Meghan Markle is counting down the days until the release of her new Netflix series, With Love, Meghan.
The eight-part show is set to premiere on 15 January and will see Meghan inviting friends and famous guests to a California estate, where she shares cooking, gardening and hosting tips.
In order to promote the lifestyle series, Meghan returned to Instagram for the first time in seven years, sharing the trailer with her excited fans. But the Duchess suffered a serious setback after Instagram mistakenly restricted searches for the hashtag #WithLoveMeghan.
The social media platform, owned by Meta, rushed to correct the error after backlash from Meghan's supporters, who noticed that searches for the term had been blocked due to "sensitive content".
The company said: "We blocked people's ability to search for terms related to potential child safety risks. In this case, the search term #WithLoveMeghan was restricted in error and has now been corrected."
The two-minute-long trailer released by Netflix on Thursday shows Meghan wandering rows of a meticulously kept garden, choosing fresh flowers, harvesting honey, kneading homemade bread and working in the kitchen with a lineup of famous friends, including Mindy Kaling and Suits star Abigail Spencer.
But it has left various experts baffled, with some questioning who will resonate with the glossy content. Royal historian and expert Dr Tessa Dunlop told the Mirror: "It is all too easy to mock Meghan and the perfect world she presents in her new Netflix trailer: shiny (slightly) famous friends, effortfully fresh food, Insta-ready images.
"But worry not, apparently this is just what the Duchess does: in her words 'I have always loved taking something pretty ordinary and elevating it.' And no, she is not talking about Prince Harry, who this time is lucky enough to make an appearance alongside his influencer wife and her millennial chums. According to chef Roy Choi, 'they are family now', which doesn’t bode well given the Sussexes' track record with their nearest and dearest.
"See, I told you it was easy to mock. I mean, come on, a reality series in which one of the richest women in the world is pretending she can teach us 'little tips and tricks'. Demonstrating how 'we can incorporate these practises' into our domestic lives, as she meanders through her sun-dappled kitchen garden, retro basket in hand, before attending those designer bee hives, dripping with honey. It's so out-of-reach for the vast majority, it is laughable."
Meanwhile, royal expert and author, Hugo Vickers, questioned the timing of the show, telling The Sun: "The sort of food that she's producing is not going to appeal to a lot of people who can't afford to buy that sort of thing."
He added: "A lot of people are suffering, this is a time of hardship, generally. I don't really quite know what we're going to make of a star in a white dress, not even wearing an apron, putting together all this.. Stuff!"
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