March 7, 2025

With Love, Meghan - the reviews are BADDDDDDDDDDD for Meghan Markle Sussex and Netflix

Show Notes
Transcript

The debut of *With Love, Meghan* on Netflix has sparked an avalanche of commentary, with critics offering a less-than-glowing reception to the Duchess of Sussex’s latest venture. While some see it as an earnest attempt at a new chapter, others have dismissed it as “gormless lifestyle filler,” with *The Guardian’s* Stuart Heritage going so far as to suggest, "It might be the Sussexes' last TV show."

That's one of the better reviews.

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Calorogus Shark Media. Hello and welcome to Palace Intrigue. I

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am your host, Mark Francis. The debut of With Love

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Megan on Netflix's sparked an avalanche of commentary, with critics

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offering a less than glowing reception to the Duchess of

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Sussex's latest venture. While some see it as an earnest

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attempt to get a new chapter, others have dismissed it

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as a Gormleus lifestyle filler, with The Guardian's Stuart Heritage

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going so far as to suggest it might be the

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Sussex's last TV show. The Independence Katie Razensky awarded it

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a single star. Writing With Love Megan is queasy and exhausting,

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Visiting the Sussex's might not be a fun experience. The

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heavy blend of esthetic curation, inspiring truisms and those inescapable

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edible flowers might well leave you feeling a bit queasy

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or simply worn out at the prospect of having to

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adequately perform Gratie for all the thoughtful touches involved in

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Meghan's guest experience, Razenski explains, you knock on the door

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of Meghan Markle's Montecito mansion, or perhaps it's the stand

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in house rented for filming her Netflix show With Love Megan.

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You were summoned here with a note written in immaculate

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calligraphy script attached to a wicker harvest basket teeming with

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fresh fruit and vegetables. Once you're inside, your host, impeccably

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dressed all in white, despite having spent the morning picking berries,

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corrols you into assisting her in an endless series of

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crafty and culinary tasks that are one part Pinterest, one

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part posh Blue Peter. If popping around to the Sussex

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household is even half as exhausting as it appears to

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be on With Love Meghan, the much vaunted lifestyle show

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presented by the Duchess in her first solo venture for Netflix,

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then surely all her visitors need to take a nap

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every few hours, and if they do retire to the

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guest room for a lie doown after their shift, they'll

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be greeted with a tray of treats beside the bed.

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Meghan loves to create good morning and good night moments

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for her pals. She tells us in the first installments,

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they can expect to open their bleary eyes to give

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wrap snacks and cut flowers with love. Feels like a

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millennial blog come to life. It's the TV version of

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the Tig, the website that Megan launched and ran in

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her pre royal jobbing acted days, filmed with all the soft,

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filtered gloss of a center park's advert Each episode sticks

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to a simple formula. A guest either someone that Megan

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has known for a while, like a longtime makeup artist

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Daniel Martin met while making her short lived Spotify podcast,

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like actor Mindy Kaling, or admired from Afar like chef

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roy Choi turns up at Casa Sussex. They coup over

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something she's made earlier than they're recruited to chop fruit

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and vegetables for another marvelous culinary creation. Edible flowers are

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strewn over everything, even fried eggs. The telegraphs Anita Singh

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was equally unimpressed, calling it an exercise in narcissism, filled

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with extravagant brunches, celebrity pals, and business plugs. Singing tells us,

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you will never look at a turnip in the same

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way again. You will wonder why you don't have an

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enticing compost bin and have instead put up with that

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brown plastic thing from the council. Perhaps you too will

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start matching your outfit to the low crousette while being intentional,

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and when you put a cake in the ovenue will

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murmur as if to your most beloved child, good night, sweetheart.

