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Meghan, Duchess of Sussex has said her latest venture is all about celebration

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex has said her latest venture is all about celebration

Perth Now2 days ago
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex has said her latest venture is all about celebration.
The mum-of-two, 43, has been busy launching products under her As Ever brand label, and she made the remarks as she unveiled a new $30-a-bottle Rosé from California's Napa Valley.
Meghan told fans: 'This blend captures the essence of celebration, inviting wine lovers to toast all the moments that matter most – both big and small.'
The duchess launched her 2023 Napa Valley Rosé through a new wine section of her lifestyle brand's website, Wine.AsEver.com.
It is being sold at $30 (£21) per bottle, with discounts for larger purchases — a three-pack for $90 (£65), a half case for $159 (£115), or a full case for $300 (£218). Meghan is also preparing to release a sparkling wine under the same As Ever label.
The wine is described on the site as 'a pale blush wine' that offers 'roundness and depth of flavour', with 'gentle minerality and soft notes of stone fruit with a lasting finish'.
The bottle contains an 'As Ever blend' of Cabernet Sauvignon, Mourvèdre, Grenache and Syrah grapes, which the site says creates a 'sophisticated, dry, and refreshing' flavour designed for 'summer's best moments – from lunches that turn into dinners and sun-drenched weekends where the only thing louder than the music is the laughter'.
Meghan's return to the business world comes amid renewed speculation around her and Prince Harry, 40, potentially seeking a path back to the royal family.
The couple stepped down from royal duties in 2020 and now reside in California with their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
But notes newly published by royal biographer Sally Bedell Smith have shed further light on the reaction of Queen Elizabeth II to the couple's departure — often referred to as 'Megxit'.
In one passage, the Queen, who died in September 2022, reportedly told her cousin and confidante Lady Elizabeth Anson she was 'not at all content'.
According to Bedell Smith's Extra Substack blog, Lady Elizabeth, who died in 2020 aged 79, told her: 'Harry was rude to (the Queen) for 10 minutes.'
The notes also describe tensions leading up to Meghan and Harry's 2018 wedding.
Meghan, it is said, would not reveal details about her dress to the Queen.
Lady Elizabeth reportedly told the biographer: 'Meghan wouldn't tell her Queen Elizabeth II about the wedding dress.'
The dress, a Givenchy design with a bateau neckline and three-quarter sleeves, was ultimately viewed by the Queen as 'flamboyant' and, according to the notes, she felt it was 'not fit for a divorcee'.
Meghan had previously been married to film producer Trevor Engelson.
Lady Elizabeth also told Bedell Smith: 'The jury (was) out on whether she likes Meghan.'
The Queen, according to the interview, was 'so saddened' by the Sussexes' decision to leave royal life behind, the biographer wrote.
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Don't miss out on the headlines from Royals. Followed categories will be added to My News. COMMENT It's official. Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex has added 'vigneron' to her ever-growing fleet of job titles that already includes jam seller, flower sprinkle proselytiser, tele producer, candle making instructor, apiarist, podcaster, handbag and vegan latte company investor, children's book author, former working HRH, calligrapher, actress and blogger, and designated cheerer upper-er of Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex. X SUBSCRIBER ONLY On Tuesday, on what would have been her mother-in-law Diana, Princess of Wales' 64th birthday, the duchess finally got into the vino business, launching her As Ever lifestyle brand's first bottle of the good stuff, a rosé, which sold out in less than an hour. But even when shelves are restocked again, I'm assuming by an overalls-wearing Harry supportively proudly working up some manly calluses on his hands, don't expect it to land in your local bottle-o near anytime soon. To even try the drop would cost you AUD$167, hardly making it Friday drinks-quaffable stuff. Meghan Markle's Rose wine in her As Ever range. Picture: Supplied (The 'dry, and refreshing' blend was only sold with a minimum order of three bottles, reportedly due to shipping costs and for environmental reasons.) That works out at about $45 a bottle for which