The trailer for Meghan Markle’s new Netflix show With Love, Meghan – a seemingly innocuous two-minute video of Meghan giggling and looking gorgeous while baking a Victoria sponge, arranging flowers and beekeeping – has proved just as polarising as the woman herself.
But in all the hullabaloo, one key point appears to have been missed: this trailer tells the world that “Brand Sussex” is no more.
Cast your mind back to the days of “Megxit”. When the Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped back from Royal duties and declared that they wanted to earn their own money, it was clear that they intended to do so as a team. They were not just husband and wife; they would become a professional powerhouse of a partnership, dubbed in the press “Brand Sussex”.
At the time, they drew comparisons to Barack and Michelle Obama, a couple who had become increasingly united professionally, and who after leaving the White House had built an influential production company together and scored lucrative deals with the likes of Spotify and Netflix. It looked like Meghan and Harry would tread the same path.
For a while, the Sussexes appeared inseparable, both personally and professionally. They released statements together, launched joint initiatives, and unveiled Archewell, their foundation that was ostensibly driven by their partnership and shared vision. They showed up in each other’s projects, and stepped out on red carpets to promote each other’s enterprises. Arguably their most successful commercial endeavour – the Harry & Meghan documentary that broke Netflix records – was one in which they were both equal partners and participants.
But as the public perception of the pair soured, memorably parodied in the South Park episode where a prince and his wife go on a “worldwide privacy tour”, and their projects met mixed reviews and results, there has been a change of strategy. Both Harry and Meghan have made a series of professional moves to divest from their “Brand Sussex” partnership.
Although Meghan made a fleeting appearance in the final episode of Harry’s five-part Polo documentary, the project was very much Harry’s own. She has been noticeably absent from Harry’s appearances to promote his various projects. He stepped out solo in Vancouver in November to promote the upcoming Invictus Games that will be held in the Canadian city, and appeared without Meghan in New York in September at a World Health Organisation event. Likewise, Harry made no appearance in Meghan’s video announcement of her nascent lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard, last spring and the trailer for her new Netflix series solidifies this change of tack.
Just consider the show’s title. With Love, Meghan makes no mention of her Royal husband and also omits her Duchess of Sussex title. For all the buzz online that Meghan has rebranded as a “trad wife”, there is, tellingly, no mention of either her husband or her children in the Netflix press release for the eight-part series. For my money, Meghan sees herself in the Martha Stewart and Goop luxury lifestyle sphere, rather than jostling alongside trad wife social media stars like Nara Smith or Hannah Neeleman.
Meghan has gone full Gwyneth Paltrow - it's beyond cheugy
Read MoreEagle-eyed viewers will spot Harry in the trailer in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it shot of the pair hugging while sipping drinks, but actress Mindy Kaling and the show’s other guest stars get considerably more airtime than the Duke does.
The decision to separate herself professionally from her husband is echoed in Meghan’s return to Instagram. The handle of her account is just @Meghan; her previous Instagram handle, for an account shared with her husband, was @SussexRoyal. In the first post announcing her return to the social media site, there is no appearance or mention of her husband even though he apparently filmed the clip. It is just Meghan, in black and white, running across a beach, writing “2025” in the sand with her finger.
Both Harry and Meghan seem to have decided to refocus on their pre-marriage interests. Harry’s Invictus Games were already a soaring success before he met Meghan, and he has long raised awareness of mental health. Meanwhile Meghan ran a popular lifestyle blog, The Tig, alongside her career as an actress and, based on the trailer, With Love, Meghan looks very much like a televised return of that blog.
Will this pivot work? I’m not convinced. While Meghan’s voiceover tells the viewer that she’s not looking for perfection, the trailer itself certainly looks pretty perfect with a glossiness that harks back to the glory days of 2015 Instagram influencers – a polished aesthetic that already looks out-of-step with the cultural landscape of the mid 2020s that demands authenticity over everything else.
Either way, it’s clear that Meghan and Harry have given up on “Brand Sussex” and the desire to show the world a new kind of Royal couple: progressive, financially independent and free from the stuffy tradition of the house of Windsor. That dream has died. From now on, professionally at least, they’re betting on solo success.
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