The Tig 2.0: Meghan launches long-awaited lifestyle and cooking brand ‘American Riviera Orchard’ to coincide with new Netflix show where duchess will be ‘making and selling products such as jams’ – as insiders say book deal and blog are on the horizon

Meghan Markle has launched a luxury lifestyle brand American Riviera Orchard with a glitzy Instagram video.

The Duchess of Sussex’s new project is said to have been in the works for more than a year – and will feature ‘all the things that are close to her heart’.

The flash company is set to coincide with the launch of a new cookery show featuring Meghan on Netflix – where she will be making and selling her own products. It will lead onto a book and blog to go alongside her cookery displays.

In the new video, Meghan is seen whisking in a stunning rustic kitchen, while a woman’s hands are seen arranging pink and white flowers.

The announcement comes on the same night as Prince Harry and Prince William are set to make a rare joint appearance at the Diana Legacy Award event at the Science Museum in London – but neither will be in the room at the same time, even virtually.

And it follows a trying week for the Royals – after Princess Kate was forced to admit to editing a photo of her and her children that she released on Mother’s Day after the world’s top picture and news agencies – including PA – ‘killed’ the image over claims it had been digitally manipulated.

An insider told the Daily Mail: ‘It’s a lifestyle and cooking brand called American Riviera Orchard. 

‘The brand is meant to coincide with the launch of a new cookery show for Netflix. Meghan will be making, and selling, products such as jams. 

‘And at some point there will be a book and blog etc.’ 

The brand will focus on home, garden, food and general lifestyle wares. 

The plush video comes alongside a series of nine cryptic Instagram posts, making up the logo of the brand alongside the name: ‘American Riviera Orchard Montecito’.

Comments have been disabled on the Instagram posts and the page links to a new website of the same name where people can enter their email address and ‘join the waitlist’.

Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliam told MailOnline: ‘The Sussexes in my opinion do nothing by accident and timing is often absolutely pivotal. We found that out one way over the weekend and we’ve now just been reminded that there may be more shots in their locker than some of us thought. And it’s no accident.

‘For years they’ve been unpredictable but they have been predictable in one sense, and that is the unerring timing when they believe it’s beneficial to get information out. They don’t do anything by accident.’

The announcement comes just hours before William is expected to give a speech in person to mark the Diana Legacy Award’s 25th anniversary and present awards to 20 recipients tonight. The Prince of Wales will appear at the awards event alone as his wife Kate is still recovering from abdominal surgery.

Harry, who lives in California, will then join a video call with the winners, according to reports. However, his involvement will only take place after his brother has left the ceremony.

The brothers’ reluctance to acknowledge each other’s presence at the event lays bare the depth of their feud as before their falling out they often appeared together in person to pose with the award winners. 

Maghan’s new venture is said to have been in the works for some time, with rumours of a commercial venture ‘genuine to who she is’ coming out last year.

Insiders claimed future projects for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will ‘reflect their differing professional interests and talents and are the result of significant thought about their future direction and careers’.

A source claimed: ‘They are both working on their own things. They are fully supportive of each other’s concepts and ideas, but they are different from one another, they have different meanings.’

The new show comes as Harry and Meghan are said to be working on ‘a bunch’ of new Netflix projects including a film and two other ‘unscripted’ projects.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex signed a five-year agreement with the California-based streaming giant in 2020 worth an estimated $100million (£80million).

But there has been uncertainty over whether the deal will be renewed next year, especially after their £15million Spotify contract ended early in June last year. 

Now, Netflix’s chief content officer Bela Bajaria has revealed that Harry and Meghan ‘actually have a bunch in development’ under their Archewell Productions arm. 

 According to The Times, Ms Bajaria told a Netflix promotional event in Hollywood that the Sussexes were working on ‘a couple of unscripted things’ – thought to be documentaries – plus a film and a series which are all in ‘very early development’.

Mr Fitzwilliams added: ‘We’ve only seen the video. We will judge the book, the blog and the cookery show when we see her cooking in the kitchen. To what extent she will become some form of master chef – now that is an totally different matter. 

‘Nonetheless so far as they are concerned if this means they stay with Netflix – and this is actual proof of something they are doing for Netflix – for them it is absolutely pivotal. 

