Meghan Markle will launch NEW Netflix show ‘celebrating joys of cooking, gardening & friendship’ after doc flopped
MEGHAN Markle will launch a new Netflix series on “cooking, gardening and friendship”.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex reportedly have two untitled non-fiction projects in production.
The shows form part of the “creative partnership” Archewell Productions signed with the streaming giant in 2020.
The first series will focus on Meghan and explore “the joys of cooking, gardening, entertaining, and friendship”, according to Deadline.
The show is being produced by Sony Pictures Television’s The Intellectual Property Corporation.
The Duchess, 42, will executive produce alongside Archewell’s head of non-fiction Chanel Pysnik.
The second series will follow the couple’s love of professional polo.
Primarily shot at the US Open Polo Championship in Wellington, Florida, the project will be produced by Boardwalk Pictures.
Prince Harry, 39, is known as a keen polo player.
The couple launched their documentary Harry and Meghan in 2022, offering an insight into their relationship.
Released in two parts, the explosive docuseries lobbed bombs at The Firm – seeing it torn apart by royal experts.
But, despite the attention it drew, it didn’t even rank in the top 200 most-watched Netflix shows from January to June.
Months later Harry’s series Heart of Invictus about the Olympic-style games he started for wounded ex-service competitors flopped.
And Meghan’s animated series Pearl, about a girl inspired by historical female figures, was dropped while still in the development stage.
Harry and Meghan are believed to have been paid only half of their reported £78million contract.
It was said they will get the rest only if they produce content of real interest before the end of 2025.
Comedian Jo Koy roasted the pair at the Golden Globes saying they were “being paid millions by Netflix for doing nothing”.
Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams said the couple could lose everything if they don’t knuckle down and get producing before their contract ends.
Markle sparkle: Duchess' business ventures from wellness blog The Tig to kids' book The Bench
Along with her well-known acting career Meghan has also carved out something of a career in the business world as well.
Before getting engaged to Prince Harry, the Suits actress had her lifestyle blog The Tig but this was closed down when she got engaged in 2017.
The Tig, named after her favourite wine Tignanello, was seen as something as a rival to Gwyneth Paltrow‘s £200million Goop, which offers similar wellness and “conscious living” content.
She previously described it as a “passion project” which “evolved into an amazing community of inspiration, support, fun and frivolity”.
Since stepping down as senior royals, the couple have produced a podcast, Netflix documentary and memoir, as well as several high-profile interviews between them.
These are said to have made them millions of dollars.
Speaking in docuseries Harry & Meghan, the mum-of-two said of the blog: “It wasn’t just a hobby, it became a really successful business.
“I’ve never really been the type of person to do only one thing. I guess that’s how my website was born.
“There was fashion, tons of food, and travel – all the things that I loved.”
Rumours emerged in March last year that Meghan was going to relaunch the blog.
Meghan also ventured into the world of children’s books with the launch of The Bench in June 2021.
Inside Meghan’s 34-page book The Bench, the illustrations give a fresh glimpse into the Sussexes’ “authentic” life at their LA home – featuring their then newborn daughter.
The publication was a commerical success with it becoming a number one bestseller on Amazon’s chart.
Meghan dedicated her book to the “man and boy who make my heart go pump-pump” in a sweet note for her husband Prince Harry and son Archie.
The mum was “inspired” to write the book after originally creating a poem for Harry’s first Father’s Day.
The royal couple have also been reported to be planning an Oprah-style media empire after registering a series of new entertainment businesses.
A leading royal commentator says the couple “want to earn loads more money” after they filed 11 companies in tax haven Delaware – seven of which are linked to showbiz ventures.
They appear to have names which are meaningful to the couple, with one – Cloverdale Inc – bearing the same name as the street that the Duchess lived on with her mother in Los Angeles when she was young.
Both Cloverdale and a second company, Riversoul Productions Inc, are set up explicitly in the “entertainment” industry, and join companies Hampshire LLC, Bridgemont LLC and IPHW LLC.
The couple are already using name Archewell Productions for their Netflix and Spotify deals.
He told The Sun: “It’s important also to remember the Netflix contract goes on to 2025.
“Netflix is no longer producing The Crown, and from that point of view it may well be, if the Sussexes, don’t produce what they want.
“If they lost that, they really would be losers in every sense.”
Meanwhile Meghan launched a new business venture “flogging homeware and jam” on the day of Princess Diana’s memorial awards.
A mysterious new Instagram account for ‘American Riviera Orchard’ appeared online last month.
The account’s biography says the brand is “by Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex” and visitors are linked to a website where they can join a mailing list.
A vintage-style video of Meghan cooking and arranging white hydrangeas and roses was posted to the new American Riviera Orchard Instagram account.
Harry and Meghan's business flops
- Meghan had her upcoming animated series Pearl chucked out by Netflix while in the development stage.
- Then 42-year-old was said to have been “uncharacteristically quiet”, following the loss of her £18million Spotify deal in June last year.
- While Spare initially sold a staggering number of copies demand soon dwindled and a year on its popularity has plummeted with major retailers slashing prices in half.
- Meanwhile, their Netflix documentary also took a hit and the duke and duchess are believed to have been paid only half of their reported £78million contract.
- The pair were poked fun at by comedian Jo Koy at the Golden Globes for “being paid millions by Netflix for doing nothing”.
- Harry’s series, Heart of Invictus, shedding light on the Olympic-style games he started for wounded ex-service competitors also flopped.
- Archewell figures in December last year revealed a hole in the accounts after it received almost £9million less in donations than in a previous year.