BRYONY GORDON: What Meghan did after we had lunch together tells you everything about her

Way back in 2018, the woman then known as Meghan Markle sent me a handwritten note, saying how nice it had been to have lunch together a few weeks before.

I was delighted by the politeness of this gesture – how often do you receive such a note in this digital day and age? – not to mention stunned by the neatness of her penmanship, which put my own to shame.

Anyway, whenever anyone asks what Meghan is really like – and such is the fascination with the 43-year-old and her husband, this happens quite often – I always say, ‘well, she’s the kind of person who writes you a handwritten note after taking you out for lunch’.

It’s not always what people want to hear – I can just tell they’re waiting for some big reveal, a juicy titbit that they might be able to pass on down the pub later – but it is the truth.

Sometimes I vary my reply: ‘Well, she’s the kind of woman who gives you jam’ (I got a jar when visiting her in Montecito in 2023, but in a jet-lagged stupor left it in the back of my taxi back to LA). Or: ‘She’s the kind of woman who texts to check you’re ok when she hears you’re being mercilessly body-shamed by trolls on the internet.’ (As happened to me.) What does it say about the world that so many people seem to be turned into sneering, nasty know-it-alls when it comes to Meghan? Nothing good, that’s for sure.

Hark at all the people hate-watching her new Netflix show so they can bond in snark over her love of ‘hostessing’ – as if having people round for a picnic is a worse way to spend your time than bitching about someone you don’t know with strangers on X.

I am always amazed by the vitriol spewed at Meghan, vitriol that might well be warranted by, say, Vladimir Putin, but which seems curious when applied to a mother of two from California who enjoys nothing more sinister than making her own bath salts.

I first met Meghan in February 2018, when I hosted a panel at the Royal Foundation Forum. It was the first time that she had been seen with Harry, William and Catherine, and the event generated plenty of headlines.

Meghan is the kind of person who writes you a handwritten note after taking you out for lunch, writes Bryony Gordon

Bryony first met Meghan in 2018, when she hosted a panel at the Royal Foundation Forum

I had been working with the two princes and the-then Duchess of Cambridge on their mental health campaign, Heads Together, for a couple of years, and had interviewed Harry on my podcast about his mental health after his mother’s death. So it was lovely to see how happy Meghan made him.

Shortly after, Meghan and I had lunch at a central London restaurant, and after their wedding I accompanied her on several visits to women’s charities, to write about the work they were doing.

I spent time with her at Frogmore Cottage, and was with her on the day almost five years ago when she took her freedom flight to Canada.

In January 2023, I visited Meghan and Harry at home in Montecito, where we drank tea and turmeric lattes and I spent time with Archie and Lilibet.

I’ve said this before and will no doubt say it again – to me, and so many other people who know them, Meghan and

Harry are two quite ordinary people in an absolutely extraordinary situation.

But I’m so glad Meghan has stuck to her guns and focused on doing what she loves – this lifestyle content, in the style of her old blog The Tig. As ever – and this isn’t an intentional pun on her brand – the scathing response to the show in some quarters seems entirely disproportionate to the subject of the series itself.

I found it soothing to my soul in a way that is not usually the case with content produced by Netflix.

Real-life crime documentaries are the streamer’s bread and butter; you can waste literally months of your life being reminded how unremittingly awful the world is by watching any of its endless series on murdered American women and girls such as Gabby Petito, Laci Peterson and JonBenet Ramsey.

The Duchess of Sussex’s new show With Love, Meghan has attracted widespread criticism

Once you’re done with those, how about Hell Camp: Teen Nightmare, Worst Ex Ever or Dancing For the Devil: The 7m TikTok Cult?

Is it any wonder, then, that many women on social media are celebrating Meghan’s palate cleanser of a series, one that, with its mountain hikes and uplifting Motown music, doesn’t leave you feeling like your nervous system is on fire.

Do you know what I love most about this show? That it’s so absolutely, unapologetically her, beautiful cursive handwriting and all. She’s doing what makes her happy, and there really is no better way to make a mockery of the haters than that.

I’m pretty sure Meghan has spent enough time up close to British culture to know that a lifestyle series of this type would open her up to exactly the kind of cynical criticism that she’s receiving now.

It’s a credit to her that she went ahead and made one anyway – and that she had a gorgeous time doing it, sprinkling decorative flowers on all the hate.

But gosh, isn’t it depressing how seeing a woman in her happy place seems to be so triggering to some people?

It is sad – though not unsurprising – that in a world so toxic, and so very, very damaged, a mum having a nice time with her beehives draws so much venom.

It’s interesting that when David Beckham, Pedro Pascal and Paul Mescal don their beekeeping suits, we all swoon about what men of nature they are. When Meghan does it, the internet cries she’s a tone-deaf trad wife.

Still, in the end, who’s having the last laugh? Not the people frothing in rage that this is ‘the worst TV show ever made’ (what, even worse than It’s a Royal Knockout?). Which brings me back to the phenomenon of ‘hate-watching’ shows so you can share snark about it online.

It is this – not someone making a balloon arch, or ladybirds out of cherry tomatoes – that makes me despair of the world. The irony that a show about creating little moments of love has been met with so much hate will not be lost on its creators.

If anything, the bitchy reaction tells us just why we need more shows like it, where people hang out with their friends in nice kitchens doing things they enjoy, instead of poring over all the things they loathe.

And if you don’t like it, you can always switch off… then do something better with your time. May I suggest making ladybirds out of crudites? Just a thought.