When the first season of With Love, Meghan came out in March, I remember seeing clips from Googlebox, that show where “real people” watch and react in real time to various shows. The British people on Googlebox who watched WLM seemed to enjoy it? Some of them cracked jokes and rolled their eyes at a few scenes, but they were overwhelmingly impressed with how pretty Montecito looked and they loved some of Meghan’s tips. It’s also worth noting that WLM wasn’t just a successful show in America – it broke Netflix’s top-ten in 24 countries. Including the UK. My point is that it seems likely that more British people watched WLM than most of the video projects put out by the left-behinds. Meghan’s one-pot pasta was a whole TikTok cooking trend, and a lot of people just like watching pleasant, pretty programming where an attractive woman arranges flowers and cooks wings.
I bring this up because of an item which appeared in Richard Eden’s column in the Daily Mail. Eden spoke to Alex Rayner, one of Prince Harry’s friends. Rayner notably spoke to the Mail at length in April, all about the Sentebale drama (and Rayner was saying all the right, pro-Sussex things). I think he might legitimately be tight with Harry. Well, now he’s defending Meghan and WLM.
Described by British television critics variously as ‘an exercise in narcissism’ and ‘toe-curlingly unlovable TV’, the Duchess of Sussex’s series With Love, Meghan provoked much mockery among Netflix viewers. As the American streaming giant prepares to broadcast a second series of the lifestyle and cookery show, one of the Duke of Sussex’s old friends has spoken out about why the British failed to take the series to their hearts.
We are, he claims, not sufficiently classy and ‘too cynical’ to enjoy the glossy series filmed in Montecito, the wealthy California enclave where Prince Harry and Meghan live in a £19.5million mansion with wine cellar, cinema, gym, spa, pool, tennis court, wood-fired stove, barbecue – and 13 (and a half) bathrooms.
‘I’d argue it’s made for the American market maybe a little bit more than for us,’ explains Alex Rayner, who went to the North Pole with Harry on a charity trek in 2012.
‘We’re a little bit more cynical. For us, we’re about old Mrs Miggins over the Aga doing her marmalade. Whereas, in America, they’re a little bit more classy about it. They want a bit more.’
Rayner, 46, who was educated at schools including Harry’s alma mater Eton College, insists that the duchess’s range of goods to accompany the series, sold under her As Ever label, should be celebrated. ‘I think she gets a really tough rap about it. What she tries to do with her food at As Ever is absolutely fantastic.’
He adds: ‘Both Harry and his father are passionate about sustainable, field-to-fork methods. And that’s very much what Meghan’s all about as well, but people pillory her. There’s an enormous level of support and an appetite to see what Harry and Meghan get up to, as with any member of the Royal Family.’
I think there is British “cynicism,” but it’s mostly from the hostile press and the establishment. It’s built into the system, that the British tabloids are going to throw wailing tantrums about every single little thing Harry and Meghan do, say, sell, cook, bake or grill. It’s also built into the system that the Windsors and their handlers will continue to allow it to happen, and they will continue to brief against Harry and Meghan constantly. I imagine we’re in for more palace briefings in the next week, coordinated for WLM’s second season. Anyway, I don’t actually believe that the British audience is deeply cynical about the Sussexes or WLM. My guess is that British people watch WLM because they’re genuinely curious to see what Meghan is up to and what she’s cooking and how she entertains.
Photos courtesy of Netflix.
