Meghan Markle Makes Her Return To Instagram With A Project No One Saw Coming
Meghan Markle is back online.
On Thursday, the Duchess of Sussex debuted a new website and Instagram account for a venture called American Riviera Orchard.
The site and social media page offered few details beyond the project’s gold-crested logo and a location of Montecito, California, where Markle lives with her husband, Prince Harry, and their two children.
On the website, a prompt to sign up for email updates promises information about “products, availability, and updates from American Riviera Orchard.”
Markle teased more in a short clip on Instagram Stories.
In the 15-second video, a retro song plays while the actor-and-philanthropist arranged flowers, worked in the kitchen and enjoyed a photo shoot on the Montecito estate.
Markle’s new web presence strongly suggests she might be developing a lifestyle brand, à la Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop or the Kourtney Kardashian project Poosh.
It wouldn’t be the “Suits” actor’s first foray into the genre.
Long before she reached royal status, Markle ran the 2010s-era blog The TIG, where she wrote about travel, wellness and beauty while also sharing more intimate details of her life.
The site was shut down in 2017 after she was engaged to Prince Harry, and her social media followed in 2018.
The couple did have a joint online presence under the handle @SussexRoyals, but the accounts have been dormant since they left their royal duties in March 2020.
News of American Riviera Orchard emerges just days after a judge dismissed her half-sister Samantha Markle’s defamation case against the duchess.
Meanwhile, a world away at Kensington Palace, the rest of the royals are dealing with a whirlwind of controversy and conspiracy around the whereabouts of Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales and wife of Prince William.