Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, launched a new business venture Thursday on Instagram, marking her return to the platform after deleting her social media accounts in 2018 ahead of her marriage to Prince Harry.
Her new page, titled American Riviera Orchard, displays a new logo, with the word "Montecito" written beneath it. Meghan and Harry have established their post-royal life home base in Montecito, California, where they live with their two children.
The Instagram bio reads, “By Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex.” The page links to a website of the same name as the Instagram handle, though the website is as bare as the social media page itself.
In a short Instagram story, Meghan is seen picking flowers and cooking as the song “I Wish You Love” by Nancy Wilson plays in the background.
Many appeared to celebrate Meghan's return to social media, citing their love of her previous lifestyle website, The Tig. The former “Suits” star announced she was shuttering the website in 2017, the same year she and Harry got engaged.
Some others online began to comment on the timing of the new venture, noting it comes as Buckingham Palace faces scrutiny over Princess Kate's photoshop controversy and her public absence after having surgery. The photoshopped image released Sunday only added fuel to a global firestorm of speculation and conspiracy theories surrounding the Princess of Wales.
The Palace announced in February that King Charles III had been diagnosed with cancer and would be avoiding public events after being advised by doctors to minimize in-person contacts.
Meghan's new venture also comes just one week after she spoke on a panel at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, where she said she is keeping her “distance from [social media] right now just for my own well-being.”
The “bulk” of the social media and online “bullying and abuse” she said she experienced came while was pregnant with her children, Archie and Lilibet, and while she had a newborn.
Meghan had her first child with Harry, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, on May 6, 2019. The couple then welcomed Lilibet “Lili” Diana Mountbatten-Windsor two years later, on June 4, 2021.
The family of four has lived in California since 2020, after giving up their life in England and stepping back from the British royal family.
