Meghan Markle launches first product from her new brand – strawberry jam

By Tony Jones, PA Court Correspondent

Meghan Markle has launched the first product from her new business venture – a jar of strawberry jam.

Meghan appears to have sent her friends a limited edition jar of the sweet treat, ahead of her brand American Riviera Orchard formally bringing out a range of items.

Fashion designer Tracy Robbins posted two images of the jam jar, which the duchess sent nestled in a basket of lemons.

Her jar was numbered “17 of 50” and she posted an image of the gift on her Instagram account with the words “Breakfast, lunch and dinner just got a little sweeter”.

Another picture had the caption “Thank you for the delicious basket! I absolutely love this jam so not sure I’m sharing with anyone.”

In March, Meghan announced her new business venture with an Instagram teaser video, showing the duchess cooking and arranging white hydrangeas and roses, posted to the new American Riviera Orchard Instagram account.

The brief vintage-style footage was set to Nancy Wilson’s I Wish You Love and closed with the brand’s logo, American Riviera Orchard, written in fine gold script above the word Montecito – a celebrity enclave near Santa Barbara in California where the duke and duchess live.

Little information has been released about Meghan’s new project but a trademark application filed in February shows the company wishes to offer downloadable and printed recipe books, table wear, textiles, and jams and marmalades, according to the United States Patent and Trademark Office website.