Seven years after shuttering her personal account to appease the royal family, Meghan Markle is back on Instagram.
The Duchess of Sussex hard-launched her new project, American Riviera Orchard, with a new account on March 14. The bio reads simply, “By Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex, Established 2024” and includes a link to the project’s website (which itself offers no information, just a call to “join the waitlist”).
Markle’s first posts make up an image of embroidered silk bearing the name American Riviera Orchard, a monogram of the project’s initials, and “Montecito,” the presumptive home base for the project, given that Montecito, a town in Santa Barbara County along California’s central coast, is where she currently resides with her husband, Prince Harry, and their two young children, Archie and Lilibet.
The 42-year-old also shared her first Instagram story, a montage of moments captured in what appears to be her house, edited to look like grainy home videos shot on film. We catch a glimpse of her hands arranging white roses and peonies; Meghan standing behind a kitchen counter with a fleet of mixing bowls at her fingertips; and Meghan, backlit, standing under an archway in a black evening gown. The video is set to “I Wish You Love” by Nancy Wilson.
Per People, the name American Riviera is a nod to Santa Barbara’s nickname, so given for the region’s “lush landscapes” as well as its robust food and wine culture.
Aesthetically, American Riviera Orchard is very reminiscent of the duchess’s former lifestyle blog, The Tig. Such a project has been rumored for months now after Markle filed with US Patent and Trademark Office to resurrect a version of her old project that would include articles and interviews on “food, cooking, recipes, travel, relationships, fashion, style, interior design, lifestyle, the arts, culture, design, conscious living, health, and wellness.”
