Meghan Markle filming Netflix show on cannabis farm
One of the key filming locations for Meghan Markle’s new lifestyle show is a business that has had angry neighbours up in arms.
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One of the filming locations for Meghan Markle’s highly anticipated Netflix cooking show is a controversial Californian cannabis farm that has had local neighbours up in arms.
The Duchess of Sussex has been shooting the new series in two locations — an opulent Montecito mansion near her own ritzy estate and a farm owned by the cannabis-supplying Van Wingerden family in the city of Carpinteria, according to the New York Post.
The Van Wingerdens are the area’s largest vendors of legally produced cannabis, selling cannabis flowers and pre-rolled joints, the news outlet reports.
Their farm, however, has been the subject of 2340 odour complaints from locals who object to the weed’s pungent smell.
It comes as a royal expert weighed in on Meghan’s decision to snub the UK as Prince Harry prepares to return to London for the first time since Princess Catherine’s cancer diagnosis two months ago.
“I never thought that Meghan would come over because of the hostility towards her, but I mean no one has to emphasise that it’s hostile,” Richard Fitzwilliams told UK newspaper The Sun.
“And also, of course, you’d get a press that was far from flattering, but that is linked to the Sussexes behaviour over the last four years. I mean, one has to be frank about it.
“Her attendance at the reception would overshadow the message of the service, and you wouldn’t want that, as far as Harry is concerned.”
Harry is gearing up to return to London on May 8 for a special celebration of the Invictus Games at St Paul’s Cathedral.
It will be the first time in the UK since he dashed back in March to see Princess Catherine after she revealed she was undergoing treatment for cancer.
Meanwhile, another royals expert believes Meghan’s UK snub is so she can “further isolate herself from Buckingham Palace”.
“Meghan choosing not to join Harry in the UK may have to do with her focusing more efforts on her new company American Riviera Orchard. At the same time, the Duchess may wish to further isolate herself from Buckingham Palace,” Ryan McCormick told The Mirror.
“Why? Markle could be tired out from the royals or see the close association as an obstacle towards further establishing an independent business and personal presence in the US.”
Meghan is instead expected to join her husband in Nigeria later in the month.
It comes just weeks after Markle launched her first product for her new business American Riviera Orchard.
McCormick believed Meghan wants to establish an “independent presence” with the new venture, away from the Royal Family attention.
According to a spokesman for the Invictus Games, Prince Harry will be at the Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral in London on May 8.
The event marks a decade since the first Invictus Games in 2014.
Originally published as Meghan Markle filming Netflix show on cannabis farm
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