Why Meghan Markle’s Lifestyle Brand Is Being Compared to a ‘Senior Living Facility’
Four years after stepping down as a working royal and moving back to America, Meghan Markle is focusing on her all-new lifestyle brand.
On March 14, Prince Harry’s wife returned to Instagram to announce the new business she is calling American Riviera Orchard. Now the name of her new brand has been slammed by a number of royal watchers and compared to a “senior living facility.”Here’s more on that, what Meghan intends to sell, and why the timing of the brand launch has been criticized.
American Riviera Orchard has been compared to a ‘senior living facility’
Some royal commentators have ripped the name American Riviera Orchard, which is a nod to the Santa Barbara area where the Sussexes reside.
Sky News host Rita Panahi and To Di For Daily podcast host Kinsey Schofield discussed Meghan’s new lifestyle brand and its “pretentious” name.
“A name so pretentiously stupid, one wonders whether she just typed ‘fancy name for lifestyle website’ into Chat GPT,” Panahi exclaimed, adding: “I can’t think of a more pretentious name.”
Schofield then said: “American Riviera Orchard — someone compared the name to a senior living facility. She’s definitely trying to I guess plant herself, really plant herself in this Santa Barbara community which is interesting because she’s only lived there for four years. It’s like being a duchess for only 19 months and insisting people still refer to you as one.”
According to trademark applications filed by the former Suits star, American Riviera Orchard will sell home decor and kitchen items including decanters, napkin rings, cutlery, table linens, placemats and napkins, and cookbooks, and will offer edibles like “jellies, jams, marmalades, fruit preserves, vegetable-based spreads, legume-based spreads, nut-based spreads, garlic-based spreads, sesame-based spreads, dairy-based spreads, nut butters, and fruit butters” and pet food for our four-legged friends.
Makeup, skincare, haircare, fragrance, soaps, and body lotion will also be available for purchase.
The timing of Meghan’s lifestyle brand launch has been questioned
The Duchess of Sussex was accused of using Princess Diana’s legacy to advertise her new brand after when its announcement coincided with the Diana Awards ceremony where Prince William gave a speech.
Royal biographer Phil Dampier hit out at the timing of the launch just hours before the annual event honoring Diana’s legacy calling it a “PR blitz” and telling the Daily Mail: “Nothing happens by accident with Harry and Meghan.”
And royal expert Tom Quinn explained to The Mirror: “It’s really significant that Meghan’s new American Riviera Orchard brand was launched on the same date as the Diana Award. Meghan has always seen herself as Diana’s heir. She sees herself as suffering because of the media, just as she feels Diana suffered. But on this side of the pond at least, there will be a huge amount of criticism that she is just trying to cash in on Diana’s legacy.”
