Meghan Markle Introduced Her New Lifestyle Brand With Suspicious Timing

Being part of the royal family may seem like an ideal way to live, but as we’ve learned from Meghan Markle through years of documentaries and media stories of maltreatment, it’s not always magical. Even still, Meghan and other royals often have opportunities that we normies don’t. Meghan is now taking advantage of that with her new lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard.

Meghan introduced the new brand with an Instagram account that’s already garnered almost 400,000 followers. However, the promotion remains vague with an elegant logo and not much else. Plus, the timing of the announcement seems like a suspicious distraction from the viral meme-ification of Kate Middleton’s “disappearance.” So what does American Riviera Orchard sell?

Let’s be honest: the simplest explanation is usually the right one. While people all over the world enjoy conspiracy theories about the royal family, theories about Kate Middleton’s whereabouts have taken over social media in 2024. Ever since her mysterious “surgery,” no one can corroborate that they’ve seen her in public. And after a strangely photoshopped Mother’s Day photo, the rumor mill is spinning even faster.

So we can’t help but think that the timing of Meghan’s announcement is more than coincidental. Even if she was always planning to announce American Riviera Orchard in March 2024, it is a pretty apt distraction from the constant theorizing about Kate. However, it’s most likely that Kate just doesn’t do her own social media and doesn’t feel like she owes the public an explanation. So Meghan’s announcement just happens to be at a time when many of us are already talking about the royal family.

Meghan’s brand seemingly gets its name from her new home with Prince Harry. The couple live in Santa Barbara with their two children, 4-year-old Prince Archie and 2-year-old Princess Lilibet, after they left the United Kingdom and their royal duties behind. According to Travel + Leisure, Santa Barbara is known as the American Riviera, which was first coined by one of our earliest and favorite celebrity chefs, Julia Child.

So it’s only fitting that American Riviera Orchard will follow in Julia’s footsteps. In addition, Meghan has plenty of experience in the food and kitchen sect of lifestyle content. Before marrying Harry, she had a blog called The Tig (since discontinued), in which she wrote about food and travel.

Now, Meghan is continuing with her passion by partnering with Mama Knows Best, LLC, which is listed as the owner of the American Riviera Orchard trademark in the official trademark application. The LLC is registered at the same address as Harry and Meghan’s Archewell Organization, hinting that they own Mama Knows Best, as well.

The application clarifies that American Riviera Orchard will sell:

• "Tableware, namely, knives, forks, and spoons; table cutlery
• Downloadable cookbooks and recipe books
• Printed cookbooks and recipe books
• Coffee services in the nature of tableware; tea services in the nature of tableware; servingware for serving food and drinks; decanters; dinnerware; chargers being dinnerware; napkin rings; table place card holders not of precious metal; beverageware

• Textile tablecloths; textile placemats; textile napkins; kitchen linens; table linen of textile; gift wrap of fabric
• Jellies, jams; marmalades; fruit preserves; edible oils and fats, and preserves; Vegetable-based spreads; Legume-based spreads; Nut-based spreads; Garlic-based spreads; Sesame-based spreads; Dairy-based spreads; Nut butters; Fruit butters

• Retail store services featuring foods, books, tableware and tablescape goods, table linens, and servingware; online retail store services featuring food and beverages, books, tableware and tablescape goods, table linens, and servingware
• Online non-downloadable e-books in the field of cookbooks and recipe books."

Move over, Martha Stewart, Meghan Markle is coming in hot!