Why Is Meghan Markle Being Criticized for American Riviera Orchard?

It’s official: Meghan Markle is reinventing herself as a lifestyle influencer. This week saw the big reveal of her new venture, American Riviera Orchard, with a slick logo unveiled in nine tiles on Instagram. An accompanying video gives a little more information, with the Duchess of Sussex seen artfully arranging white roses and hydrangeas in one shot, while in another she’s cooking at a beautiful kitchen island, in what we presume is her Montecito home. So far, so aspirational. Those who sign up for updates are promised news on “products, availability, and updates,” while the trademark for the brand, filed in February, mentions decanters, kitchen linens, pet accessories, table card holders, nut butters, spreads, preserves, and jellies.

Ever since her 2022 interview with The Cut, where she dropped hints that she would be returning to Instagram, there has been intense speculation about Meghan’s next move. Prior to marrying into the royal family, the former Suits actress was also a budding lifestyle influencer, with her own blog, The Tig, on which she posted stories about her favorite recipes and home décor hacks, shared yoga workouts, and told you how to lay your table for Christmas. After almost four years, she was forced to shutter it when she became engaged to Prince Harry in 2017 as it was deemed inappropriate for a future royal bride, but there’s always been a sense that the idea never really left her mind.

Naturally, with the launch of American Riviera Orchard, many have drawn comparisons between Meghan and her fellow Hollywood A-listers turned lifestyle gurus. It’s been suggested that the Duchess is hoping to emulate the success of Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop, or to be the “new” Martha Stewart—with a certain snarkiness to the commentary. And while there are sparse details available about American Riviera Orchard at the moment, one thing that Meghan has included on the Instagram page is her royal title—the bio simply reads, “By Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. Established 2024”—which will no doubt irritate some corners of the internet, with the tired implication that she is somehow capitalizing on her married status. Yet in many ways, Meghan’s career pivot isn’t at all unusual for a royal—they have been lifestyle influencers, popularising trends, promoting their favorite products, and selling their own wares, for centuries now.

After all, what Meghan is doing with American Riviera Orchard isn’t dissimilar to what her father-in-law, King Charles III, did with his Duchy Originals brand—and not just because they both sell jam. Launched in 1990 as a passion project for the then Prince of Wales, it championed his belief in organic farming practices, with milk from cows fed an organic diet and eggs from chickens given ample space to roam and forage. Mocked for what were seen as slightly “out there” views on agriculture for years, Charles was ahead of the curve, and so was Waitrose, who snapped up a partnership with the brand exclusively in 1992. Fast forward 30 years and Duchy Originals has raised in excess of £30 million ($38 million) for The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund, which promotes building sustainable communities, with a reported £3.6 million ($4.6 million) in profits for Waitrose in 2021 alone.

“The notion that royalty can ever be separated from social and cultural influence is absurd,” shares historian Gareth Russell. “Royal support and royal patronage has huge clout. Obviously, as you enter the 20th century, this role of ‘influencer’ is complicated by the issue of potential commercial gain, but really if you look at things like the Duchy of Cornwall, which has been incredibly successful with its range of organic food, what the Duchess of Sussex is doing is essentially no different to other members of the royal family, including the most senior members.”

What the former Prince of Wales did with his Duchy Originals is a modern take on something that has existed since the 15th century, in fact: the royal warrant. Then as now, tradespeople competed with each other for the monarch’s patronage, and those given the official seal of approval were able to leverage it to profit their businesses. The first official royal warrants were bequeathed by the Lord Chamberlain in the 1400s, and by the 1700s, businesses were proudly putting the royal seal on their stationery and above their premises. Of course, the practice still exists today, with hundreds of royal warrant holders for everything from umbrellas to caviar, and more granted every year. According to the Royal Warrant Holders’ Association website: “A Royal Warrant of Appointment is a document that permits a company to use the royal arms in connection with its business in an appointed trading capacity. It is granted for up to five years at a time as a mark of recognition for the ongoing supply of goods or services to the royal household.” If that’s not influencer territory—advertising products that are used and approved ofwe don’t know what is.

In addition to official seals of approval, the royals have long influenced how we live in other ways, too. “Historically we have seen them wield soft cultural power for brands,” shares Russell. “The popularity of Fabergé in Edwardian society was a direct result of the very public patronage given to them by King Edward VII’s wife, Queen Alexandra, who acquired her taste for Fabergé from her sister, the Empress Maria of Russia… [they] were often seen entering and exiting Fabergé’s store in London. It’s worth noting that neither of them paid full retail price for their pieces.”

Another element of Meghan’s new business suggests she will be either hosting events or that the couple will be renting out accommodation of some description, and again, this isn’t actually entirely new territory for a royal. An outbuilding on the grounds of the Queen Mother’s former home, Castle Mey, was restored and reopened as a bed and breakfast called The Granary by her beloved grandson Charles in 2019, while Prince William now rents out holiday cottages on the Duchy of Cornwall estate, complete with saunas, log burners, and heated swimming pools.

“Prince William has done some extraordinary and pretty impressive work to ensure that his office and household are no longer funded by the British taxpayer but by the profits generated from the Duchy of Cornwall,” concludes Russell. “Obviously that’s not solely through commercial endorsements and revenue, and he is still a senior working royal, but it’s worth noting that there is a benefit to this kind of thing whereby royalty explores other options and sources of income, to cease being funded primarily or solely by tax-generated income.”