Tignanello, a full-bodied red wine; Meghan told Tory Daily that trying that specific wine was her first time understanding why people develop an affinity for a certain wine, and developed “the Tig” into her own vernacular for “getting it” about “not just wine, but everything,” she said.
American Riviera Orchard’s trademark application—which is currently awaiting examination—revealed that the brand plans to “sell tableware, drinkware including decanters, kitchen linens, and edible treats such as jellies, jams, marmalade, and spreads,” People reports. Fruit preserves, edible oils and fats, and nut butters and fruit butters also made the cut, and the trademark application is also seeking approval for both downloadable and printable cookbooks and recipe books.
The trademark application was filed on February 2 and is still pending review by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Additional items listed outside of the above include table cutlery, coffee and tea services in the nature of tableware, servingware, dinnerware, chargers, napkin rings, table place card holders, beverageware, textile tablecloths, placemats and napkins, kitchen and table linens, and gift wrap of fabric. The application also asks for “retail store services” featuring foods, books, tableware and tablescape goods, table linens, and servingware; additionally, it asks for online retail store services featuring food and beverages, books, tableware and tablescape goods, table linens, and servingware. This hints that items could be sold not just online but in possible brick-and-mortar stores, as well. The document lists the owner as Mama Knows Best, LLC, based in Beverly Hills.
Sources told Page Six that American Riviera Orchard—launched six years after Meghan shut down “The Tig” to marry into the royal family in May 2018—will focus on home, garden, food, and general lifestyle. Meghan has apparently been “working on this for over a year,” and that it represents “all the things that are close to her heart—all the things she’s passionate about,” they said.
And, according to The Daily Mail, American Riviera Orchard will eventually dovetail with her ongoing Netflix deal (which she shares with Harry): “The brand is meant to coincide with the launch of a new cookery show for Netflix,” a source told the outlet. “Meghan will be making, and selling, products such as jams. And at some point, there will be a book and blog.”
“This link to Netflix is very important and clearly, of course, they’ve released this [American Riviera Orchard] to point out that they, the Sussexes, are still going strong,” said royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams, per The Sun.
Interestingly—and who knows whether one has anything to do with the other—yesterday’s launch date of American Riviera Orchard is four years exactly since Harry, Meghan, Archie, and Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, boarded the so-called “freedom flight” from Vancouver, Canada to California, where they began to build their life in Santa Barbara, the so-called “American Riviera,” on March 14, 2020. The Sussexes went to Canada first after leaving the U.K. following their decision to step back as senior working members of the royal family in January 2020.
“I’ve never been the type of person to do only one thing,” Meghan said in the 2022 Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan. “I guess that’s how my website [“The Tig”] was born. There was fashion, there was tons of food, and travel, so it was all of the things that I loved. And 'The Tig' wasn’t just a hobby. It became a really successful business.”