‘If they lost Netflix they would be cast adrift and I’m not sure on either side of the Atlantic that that many people would want to rescue them.’

The company is set to work as an extension of her former lifestyle blog The Tig, an insider added to Page Six Style. 

A source told the American site: ‘She’s been working on this for over a year and it’s all the things that are close to her heart — all the things she’s passionate about.’

The video starts with a washed-out video of a woman arranging white and pink pastel flowers.

It then fades to reveal Meghan cooking in a stunning kitchen, with copper pans hanging over her head as she whisks.

It continues with an image of a woman in a long dress, backlit through an Italian-style corridor leading outside. 

The glamorous scenes are set against the strains of Nancy Wilson’s 1960 tune I Wish You Love.

The Tig was described as her ‘passion project after she launched it back in 2014, naming it after her favourite Tignanello red wine.

While up and running, the blog was filled with insights into the former actress’s life, including her relationship with her now estranged father and best friend Jessica Mulroney. 

To her devoted fans, Meghan opened up about her struggles of not fitting in during her time at High School, filling her lunch times with endless extra-curriculum activities just so she did not have to ‘eat lunch alone’.

She closed down The Tig after meeting Prince Harry.

It comes as the Sussex’s launch a major rebrand – relaunching their website, Sussex.com, earlier this year. 

The minimalist website has links to the Archewell Foundation and Archewell Productions, as well as the controversial sussexroyal.com website launched in 2020 to coincide with their decision to step back as working royals.

It is thought the Duke and Duchess will use the site to share their personal and official updates, keeping people informed through the ‘News’ section.

Their ‘About’ page reads: ‘The Office of Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex is shaping the future through business and philanthropy.

‘This includes: The Archewell Foundation, Archewell Productions, patronages, ventures, and organizations which receive the support of the couple, individually and/or together.’

There is also a page dedicated to Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, detailing their backgrounds and achievements.

Prince Harry’s biography references his 10-years served in the British Armed Forces and as a New York Times bestselling author of Spare, ‘a memoir of his life told with compassion, vulnerability and unflinching honesty’.

Meghan’s biography refers to her advocacy work, her career in the entertainment industry as a lead role in the TV series ‘Suits’ and as a NY Times bestselling author of children’s book ‘The Bench’ and ‘Together: Our Community Kitchen’.

Their biographies include the line: ‘They are committed to their mission: Show Up, Do Good. They hold the value that charitable work should not simply be ‘a handout, but rather a hand held’.

The Archewell Foundation was set up by the Duke and Duchess to ‘build meaningful initiatives’ and ‘drive long-term change’.

Archewell Productions was founded in 2020 and is ‘dedicated to illuminating thought-provoking and diverse narratives that underscore our common humanity and celebrate community.’

The news comes after a difficult week for the Royal family.

Yesterday, Harry and Meghan broke their silence on the Princess of Wales’ photo editing furore to deny that sources inside their camp made comments about how the Duchess of Sussex would have handled a similar situation.

Amid increasing speculation surrounding the Mother’s Day image of Kate and her children, which was released to the world by Kensington Palace on Sunday, a spokesperson for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Archewell Foundation spoke out to deny that any official representative for the couple had made comments about the controversy to Page Six.

Speaking to Newsweek, the spokesperson addressed quotes published by the outlet, which stated that a source ‘close to Prince William, Harry and his wife’, had not come ‘from us’.

The source stated to Page Six that the editing error ‘isn’t a mistake that Meghan would ever make’, noting that ‘she has a keen eye and freakish attention to detail’. 

However, Archewell’s official spokesperson has now insisted to Newsweek that the information ‘did not come from us’, stating simply: ‘With respect to Page Six, that did not come from us.’ 

In addition to the claims made about Meghan ‘never making the [same] mistake’, Page Six also published quotes from an insider who stated that the Sussexes ‘would have been annihilated’ had they released a similarly-edited image.

‘If Harry and Meghan had ever encountered the same issue they would have been annihilated,’ the source quotes read.

‘The same rules do not apply to both couples.

‘This isn’t a mistake that Meghan would ever make … she has a keen eye and freakish attention to detail.’

The outlet did not state that the quotes had come from inside Archewell however – and Newsweek noted that the comments could have been made by an acquaintance of the Sussexes who is not officially connected to the Foundation.