Meghan Markle Just Hard-Launched a Lifestyle Brand: American Riviera Orchard
The name appears to be a homage to Santa Barbara, where she lives with husband Prince Harry and their two children.
Meghan Markle has made her official return to Instagram, and for one very exciting reason.
On Thursday, March 14, the mom of two hard-launched her new business venture—a lifestyle brand aptly named American Riviera Orchard. Both an official website and Instagram page went live, marking the Duchess of Sussex's official return to the social media platform.
The bio for the Instagram page simply reads, "By Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex" and has already amassed more than 29,000 followers at the time of publication.
So far, the official Instagram page for Markle's latest venture only features a series of posts that create a grid that shows the same landing page as the brand's website.
The page also features an Instagram story showcasing a video of Markle picking flowers and cooking in a kitchen.
As People reports, the name of Markle's latest business endeavor appears to be an homage to Santa Barbara, where she lives with her husband, Prince Harry, and their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
Santa Barbara has been called the "American Riviera" for more than 100 years," Travel & Leisure reports, "because of its temperate climate and lush landscapes, as well as its robust food and wine culture."
The logo for the brand also includes the name of the couple's current California neighborhood.
Fans can sign up for the brand's waitlist via the newly-launched website. According to the website, when someone signs up they will gain access to information about "products, availability, and updates from American Riviera Orchard."
The venture appears to be similar to Markle's 2014 food- and travel-focused lifestyle website The Tig, which was shuttered in 2017 after Markle got engaged to Prince Harry.
"After close to three beautiful years on this adventure with you, it’s time to say goodbye to The Tig,” Markle wrote on the website at the time. “What began as a passion project (my little engine that could) evolved into an amazing community of inspiration, support, fun and frivolity. You’ve made my days brighter and filled this experience with so much joy. Keep finding those big moments of discovery, keep laughing and taking risks, and keep being ‘the change you wish to see in the world.’”
In a 2022 interview with The Cut, Markle discussed the Royal Family's strict social media rules, which presumably led to her shutting down both her lifestyle website and her personal social media accounts.
"There's literally a structure by which if you want to release photos of your child, as a member of the family, you first have to give them to the Royal Rota," Markle told the publication at the time.
Earlier this year—and after the couple famously left their royal duties behind and moved from the UK to California—Prince Harry and Meghan re-launched their website.
"This site was established in 2020 and sets out the work streams of Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex prior to their move to the United States," a pop-up message on the initial webpage reads.
"To learn more about the Royal couple and their philanthropic endeavors, click here."
Markle has also signed a new podcast deal that will bring back Archetypes, and just eight months after her deal with Spotify fell through.
