‘Like a Montecito Marie Antoinette’: Critics deliver soul-crushing reviews of Meghan Markle’s Netflix season 2 as they dub it ‘painfully contrived’ with cast of ‘nano-celebrities’

Critics have delivered scathing reviews of Meghan Markle’s new Netflix series, labelling the Duchess of Sussex ‘needy’ and ‘narcissistic’ in her second attempt at small-screen stardom.

Season two of With Love, Meghan, which launched on Netflix today, has already been panned as ‘marginally less mad but more needy’ than its predecessor – despite pulling in millions of viewers in its debut run.

The Mail’s Liz Jones branded the new season ‘staged, fake and dull’ – but unlike other critics, commended Meghan for being ‘genuinely earnest’. 

The Guardian dismissed the show as a ‘gormless lifestyle filler’, while The Telegraph described her as a ‘Montecito Marie Antoinette’.

The Times was equally cutting, calling the eight-part season ‘a series in search of a meaning, fronted by a woman in need of some cash’.

Even with celebrity guests including Chrissy Teigen, John Legend and Tan France, critics argue the show lacks substance – and claim Meghan failed to be authentic. 

During the show, she admits to chef Christina Tosi: ‘Usually, I don’t like baking because it’s so measured.’ Her own range As Ever launched in March, however, includes ready-made shortbread cookies and crepe mixes with pre-measured amounts.

Royal correspondent Sean Coughlan offered one of the few warmer takes, describing the series as escapism: ‘It’s a glass of something sparkling on a grey day.’

But others found it grating – and deeply self-indulgent.

Daily Mail   

The Mail’s Liz Jones branded the new season ‘staged, fake and dull’ – but unlike other critics, praised Meghan for being ‘genuinely earnest’. 

‘It is all staged and fake, of course – it’s again filmed in a hired house near her home in Montecito – but then, so is Nigella. And while you just know Nigella has a core of steel, Meghan really is this gauche. She calls bread-making ‘moving meditation’ and means it,’ Jones wrote. 

‘What I love about Meghan – aside from the fact she makes a pressed forget-me-not necklace for Guy, her beagle (RIP) – is she seems genuinely earnest: it really is not an act. 

‘She repeats the phrase ”so sweet” often and seems warm with the crew. I adore, too, the day drinking; there is nowhere she goes without a coup of champagne.’ 

Guardian  

The Guardian’s Lucy Mangan gave the new series just two stars, writing: ‘It’s so boring, so contrived, so effortfully whimsical that, do you know what? In the end, it does become almost fascinating.’

She continued: ‘She’s still sprinkling flowers over everything, by the way. I don’t know if it’s a choice or a compulsion, but if you stand still long enough in (not) Meghan’s kitchen, the chances are you will be covered in violets and served alongside a mug of grey foam to a nano-celebrity who is beginning to realise he has not been paid enough.’

The Times  

The Times’ Hilary Rose had an equally negative reaction to the show, penning: ‘It was the bookbinding that finished me off. No, wait. Maybe it was the moment when Meghan wrapped a wooden box in a sarong, stuck a flower on top and stood back for applause. 

‘Mainly, though, it was the bookbinding, a TV programme about watching glue dry. It went downhill from there.’

She added: ‘With Love, Meghan is baffling. It occupies the sweet spot where irrelevant meets intolerable. It’s like an advert for somewhere we’ll never go and aren’t invited, an ego trip in a sun hat that boils down to this: Meghan is pretty and likes roast chicken and flower arranging. 

‘That’s an entry for Miss World, not a concept for ten hours of TV.’

Radio Times  

Radio Times’ Caroline Frost said Meghan ‘failed’ to be ‘authentic’ by ‘cooking and gardening in an $8m farmhouse down the road from her own home’. 

Ms Frost added the setup was as ‘impersonal as a supermarket ad’ – despite Meghan claiming in an interview with Bloomberg today that she has returned to her ‘authentic’ self in recent years – someone she couldn’t be a few years back. 

‘It was different several years ago where I couldn’t be as vocal and I had to wear nude pantyhose all the time!’ the Duchess said, adding it ‘felt a little bit inauthentic’. 

The Telegraph 

The Telegraph’s Anita Singh said Harry’s absence from the show – despite the programme being based on the couple’s Californian home life – was becoming ‘increasingly weird’. 

She adds: ‘The closing credits play out to the lyrics ”don’t let it be the last time”. Please, let it be the last time.’ 

The Telegraph gave the series just two stars, and titled their review ‘More tone-deafness from the Montecito Marie Antoinette.’ 

Throughout the eight-part series Meghan is seen baking with her guests — at one point preparing sourdough for Teigen and creating homemade McDonald’s-style apple pies with France using ready-made puff pastry.

‘Let’s get our puff pastry ready,’ Meghan says in one episode, ‘We’re going to use pre-made, good puff pastry as opposed to making our dough from scratch.’

She later adds: ‘I love the idea of being able to rethink baking to be just a little more spontaneous.’

With Love, Meghan follows the same format as the critically-savaged first series.

She makes homemade versions of McDonald’s hot apple pies, the American cheese crackers Cheez-Its and salt and vinegar crisps – and serves up beverages such as a ‘lavender grey latte’ made from Earl Grey tea, lavender, and frothy honey and vanilla milk.

The Duchess also uses the phrase ‘moving meditation’ twice to refer to methods of creating calm, and tells another guest: ‘I’m thinking about putting each of us in our comfort zone and out of our comfort zone. So I thought we’d begin with flower arranging.’

According to Meghan, she cooks breakfast for both children most days, fried eggs and pancakes.

‘But I like to do surprise pancakes for the kids,’ she revealed during one episode.

‘So I always put some ground flax seeds or some chia seeds in and Lili will ask, ‘can I have my chia seeds? I want to have freckles.”

Although Prince Harry and their children came along to watch filming on a number of days, none of them features in the show in person.

Prince Harry did appear fleetingly in the final episode of series one.

The Netflix show was filmed last year in a rented home in Montecito, close to the Sussex’s own mansion.

The first series pulled in 5.3 million views, in the top 5 per cent of Netflix shows for the first half of 2025. She and Harry signed a five-year contract reported to be worth $100million with Netflix but that has now been replaced by a first-look deal which gives the streaming giant first refusal on any shows they create.

One proposal said to have been mentioned among a long list of possibilities is a documentary marking the 30th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death in 2027.

The Sussex’s office this week declined to confirm or deny if that is under consideration.