Will the Duchess of Sussex’s Netflix show With Love work?

It is the image of domestic happiness.

The Duchess of Sussex, picking flowers, cutting vegetables and decorating cakes in a trailer for his new Netflix show.

There is also a scene where she harvests honey and hugs her husband, Prince Harry.

Apparently, Meghan has changed her name. Her new look is described by public relations expert Chloe Franses as similar to the “traditional wife.” social media trendInspired by the housewives of the 50s.

In that sense, it’s a change for Meghan, who has been known as a feminist and Hollywood actress.

But Frances says it’s actually a return to Meghan’s roots, as the duchess used to be a lifestyle blogger before marrying Harry.

And as always with Meghan, this is proving divisive. Franses praises him as “authentic,” while media relations expert Alex Silver calls him “tone deaf.”

So what’s the point of her new TV show, With Love, and will it work?

One of the most striking things about the trailer is that Meghan appears alone, instead of with Harry.

Since stepping down as royals in 2020 and moving to California, the couple have undertaken several ventures together, including setting up a production company and a charitable foundation.

But with this new show, it seems like the couple increasingly wants to do their own thing professionally and create two separate income streams.

“They seem to have separated their brands,” says Pauline Maclaran, professor of marketing and consumer research at Royal Holloway.

“I think it’s probably going to be a lot more successful, because I think the two of them together weren’t getting any major recognition.”

The relaunch also means a move away from real life.

Since stepping down as royals, Harry and Meghan have continued to talk about the monarchy, including in his 2021 Oprah Winfrey interview and Harry Spare’s book.

But in this new TV show, Meghan “no longer draws on her royal connections,” Maclaren says.

Instead, she focuses on lifestyle and wellness, areas she was already exploring before meeting Harry through her lifestyle blog The Tig.

On The Tig, Meghan shared beauty, diet and fashion tips, recipes, travel tips and words of wisdom about love and life.

The Tig closed in 2017, but public relations experts have said returning to the lifestyle could be a smart move.

“This is a well-trodden path for a woman in the public eye who has a lifestyle that encompasses both aspirations and challenges,” says Frances.

Others are more skeptical.

“There are more interesting and significant world events happening than she could be talking about,” Silver says. “She could have been raising awareness about charity work or something.

“I think she’s all herself. As a publicist, I can’t understand how she can’t read a room.”

Experimenting in the lifestyle world has also backfired for others in the public eye.

Brooklyn Beckham’s first photography book was roundly mocked on social mediafor example, with an image of an elephant receiving particular anger.

This is not Meghan’s first foray into the business world, an industry fraught with risks and rewards.

The couple’s previous business ventures include a multimillion-dollar deal with Netflix.

They appeared on another Netflix show, called Harry & Meghan, about their relationship. The pair were also named executive producers of the recent documentary Polo, but it garnered low ratings from critics including The Guardian and The Telegraph.

Spotify’s big bet on Meghan also failed.

In July 2023, the streaming giant and the Sussexes’ Archewell Audio announced that they would be parting ways by mutual decision.

At the time, experts suggested that there hadn’t been a big enough audience for Megan’s Archetypes podcast to justify its continuity.

Last March, she launched a different lifestyle brand called American Riviera Orchard. It currently has over 600,000 followers on Instagram and features nine posts since its launch, but there have been no posts since then.

With this new venture, some have speculated that Meghan hopes to open up more business opportunities, such as partnerships with major supermarkets and brands.

If so, she would be following the path of others, such as Hollywood star Gwyneth Paltrow, with her successful lifestyle platform Goop.

“It’s clearly about their own business interests,” Silver says.

“They are aware that their income will run out at some point. Their lifestyles are quite luxurious, they mix in well-to-do circles and they don’t want to be poor relations.”

When it comes to the new TV show, royal expert Victoria Murphy says she “(doesn’t) think there’s any doubt that people will watch it initially and do well.”

But she says the real test is whether she attracts a large following and truly builds a strong global brand for herself outside the monarchy.

McLaren agrees, saying he believes the show will appeal to certain groups of people, particularly in the United States.

“A lot of the public won’t be interested in this, but I don’t think that’s her goal; I think she’ll really try to get other mothers like her.”

Silver, for his part, maintains that Meghan may be hoping to “detox” her brand with the new show.

But he doesn’t think the show will resonate with audiences.

“I can’t imagine this is going to be a good thing,” Silver says.

Perhaps the reaction to the trailer tells us all we need to know about how this latest venture is likely to play out.

After it fell on Thursday, thousands of column inches were dedicated to it.

The Daily Mail, for example, analyzed every detail of every frame of the trailer, most of it unsympathetically.

The Duchess, it seems, is of endless interest, especially to the British tabloids. But he also has a large fan base on social media.

His detractors will say this is glossy and superficial, the worst of Hollywood.

But her fans will say it’s great to see her back and this shows exactly what the Royal Family is missing.

In other words, this is likely to reinforce what people think about Meghan on both sides.

Additional reporting by Guy Lambert and Nadine Yousif.