Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, returned to the small screen with a new cooking and lifestyle show released on Netflix on Tuesday.
Filmed at a facility near her home in Sunny Montecito, California, the eight-episode series positions 43-year-old Meghan as a modern-day domestic goddess who embraces the do-it-yourself joy of cooking, crafting and entertainment.
“Love is a detail, a gang,” she says in an episode of the show that she is preparing her own lavender towel.
The series, which Netflix pitches as “inspiration” and says “rethinking the genre of lifestyle programming,” is directed by Michael Steed, who worked on “Anthony Bulldain: Parts Unknown.” This is an executive produced by Meghan, roughly organized around a series of creative projects that teach friends to make bread, throw game nights for friends, and plan brunches, providing tips along the way.
“We're not pursuing perfection,” explains Meghan on the show when making crepes. “We are pursuing joy.”
About five years after Meghan, her husband, Prince Harry, has officially retreated from royal duties in the UK. The family is currently planted firmly in Southern California. Prince Archie is 5 years old and Princess Lillivet is 3 years old.
And now, in the tradition of building an empire of lifestyle gurus like Martha Stewart and Ina Garten, Meghan is trying to drop many Meghans along with Meghan's best friend, with the help of guests like Meghan Mindy Kaling and chef Roy Choi.
This spring, she is expected to release products such as fruit preservation from new lifestyle brands, as before, and a new podcast using lemonda media.
Here's more details on the harvest, recipes, crafts and theories about good life she shares in her new series.
What does she cook?
A light and simple recipe mainly with local ingredients – one-pot tomato pasta, quiche with family chicken eggs, salted grilled fish stuffed with herbs.
This series moves away from the stand-and-steel format of cooking shows and chooses a more conversational approach. Think of a “coffee-drinking car comedian.”
“I love feeding people,” Meghan says. “It's probably my love language.”
She chats with Kaling about eating fast food as a child and shows how to cut sandwiches into shapes for a child-friendly tea party in the garden. Choi talks about going to Meghan's school for a dance as he is ready to make Korean-style fried chicken and drink champagne.
While Harry prepares focaccia with Delfina Brachie, wife of polo player Nacho Figueras, whom he knows through the polo, Meghan looks back at her time living in Argentina.
What does she make by hand?
While willing to accept shortcuts as much as possible at first glance.
“I love being able to take something pretty normal and elevate it,” she says.
She uses the wax left from the beehive to make candles with essential oils. She turns the rest of the bacon into dog biscuits for her friend's pet. She does something thoughtful for her family chickens. Many were rescued from factory farms and fed them ice blocks filled with fruit and vegetables.
For brunch, under the guidance of chef Alice Waters, calligraphy expert Meghan carefully writes her own menu in penmanship.
“We'll set up guests so that they have a great experience,” she says. “And everyone can relax and have fun.”
What does she harvest?
Lots of things!
The series begins with a shot of a bee and is cut by Meghan in a bee hive, where she helps her collect honey. A fan of personalized gifts, she shows viewers how to build a harvest basket with lemon, cucumber and cabbage, creating a welcome tray for guests of the house.
“For me, the joy of hostess is the incredible people who have the moments that let them know that I'm really thinking about their entire experience,” she says.
Meghan picks out the jam and citrus fresh berries that he uses to make dehydrated decorations for cocktails serving friends during Majong's matches.
What is she wearing?
Kaling asks the same question.
“I'm tall and low,” Meghan says, explaining she wears white Zara pants, a cream short-sleeved Loro Piana top, and a cream-and-white striped Jennicane sweater.
Throughout the series, she wears a lot of casually elegant neutrals in cream, tan, blue, and occasionally wears a floral dress (and one white Northwest university sweatshirt).
Do you see a lot of Prince Harry or her family?
not much.
Unlike Harry & Meghan, a 2022 Netflix documentary series that focuses on the relationship between the couple and their decision to retreat from the British royal family, this is a Meghan show.
But her family is injected throughout. Meghan drops several anecdotes about her child and Prince Harry into the conversation. There are also plenty of shots of her dog.
Harry appears on screen in the final scene of a brunch held to celebrate her business.
“This feels like a new chapter, and I'm so excited that I can share,” she says. “And we're going here, there's business. It's all part of that creativity that I've missed so much.”
