OPINION
Meghan thinking about what to sprinkle dried-flowers on next (Image: JAKE ROSENBERG/NETFLIX)
It’s been a week since Meghan dropped her lifestyle fantasia, and I have devoured the entire flower-sprinkled eight-episode run, brought it up in conversation at every possible opportunity, gathered and analysed my friend’s and colleague’s varying opinions. Much like Marmite, it’s divisive. But for me, it’s a five star smash hit. Love her, loathe her, or — like me — feel largely indifferent, you have to give her credit. She has crafted the persona of ‘Meghan, Duchess of Sussex’ from the ground up. And she’s come a long way.
Padding barefoot through her rented Montecito mansion, assembling lavish crudité platters (I lost count how many) and topping up glasses of rosé for her ‘friends’, she weaves in anecdotes of being a “latchkey kid” who lived on microwave meals and fast food in front of the TV. And jokes about her years of low-paid jobs — working in a doughnut shop, wrapping gifts, schlepping around LA as a jobbing actress. She’s a grafter, no doubt about it.
Meghan in her natural habitat; assembling a crutité platter with a glass of rosé (Image: Netflix)
And now, she gets to live out her ultimate Californian dream. Making beeswax candles from her own hives, and floral bath teabags to give house visitors a “Meghan moment”.
Am I inspired do any of these things? No. But that’s not really the point. It’s a rhapsody of folly, and I love a bit of whimsical escapism at the end of a long day
My favourite episode, Elevating the Everyday, is peak Meghan. She plucks vegetables from her (rented) garden to create a harvest basket for her ‘friend’, skincare guru Vicky Tsai. The pair then hand-wrap dozens of potsticker dumplings before whipping up homemade face scrubs in the garden.
“Elevating the everyday” for me means heating up leftovers on a plate, rather than just scoffing it straight out of the Tupperware by the open fridge, with my hands. (Oh give over, as if you’ve never done the same.)
Series two is already in the pipeline, and I hope she ignores the haters and makes it even more ludicrously aspirational. I wanna see Meg twist pretzel dough with Michelle Obama. Or craft dried-flower Thanksgiving cards with Malala Yousefzai.
Bring it on. Just let me get my truffle-scented popcorn with personalised calligraphy tag ready first.