Meghan Markle started new website just after 'f***ing grifter' claims from exec

15 March 2024 , 13:17

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Meghan Markle has launched a brand new business

Meghan Markle started working on her latest business venture shortly after she and Prince Harry were cruelly labelled "f***ing grifters" by a top Spotify executive.

The Duchess of Sussex delighted fans as she launched her brand new lifestyle brand American Riviera Orchard on Thursday. Meghan's new venture will feature things that are "close to her heart" and will coincide with a new cookery show for Netflix.

While the brand has only just been launched officially, Meghan has actually been working on the new project since last July. Her work began just one month after Bill Simmons, Head of Podcast Innovation and Monetisation at Spotify, hit out at the Sussexes.

READ MORE: What Meghan Markle is selling from American Riviera Orchard from cookbooks to jam and homeware

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry were slammed by a top Spotify boss (AFP via Getty Images)

Online records show American Riviera Orchard's website was established on July 24, 2023. Just one month earlier, on June 16, Bill Simmons slammed Meghan and Harry after they were axed from Spotify.

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The couple had signed a $25million (£19.6million) deal with the streaming service as stepping down from the Royal Family and Meghan created a podcast titled Archetypes. However, they were dropped from Spotify shortly before Bill's bombshell comments.

Speaking on an episode of his own podcast, he said: "The f***ing grifters. That's the podcast we should have launched with them." Bill added: "I've got to get drunk one night and tell the story of the Zoom I had with Harry to try and help him with a podcast idea. It's one of my best stories."

The Duchess of Sussex made a podcast called Archetypes (Spotify)

She's now launched a brand new venture (Getty Images)

American Riviera Orchard has been dubbed The Tig 2.0, after the Duchess' now-defunct lifestyle blog. Meghan ran the blog for years before she met her husband Prince Harry and posted recipes, travel tips and personal anecdotes. She shut down the site in 2017 - just months before her engagement to Harry was announced.

Meghan's new project is a lifestyle and cooking brand. A source told the Daily Mail: "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."

A trademark application has revealed American Riviera Orchard is set to sell a wide range of home goods, including edible treats like jellies, jams and spreads and tableware staples such as cutlery, table linens and drinkware. Cookbooks are also covered in the filing.

Scarlett O'Toole