Meghan Markle was forced to rebrand her lifestyle venture just weeks before the premiere of her Netflix show “With Love, Meghan.” The “Suits” alum admitted in an Instagram video Tuesday that she had to change the name of American Riviera Orchard to As Ever following a series of trademark setbacks.
After acknowledging “there has been a lot of curiosity” about the launch of her company, which she first announced in March 2024, Markle shared, “Last year, I had thought, ‘You know what? American Riviera, that sounds like such a great name.’ It’s my neighborhood, it’s a nickname for Santa Barbara, but it limited me to things that were just manufactured and grown in this area.”
The Duchess of Sussex explained that she settled on the new name after Netflix “came on, not just as my partner in the show but as my partner in business, which was huge.” “So I thought about it, and I’ve been waiting for a moment to share a name that I had secured in 2022, and this is the moment, and it’s called As Ever,” she said.
Markle, 43, simultaneously unveiled a new website for the brand, which features a rare photo of her daughter, Princess Lilibet.
The adorable snap shows the former actress and her 3-year-old holding hands while walking barefoot in white dresses across a lush lawn with trees and the Pacific Ocean in the background.
Markle and her husband, Prince Harry, have only given rare glimpses of Lilibet since welcoming her in June 2021.
On Valentine’s Day, the duchess posted a rare video of both the toddler and her 5-year-old son, Prince Archie, enjoying bagels and strawberry cream cheese.
Markle kept the little ones’ faces out of the frame in Friday’s social media upload.
Three days later, she made her rebrand reveal on her Instagram account, which she started on New Year’s Day.
“In two weeks, my series on @netflix launches,” she wrote of “With Love, Meghan,” which premieres March 4. “But there’s something else I’ve been working on. I’m thrilled to introduce you to As Ever — a brand that I created and have poured my heart into.
“‘As ever’ means ‘as it’s always been’ or some even say ‘in the same way as always.’ If you’ve followed along since my days of creating [my blog] The Tig, you’ll know this couldn’t be truer for me.”
Markle concluded her post by calling her “new chapter … an extension of what has always been [her] love language” as she combines “food, gardening, entertaining, thoughtful living, and finding joy in the everyday.”
News broke in September 2023 that Markle was working on a lifestyle brand, which she soft-launched with strawberry jam the following April.
She referenced her first product in her Instagram announcement Tuesday, saying, “Of course, there will be fruit preserves. I think we’re all clear at this point that jam is my jam. But there are so many more products that I just love, and now it’s time to share them with you.”
Markle filed trademark applications last year for her brand to cover a wide variety of home goods, from pet shampoo to gardening gear. After American Riviera was rejected, she applied for As Ever in September, but even the new name has yet to be accepted, according to reports.
Nonetheless, Harry, 40, helped his wife announce her rebrand Tuesday.
“It’s recording,” the Duke of Sussex could be heard saying from behind the camera as Markle teased, “The cat’s out of the bag.”
The couple have been married since May 2018. They quit their royal duties and moved to California in January 2020.
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