Meghan Markle’s new Netflix show is out of touch with the times

One scene is “magical”. Another is “so pretty”. Another is “delightful”. Welcome to “With Love, Meghan”, Meghan Markle’s new cookery and lifestyle show in which she smiles at things in Montecito. In episode one she smiles at raspberries on a cake. In another episode she smiles at hydrangeas. She also smiles at bees, whose hives she keeps on her property. “When I think of honey, I think of bees,” she says, in one of the many insights with which the show brims. There have been doubts about whether Netflix was right to fork out a reported $100m in a deal with Ms Markle and her husband, Prince Harry, for this show and other content. Such doubts must now be dispelled.

However, Ms Markle is not just smiling. She is on a mission. As she explains, she wishes to “share some little tips and tricks” for entertaining friends and elevating one’s life. Such as, perhaps: make sure to marry a member of the British royal family. That tends to help no end. Or: ensure you get Netflix to pay you a vast sum to show off an immense property, complete with a vegetable garden, bee hives and chickens to lay fresh eggs. That helps, too.

This new eight-episode Netflix show, released on March 4th, is more or less Martha Stewart for the 0.01%, but aimed at the other 99.99%. In it she offers indispensable tips such as how to make candles with your own beeswax and how to boil noodles with tomatoes. Apparently first you place the noodles in a pan. Then you put in water. Then you take off the lid. Then the water will evaporate. Then they are done. At last. Everyone had been wondering.

The show is not only helpful; it is also following in a royally long tradition. Queenly types have often loved the simple life: Marie Antoinette had a lovely time on her toy farm near the main palace of Versailles—until she didn’t. And royal hangers-on have often monetised the monarchy: Pippa Middleton, the sister of Catherine, the Princess of Wales, once wrote a book entitled “Celebrate”. It too was replete with useful insights, such as how to toast marshmallows over a fire. (“Long-handled forks” are, Ms Middleton explained, helpful, as are “flames”.)

The problem with Ms Markle’s new show, as with all cookery, is getting the timing right. Hers could hardly be worse. Her show celebrates California living and contains a scene of smoke at the start (used to calm the bees). This is jarring to even the most vaguely news-aware viewers, who watched as fires recently ravaged nearby Los Angeles.

Furthermore, its overall air of wellness feels uncomfortable when two of the royals have been so very—and so quietly—ill. Kate’s two videos about her cancer lasted, in total, under five and a half minutes. Here, Meghan takes almost as long to decorate a cake.

But it would be mean-spirited to carp. For the spirit of this series is generous and aimed at showing people how much you care about them. “Everyone’s invited,” as its trailer says. This is darling, if arguably not entirely true. It seems unlikely, for example, that William and Kate were invited (according to the most recent reports, the couples barely speak) or Charles and Camilla (likewise).

Ms Markle says that she is “not in the pursuit of perfection” but “in the pursuit of joy”. This is charming, if not precisely the wording that some inside the palace use. Their descriptions of her tend to go a little heavier on words like “abrasive”, “bullying”, “difficult” and “rude”. But then, perhaps those palace workers did not stop to smell—and smile at—the hydrangeas. ■