Netflix’s major clue about Meghan Markle’s new show
The Duchess of Sussex’s new show will launch within hours – and the streamer has done something very strange.
Royals
Don't miss out on the headlines from Royals. Followed categories will be added to My News.
It’s a little-known fact that one of the great philosophers of modern life is Ronan Keating.
In 1999 came his great contribution to the epistemological cannon and Richard Curtis movies when he released his famed, weepy song with the lyrics, “you say it best when you say nothing at all”.
So just what might Netflix be saying – or not saying – when it comes to the nothing that they have so far done to promote the imminent release of Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex’s eight-part series, With Love, Meghan?
We are now only days away from the March 4 launch of the show, which would seem to be an attempt to repackage tradwife-ry for the almond milk crowd – and what is increasingly obvious is how much ‘nothing’ there is.
We have not seen the Netflix machine crank into any sort of gear to market the show.
We have not seen a carefully orchestrated, hand-hewn advertising campaign to build hype and buzz around the series.
We have not seen the duchess out giving interviews to the select titles she has spoken to in the past, you know, the ones who can be relied on to toe the party line and to not ask questions that start, “So, about Kate …”
As the clock ticks down, the ‘nothing’ only grows.
Aside from With Love guest Mindy Kaling saying some nice things about her time filming with the duchess and Netflix’s Ted Sarandos posting about With Love to his Instagram, there has not been much other big-name support for the show.
Instead, Meghan has largely been a one-woman promotional band, and has been playing the drums, the horns and cymbals herself.
The 43-year-old has had her work cut out for her.
Last week the duchess attempted, and largely succeeded, in pulling off a bit of sleight of hand, trading in her dusty, never really taken out of the box American Riviera Orchard brand, which had run afoul of the trademark people, for the shiny, new, and much less of a mouthful As Ever.
Leaving aside that As Ever sounds a bit like a line of off-brand, non-Disney-approved Cinderella dolls, Meghan spun the naming trade, via Instagram video, as being something she was super duper excited about, a feeling that the mother-of-two now seems to spend a lot of time on Instagram expressing.
She got all excited starting the year trotting along a beach in black and white and then was excited to share the trailer for With Love and then was sad face about her dog dying but then got excited again for the Invictus Game and was excited about Valentine’s Day and really, really breathlessly excited about managing to secure some Billie Eilish merch for a teen who had lost everything in the LA fires.
But is Netflix quite as jazzed about With Love as the 43-year-old?
At the time of writing, with Tuesday’s release date nearly upon us, Meghan has done no major interviews, unlike in 2022, when she starred on the covers of The Cut and Variety and did lengthy profiles with the titles in support of her Spotify series Archetypes.
Nor has she obviously done anything like the rounds of TV interviews that husband Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex subjected himself to – including with 60 Minutes, Good Morning America, The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, UK’s ITV and the Telegraph – in January 2023 to help shift copies of his memoir Spare.
On top of this is the question of whether her uber agent, WME’s Ari Emmanuel, is still excited about working with her either.
This week, Page Six claimed that, according to “multiple sources”, she “has been dropped by WME”, with an industry insider telling the publication she had been “too demanding” and “difficult to work with”.
The Page Six report claims that the duchess “had an outburst in January 2024” which “led to a dispute”. After that, an insider told the publication “Ari was done with her”, with a second source allegedly confirming the incident.
However, WME has denied this, saying it continues to represent both Meghan and the Sussexes’ charity arm, the Archewell Foundation.
Despite finding the time to post about half a dozen photos of her garden last weekend (and one headline-baiting shot of her wearing the same jumper that Diana, Princess of Wales once did), the Duchess of Sussex has not responded.
That’s what agents are for, right?
Previously, the Daily Mail had reported that As Ever products would be sold via the bricks and mortar Netflix House stores in mega malls in Dallas and Philadelphia, but this has since been denied, per the Telegraph.
The As Ever website currently links to a Shopify domain.
There is also no firm release date for the kitcheny, lifestyley bits and bobs the duchess (and Netflix) will be selling, with them clearly not being rolled out to go on sale in conjunction with the With Love release. (And that’s even though the launch was pushed back by two months after the LA fires).
Eager beaver shoppers will have to, per Page Six, wait months to hand over their hard earned cash for twee jars of jam or rose shears or dog bickies.
Let it be noted that Netflix’s lack of meaningful promo for With Love could entirely be Meghan’s choice, a strategic decision to make sure that people don’t feel too overwhelmed by her suddenly being everything, everywhere, all at once. And maybe she has about as much interest in sitting for even a single soft ball interview with a mag as poking herself in the eye with a vintage-looking spork, RRP $19.99.
What is much clearer is how much is riding on the show proving a smash, given that their Netflix contract is reported to end this year and given that so far, she and Harry’s non-royal-adjacent projects have fallen flatter than an authentic Breton crepe. (Though if you’re in the market for a crepe pan, I know where you might be able to get one soon …)
Or to put it in the words of the great philosopher Ronan, “life is a rollercoaster”.
Daniela Elser is a writer, editor and a commentator with more than 15 years’ experience working with a number of Australia’s leading media titles
Originally published as Netflix’s major clue about Meghan Markle’s new show
Mary hits dance floor with Frederik
Queen Mary has dazzled onlookers at a gala royal event, kicking up her heels with King Frederik as they danced the night away.See the video.
Kate and Will’s rarely-seen act shocks locals
Locals were in for quite the shock as the Prince and Princess of Wales marked their second royal outing this year with an unexpected act.