Meghan Markle has relaunched her lifestyle brand after running into difficulties with American Riviera Orchard’s trademarking.
The Duchess of Sussex took to Instagram to announce the company was changing its name to “As Ever”, ahead of the launch of her new Netflix lifestyle show, With Love, Meghan on 4 March.
In the video, filmed in the family’s garden, Prince Harry could be heard saying “It’s recording” in the background as Meghan announced “the cat’s out of the bag.”
She said: “I’m shocked we’ve kept this a secret for so long. In two weeks my show is coming out, which I’m so excited for. And also my business, which I think there has been a lot of curiosity about.
“Last year, I had thought, ‘American Riviera, that sounds like such a great name.’ It’s my neighbourhood; it’s a nickname for Santa Barbara, but it limited me to things that were just manufactured and grown in this area.”
Previously the Duchess experienced issues regulating American Riviera Orchard, as she sought to trademark the brand in the summer of 2024, which was rejected in August due to issues with how it was filed.
She was told she cannot have exclusive rights to the name ‘American Riviera’ because it’s a commonly used place name to describe where she and Harry live in Santa Barbara. The addition of the word ‘Orchard’ reportedly made little difference to this dispute.
The US patent and trademark office also warned that the descriptions of the Duchess’s products fitted into multiple trademark categories, as “cocktail napkins” could be paper or textiles, and “cooking utensils” could be manual or electric.
Another Santa Barbara company was also using the term ‘American Riviera’ to sell candles, and many other websites called Santa Barbara the American Riviera.
Meghan was given three months to address errors and challenges to the application and in November she asked for a three month extension. The Sussexes’ office said that these set backs were “routine and expected” when filing for trademarks.
In the video, she continued that when she partnered with Netflix for her new show, they also became her business partners and she took the opportunity to rebrand.
Meghan continued: “I’ve been waiting for a moment to share a name that I had secured in 2022, and this is the moment, and it’s called As Ever.”
The brand will be a return to her lifestyle blogging days, as the Duchess formerly ran a blog called The Tig in 2014.
“As Ever essentially means as it’s always been, and if you’ve followed me since 2014 with The Tig, you know I’ve always loved cooking and crafting and gardening – this is what I do,” she explained.
“And I haven’t been able to share it with you in the same way for the past few years, but now I can, so as things are starting to trickle out there, I wanted you to hear it from me first.”
Meghan and Harry stepped back from official royal duties and left the UK in 2020. Since then, they have undertaken a number of different ventures, from their Archewell non-profit organisation to Archetypes podcasts, the latter of which Meghan left a year after signing a multi-year deal with Spotify.
The Duchess continued that fans could expect her to continue selling fruit preserves, as she quipped “I think we’re all clear at this point that jam is my jam”, but teased that she was excited to introduce a number of other products to her followers.
Meghan teased the relaunch with a photo of herself and daughter Lilibet running across a green lawn with the words ‘As Ever’ written in cursive across.
She first teased the change after announcing her new show with Netflix in January, as she signed off her Instagram post of the trailer with the phrase.
