Meghan Welcomes Spring ‘With Love’

Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex – known as Meghan Markle – released the first season of her home lifestyle show “With Love, Meghan” on Netflix March 4.

Markle, 43, graduated from Northwestern University in 2003, four miles from the Lake Shore Campus.

The show was supposed to premiere in Jan. but was delayed because of the California wildfires, The Associated Press reported.

The eight-episode series follows Markle as she hosts different guests, including Mindy Kaling and Roy Choi, teaching them and the audience how to be a good hostess to make homespun items like bath salts and tea bags. While instructing her guests on preparing meal and dessert recipes, Markle also acts as a student learning recipes from her guests.

Markle notes not everything has to be well planned out and made from scratch, but it’s still important to do the extra step when possible.

The content is a new version of her pre-royal lifestyle blog, The Tig.

The series opens with Markle and her beekeeper Branden Aroyan harvesting honey from artificial beehives. Throughout the season, the duo produce honey-related items such as candles and cakes from the hives. The process plays into Markle’s farm-to-table theme as she mostly harvests ingredients from her gardens, chicken coops and beehives.

In the first episode, “Hello, Honey!” Markle and her previous makeup artist Daniel Martin craft candles, pasta and cake — all with home-grown components.

The ensuing episodes follow similar situations of making items and recipes for friends, including balloon arches, focaccia and face masks. The finale, “Feels like Home,” unites the individual recipes for a brunch party.

Each guest has a menu catered to their likes and personalities. Rotating different chefs, the show is best when highlighting their specialty recipes and cultural recipes, with foods like tacos, potstickers and Korean fried chicken. Markle also shares her personal recipes which are welcomely accessible for college students to try, like her one pot pasta.

“All of this is about how you can take something that’s everyday and elevate it just a little bit,” Meghan says in Episode 7, “Elevating the Everyday.”

The show’s message about romanticizing the little things in life can resonate with audiences of all backgrounds, and can be especially relevant to health-conscious people.

Markle’s brand, As Ever, vends products mentioned on the show, with preserves and flower sprinkles set to be released in spring 2025, according to its website. 

The show follows the online trend of domesticity and homemade cooking. Popular influencers like Nara Smith and Hannah Neeleman have incorporated homemade cooking as part of their brand — one that “With Love, Meghan” seems to capitalize on.

Even elements seemingly beyond the accessibility of average consumers are humanized, like Markle’s chicken coop, which houses mostly rescued factory farm chickens, according to the show.

While the series has received criticism for being unrelatable or portraying an unattainable lifestyle, because of the homegrown ingredients, time taken to make them and lavish setting. However, it isn’t more so than any other celebrity cooking shows and celebrity chefs who do similar things. 

“With Love, Meghan” promotes doing what you can with what you have and finding value in the little moments.

“We’re not in the pursuit of perfection,” Markle says in Episode 8, “Feels Like Home.” “We’re in the pursuit of joy.”

However Markle has received criticism for seeming out of touch. In one infamous moment in Episode 2, “Welcome to the Party,” Markle awkwardly corrects Kaling about her last name – Sussex, not Markle. But being a little cringe isn’t a crime, and it doesn’t detract from the show’s theme of home-grown independence. 

“With Love, Meghan” blooms a clean, simple aesthetic with bright foods and vegetables, making it a refreshing start to spring. For those bristling from the Chicago winter, the Montecito setting is a warm change of scenery.

Netflix announced March 7 a second season of the show would be coming in the fall.

“With Love, Meghan” is available to stream on Netflix.