Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, has announced that her cooking and lifestyle brand will now be called As Ever, and she has promised there will be jam.
“Cat’s out of the bag,” Meghan said in an Instagram video posted to her 1.9 million followers on Monday night. In the video, she is sitting in a sun-dappled yard, her hair in a messy bun, with a dog scampering down a set of stairs.
Taking an entrepreneurial page from Martha Stewart and a mood board from the mom bloggers who love her, Meghan seems ready to embrace the joys — and the business opportunities — of her home life in Montecito, Calif., far from the confines of the British royal family.
The website for As Ever features a photo of Meghan and Princess Lilibet, her daughter with her husband, Prince Harry. They are in white dresses, running through bright green grass with trees in the distance.
The logo for the new brand features a palm tree with two hummingbirds, which are a favorite of Prince Harry. (Through a representative, Meghan declined an interview request.)
The name caused confusion for some, as there is an existing clothing brand called As Ever that works out of New York and New Jersey. That company, which got its start a decade ago, issued a statement on Tuesday thanking its fans for an outpouring of support and acknowledging Meghan’s new venture sharing the same name by saying, “We are aware. We are not affiliated.”
In Meghan’s Instagram post, she said the new chapter would be “beautifully weaving together everything I cherish — food, gardening, entertaining, thoughtful living and finding joy in the every day.”
The announcement comes as Meghan prepares to release her new series with Netflix, “With Love, Meghan,” on March 4. The show had previously been scheduled for earlier in the year but was delayed because of the wildfires in California.
In the video, the former actress explained that the brand’s previous name, American Riviera Orchard, which was announced last year, felt too geographically specific, confining her to products from the Santa Barbara area, which it was named after.
“Then Netflix came on, not just as my partner in the show, but as my partner in my business,” she said. “It was huge.”
The terms of the partnership were not immediately available, and representatives from Netflix declined an interview request.
But Meghan emphasized in the announcement that the energy was similar to one of her previous projects, The Tig, a lifestyle website that was shut down in 2017 before she and Prince Harry were engaged. She added that she had “always loved cooking, and crafting and gardening.”
“This is what I do,” Meghan said in the video, “and I haven’t been able to share it with you in the same way for the past few years. But now I can.”
Her eight-episode Netflix series, which was shot in Montecito, Calif., is expected to lean into this idyllic side of her lifestyle and will include cameos from the chef Alice Waters and the actress Mindy Kaling.
In the series, according to an announcement from Netflix, Meghan will share personal tips and tricks and invite viewers to watch as she and her guests roll up their sleeves in the kitchen and even meet bees.
The concept for As Ever started with fresh fruit preserves that she made at home and gave to friends, and she hopes to highlight other products soon.
“There will be fruit preserves, I think we are all clear at this point that jam is my jam,” she told her followers in her video announcement, adding, “but there are so many more products that I just love that I use in my home, and now it is time to share with you.”