you could also get 2.4 bottles of Kylie Minogue's rosé, 3.2 bottles of Snoop Dogg's, and 1.2 bottles of Daniel Riccardo's version. Should the logistics of getting your hands on a taste of Meghan's wine be surmounted, don't expect it to have been produced anywhere near the Sussexes' Montecito home. According to the Telegraph the tipple is produced by the Fairwinds Estate in Napa Valley, 630 km north and a six hour drive away. The Napa Valley vineyard where Meghan sourced her rosé also reportedly makes wines for other starry wine labels, including those of Barry Manilow and John Wayne. (Who knew that Wayne, after ridin' his trusty steed into some fly-bitten frontier town, loved nothing more than moseying over to his the saloon for a big, bold grenache?) This is believed to be the factory where Meghan's tea is made. Picture: Google Maps In the last couple of weeks more details have emerged about where As Ever products are sourced from. Sure, As Ever is a brand built on the image of shimmering, sun-kissed shots of Meghan picking apricots and flowers in her picturesque garden and her contentedly stirring a bubbling pot of jam in her kitchen, all very David Hockney-meets-Delia Smith. However, so far the provenance of some As Ever lines appears to be far less hashtaggable and dreamy. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle pictured at Beyoncé's LA concert. Picture: Instagram The first scene of the duchess' With Love Meghan series showed her tending to her bees, whispering 'Look at how much honey we have' but Daily Mail has reported that As Ever's range of fruit spreads, herbal teas, flower sprinkles and honey are sourced from a company which has a factory 3,200 plus kilometres away in Illinois. (Their headquarters are 560 plus kilometres away in California.) The firm, called The Republic of Tea, also makes Bridgerton and Downton Abbey-branded tea. Meghan Markle sold out much of her As Ever product range in less than an hour. Picture: Instagram Thanks to the Mail putting the calculator app to good use, The Republic of Tea's hibiscus tea bags work out at costing $0.48 per cup of tea while the As Ever ones are $1.52 each. Let's be realistic here. 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Picture: Instagram (On June20, the second day the duchess' wares went on sale, the brand's website was visited half a million times, the Mail has reported.) However, the As Ever roll out has not been all peachy. The 43-year-old will give out free jars of her spread after a technical issue saw the site continue to take orders after overselling on the release of June's 'summer drop'. Something similar happened with sales of As Ever honey in April with the site providing refunds and offering free products after they continued selling honey after stock had actually run out. Depending on your Sussex stance, this either only reflects the high degree of public demand for Meghan's products and how hungry Americans are to buy into her charmed As Ever vision or says something about a business struggling to find its feet. Meghan's As Ever product range. Picture: Supplied As the Daily Beast's Tom Sykes pointed out ahead of the rosé's debut, As Ever's non- alcoholic products have only been available for purchase for less than two hours in the three months, which equates the As Ever's food 'shelves [having] been fully stocked for just 0.01 percent of the time' since launch. What remains to be seen is whether this all only cultivates an air of exclusivity and rarity and whets shoppers' appetites or whether it will just frustrate them. Also, does only having products on sale for less than an hour, every so often, make for a sustainable, profitable business concern? Meghan Markle swings in a garden in a new post to promote her As Ever products. Picture: Instagram In March the Telegraph reported that the Duchess of Sussex 'thinks she's going to be a billionaire' thanks to her growing portfolio of ventures and projects. At least we know this, if Harry has been helping out behind the scenes, it might not have all been hard graft. The production of Meghan's proprietary blend of rosé saw the duchess 'heavily involved' for 'many months,' per the Telegraph, which included 'roping in friends and colleagues to conduct multiple taste tests at her home.' Hard work if you can get it. Daniela Elser is a writer, editor and commentator with more than 15 years' experience working with a number of Australia's leading media titles. Originally published as Fans shocked to discover where Meghan's products are really made

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