Friends and admirers of Meghan are steeling themselves for the first live reviews of her new Netflix show which debuts tomorrow. Will it be a car-crash, or a runaway success?
So far, previews of the Duchess of Sussex’s eight-part home-making series have been somewhat less than enthusiastic.
‘A laughing stock of epic proportions,’ said one writer who’s watched clips from With Love, Meghan.
‘Everything Meghan says in the trailer is a twee platitude that could have been ripped off an Ikea poster,’ wrote another, quoting the duchess saying: ‘We’re not in the pursuit of perfection, we’re in the pursuit of joy.’
The tone, goes on the previewer, ‘is so jarringly earnest it feels sinister.’
‘Little more than an exercise in showing us how lovely Meghan’s kitchen looks on camera – and it’s not even her kitchen,’ wrote another.
According to Netflix, in the show the duchess blends ‘practical how-tos and candid conversation with friends, new and old’.
It will see her sharing ‘personal tips and tricks, embracing playfulness over perfection, and highlighting how easy it can be to create beauty, even in the unexpected’.
Meghan and Pippa Middleton both achieved overnight fame due to their close ties with the Royal Family
Everyone except the Princess of Wales turned up for the launch of Pippa’s book ‘Celebrate: A year of Festivities for Family and Friends’ in 2012
Meghan was joined on her Netflix show, With Love, Meghan, by her friend Mindy Kaling
But these early indicators seem dangerously reminiscent of another royal-by-association, Pippa Middleton, who tried to monetise her close ties with the Royal Family more than a decade ago.
Just like Meghan, Kate’s younger sister set herself up as an influencer and public figure but instead faced mockery.
Pippa achieved overnight fame at the 2011 Westminster Abbey wedding of Kate and Prince William, her pert derriere in its white bridesmaids’ dress in danger of upstaging her sister’s big day.
Until then, she’d had a humble job working for the family firm Party Pieces, but after one royal wedding – just like Meghan – she was suddenly world-famous.
And she quickly set out to capitalise on her new-found status.
In 2012 she published her book Celebrate – a lifestyle guide similar in outlook to Meghan’s upcoming TV series – spreading across cookery, picnics, children’s parties and other homespun delights.
But immediately she ran into a brick wall of blistering criticism – reviewers and public alike mocking her for the sheer banality of what she wrote: ‘Turkeys are perfect for feeding larger gatherings, especially at Christmas’ was one of her offerings. She described in detail how to organise a sack race for children, and how to play pass-the-parcel.
She’d been paid a whopping £400,000 advance by publishers Michael Joseph – part of the same group that shelled out £22million for Prince Harry’s book Spare, and an undisclosed amount for Meghan’s children’s book The Bench (now available, incidentally, for as little as 50p on Amazon).
Pippa Middleton is a double for Meghan in this photograph when she attended the British Heart Foundation Ball in 2016
The Princess of Wales’s sister shows an uncanny likeness to the Duchess of Sussex with the pair both sporting a ‘messy bun’
Pippa and Meghan have both worn low-cut red dresses giving a similar aesthetic
But within weeks, a source at her America publisher Viking was quoted as saying ‘Pippa’s Celebrate sales are nothing to celebrate. She was a superstar after the royal wedding and everyone thought she’d be a success. But even Sarah Ferguson sold more books than her.’
Allegedly, the sequel to Celebrate was cancelled, and she was dropped by her agent.
Ever hopeful, Pippa moved on, signing up to write a column for the Daily Telegraph. It disappeared after six attempts. She faced a hail of criticism from professional chefs when, untrained in the kitchen, she signed up to write a column for Waitrose Food.
The doyen of cookery writers, Delia Smith, was dropped in favour of Pippa but within a handful of issues she was back – and Pippa was toast.
Next she signed up as a contributing editor for Vanity Fair magazine but that didn’t last long either: howls of laughter erupted when she wrote about a trip to Wyoming describing it as ‘real cowboy country – everyone wears cowboy boots and the men have moustaches that curl upwards’.
Like Meghan, she hoped to make her global breakthrough with a TV show, and flew to New York at the behest of broadcaster NBC. But her first broadcast never even made it to air – ‘she failed to convince’ in her pilot, said an insider, and her $400,000 contract foundered.
‘Her failing,’ wrote one critic at the time, ‘is she can never escape the trap of stating the bleeding obvious.’
Certainly Pippa’s fleeting moments of fame did her no harm financially – lucrative offers kept coming until the bubble burst – but she was bruised by the criticism and her perceived failure.
But just like her sister Kate, she’s made of stern stuff. And sensing a growing wave of unpopularity, turned away from trading on her royal connections to doing good works.
In 2014 she became an ambassador for the British Heart Foundation and took part in the Race Across America, a 3,000 mile cycling ride across the United States, followed by the Bosphorus Swimming Race, a 6.5km swimming competition in Istanbul, raising considerable funds for the charity.
Pippa’s book Celebrate had very poor sales. She was a superstar after the royal wedding and everyone thought she’d be a success. Even Sarah Ferguson sold more books than her.
Meghan’s Netflix show airs at the beginning of March and people are waiting to see if it’s going to be a great success or dreadful failure
A close up of Meghan’s ladybird tricolore bruschetta, which she makes on her new show
She took part in the London to Brighton Bike Ride for the BHF, and participated in a 47-mile swim-run competition in Sweden.
She found a new purpose in life when she met and married James Matthews, the hedge fund manager and former professional racing driver who is heir to a 10,000 acre Scottish estate. The couple now have three children and live peacefully on the Barton Court estate at Kintbury, on the banks of the River Kennet in Berkshire.
Just two years younger than Meghan, Pippa found happiness by turning her back on fame.
Meanwhile the duchess forges on, still seeking and hoping for global recognition. The next few days will decide whether she’s got what it takes to overcome the critics and backbiters who increasingly seem determined to block her progress.
