Meghan Markle's New Teaser Shows Her Doing the One Thing She Has in Common With King Charles
Markle has posted a new video for 'As Ever', which revives an unexpected bond she shares with King Charles despite their rocky history.
Although Meghan Markle and King Charles have had their ups and downs, one thing that binds them together is their shared love for gardening. The Duchess of Sussex recently showcased her passion in a new video on As Ever's Instagram, where she is seen picking raspberries from the bushes. The promotional clip reminded royal watchers of the King's long-standing commitment to organic and sustainable living through a hobby he shares with his daughter-in-law.
Markle hinted at a new product launch with a teaser showing her traversing through plush raspberry fields in her Montecito home. Wearing a light-blue button-down shirt and straw hat, she searched the bushes to pick out ripe fruits. The caption read, "A taste of late summer is almost here. Something sweet is arriving soon." The clip was released just 3 weeks after her reunion with Charles at Highgrove House in the UK, where she arrived with her two children. Interestingly, Highgrove House is also where Charles's affinity for gardening began. Watch the video here!
After purchasing the home in 1980, the King championed organic and sustainable farming there, and developed his own product line, Highgrove, featuring jams, preserves, and other items originating from the property. According to its website, Highgrove's 15-acre gardens have been managed organically, without synthetic pesticides or fertilizers, since the 1990s. It also uses biomass boilers, solar panels, and ground-source heat pumps to support its sustainable operations. Likewise, Markle sells jams, candles, teas, and dessert mixes on As Ever, a brand she officially unveiled in February last year, when she announced that American Riviera Orchard had been rebranded.
In 1980, after Charles expressed his passion for gardening at Highgrove, he was publicly ridiculed for speaking to plants, which was seen as eccentric for a future monarch. He said during a BBC television interview in 1986, "I just come and talk to the plants, really. Very important to talk to them; they respond, I find." Years later, speaking to Gardeners World in 2018, he reiterated, "I remember being absolutely riveted as a child wandering about... looking at all the plants. The smell and everything had a profound effect on me. I don't know why, but I also grew to love trees..."
Just like her father-in-law, the Duchess has also been vocal about her love for gardening. When announcing the rebrand from American Riviera Orchard to As Ever, she said, "If you've followed me since 2014 with The Tig, you know I've always loved cooking and crafting and gardening." As reported by Elle Decor, in her Netflix series, With Love, Meghan, she referred to tending her garden as a "daily job" while discussing homegrown produce. Most recently, during her MasterChef Australia appearance, she shared, "If you can pick it, you can have it," encouraging Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet to pick fresh fruit from their garden instead of asking for desserts.