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Don't worry if you don't have a Montecito mansion with

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its own kitchen, garden, apery and chicken coop from which

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to get all your fresh produce, or an unlimited supply

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of rustic artismal tableware, even if you're in a little

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flat in London, Megan says, sadly, you can have some

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small piece of this. The format is this, Megan invites

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people to her pretend house. The show is filmed in

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an eight million dollar farmhouse down the road from her

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fourteen million dollar home, and they tell her how amazing

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she is. This happens for eight episodes. Critics were particularly

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amused by a segment in which Meghan suggested filling children's

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party bags with seeds for planting. Heritage was quick to

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mock this moment, writing, nobody wants to see Meghan making

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decorative lady bird crostini with Mindy Kayel with Love Meghan

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is the sort of gormleous lifestyle filler that, had it

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been made by the BBC, would be used to bulk

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out episodes of Saturday Kitchen. There was also much discussion

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around Meghan's decision to film in a rented eight million dollar

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farmhouse rather than her actual home. She addressed this in

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an interview with People magazine, explaining, I wanted to protect

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that safe haven where a close knit family and I

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love those moments putting Lily down for a nap, having

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lunch together, having sacred time together at the end of

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the day. Our kitchen is where Mamma just cooks for

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the family, and with a crew of eighty plus people,

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it's a lot of people to have in your house.

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The hierarchy of Meghan's homemade jam also became an unexpected

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talking point. During a scene with Kaling, the actress playfully

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questioned whether her number jar indicated her rank among Meghan's friends.

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I looked at the label and it said there were

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like fifty, and I, of course, as a very hierarchical person,

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was like, who are these other fifty? Just having a

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lower number make me more special? Well, just having a

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higher number make me more special. Megan, laughing, insisted there

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was no ranking involved. It was just let me share them,

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and then people started to take it very personally. Despite

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the mixed reviews, Harper's Bizarre Bienca Battancourt found the series

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to be an enjoyable watch, praising it as a fine

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balance of giving audiences what they want to see, like

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gorgeous Montecito views, along with a peak into the Duchess's personality,

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while still servicing the viewer. The show's reception has significant stakes,

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as it may determine the future of The Sussex's one

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hundred million dollar deal with Netflix. Royal correspondent Shawn Coughlin

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of the BBC noted that the breezy commercial nature of

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the show suggests Meghan has firmly moved beyond any lingering

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ties to royal life. This feels like looking forward to

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a new future without any more haggling over the past,

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he observed. Still, not everyone was convinced the spectators. Alexander

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Larman described the series as Brand Sussex's final hope, adding

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there was a tangible desperation here, a visible sense of

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need and desire for this show to bring Megan back

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into the spotlight more palace in just a moment. The

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Irish Times at Power was particularly blunt writing, so beige

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and bland it doesn't even qualify as a hate watch.

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Boring lifestyle tips from an individual who always has servants

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with them reach, including serving coffee to guests. Her crud

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de taise are crude, her homemade candles look like something

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from the homeware aisle in deals, and the banter between

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host and guests has all the spark of a dead

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battery on a frosty morning. The big conceit is that we,

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the impoverished viewers, can hang with Meghan for a few

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precious hours, and yet the velvet rope has always in sight.

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Filming takes players not in Meghan's actual house, but in

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some sort of guest mansion adjoining her property, and if

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there are passing references to her husband and children, we

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never see them on screen. With love, Megan is trying

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to sell us on Meghan's lifestyle without actually showing us

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any of it. Comedian Mindy Kaling troops in and helps

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Megan to make a balloon arch for a hypothetical children's party.

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No children actually appear, nor is there a party. The

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Duchess ended the final episode on a hopeful note, raising

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a toast to her gathered guests, clouding Prince Harry and

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her mother Doria Raglan, saying, this feels like a new

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chapter that I'm so excited that I get to share

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and I've been able to learn from all of you,

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So I just thank you for all the love and support.

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With Love Megan now available for streaming. The question remains,

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will it find an audience eager for lifestyle inspiration or

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will it simply become another footnote in the Sussex's increasingly

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uncertain media future. And there you have it. If you'd

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like to email us, that address is the Palace Intrigue

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at gmail dot com. Please follow us on Spotify, Apple

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or the app of your choice and leave us a

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review at five stars. If you're enjoying the show, don't forget.

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We have a new program out from Callaoga Shark Media here.

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It's called White's Smoke, The Path to a New Pope.

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Check it out. It's very timely and historic and a

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cool look at the election process behind a new Pope.

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It's available now wherever you get your podcasts. White Smoke.

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I'm Mark Francis. My thanks to John mcdermoy this palace

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intrigue and good terms

With Love, Meghan - the reviews are BADDDDDDDDDDD for Meghan Markle Sussex and Netflix

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