Meghan launches $148 advent calendar in first commercial venture since moving to UK and reveals she was ‘Christmas planning in June’
Meghan Markle has launched a £112 advent calendar featuring an illustration of her California home in her first commercial venture since moving back to Britain.
The Duchess of Sussex has partnered with Los Angeles chocolatier Compartés on the ‘limited-edition’ product for her As Ever business featuring 24 chocolates.
Flavours include strawberry, raspberry, blackberry and orange marmalade, plus what is described as a ‘special chocolate finished with Meghan’s own flower sprinkles’.
A press release declared ‘every detail was considered with care, including countdown numbers hand-painted in Meghan’s own penmanship using edible gold lustre’.
Compartés’s dark chocolate ganache truffle also features in the calendar, with Meghan’s writing said to turn ‘each day’s reveal into a small, personal moment’.
The calendar is priced at $148 (£112) and will be available to pre-order in the US on As Ever’s website from 5pm UK time today, with delivery from early next month.
Meghan’s business described this as the ‘latest chapter in an ongoing collaboration between the two brands’, after the $12 (£9) As Ever x Compartés chocolate bars.
As Ever also said the box’s design was ‘inspired by Meghan’s Montecito home and garden’, and she worked on it with Compartés creative director Jonathan Grahm.
Meghan has launched a £112 advent calendar featuring an illustration of her California home
The product features 24 chocolates and a festive illustration of the Montecito mansion
The product is ‘made to be enjoyed through December and treasured long after’ and ‘brings together the artistry of Compartés and the warmth that defines As Ever’.
An email sent to the As Ever mailing list last night said: ‘Created in collaboration with celebrated Los Angeles chocolatier Compartés, our limited-edition Advent Calendar arrives tomorrow for holiday pre-order.
‘Reserve yours beginning tomorrow for November delivery, just in time for the season of anticipation to begin. Some things are worth the wait.’
Compartés said it was also selling three other ‘ultra-giftable advent calendars’ at $120 (£91) each, including ‘Enchanted Castle’, ‘The Nutcracker’ and ‘Winter Forest’.
Ahead of today’s product launch, Meghan also shared a video of her and Mr Grahm zooming around an unidentified estate on a golf cart on her Instagram Stories.
The Duchess, who was behind the wheel, could be heard saying ‘Hang on!’ as Mr Grahm added ‘Stay tuned!’ and they enjoyed a laugh together.
The clip was set to Michael Bublé’s hit Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) and captioned ‘Christmas planning in June’.
Meghan also included early prints of the box’s artwork and footage of her beloved black Labrador Pula carrying an As Ever plushie toy in her mouth while the duchess lovingly stroked her head.
The duchess has continued promoting As Ever, which was launched in February last year, on Instagram since returning to the UK in August with the couple’s children Prince Archie, seven, and five-year-old Princess Lilibet.
Ahead of launching the advent calendar, As Ever shared Meghan’s top hosting tips, which include having ‘as much prepped as possible before guests arrive’.
The numbers are ‘hand-painted in Meghan’s own penmanship using edible gold lustre’
A press release for the advent calendar declared how ‘every detail was considered with care’
Meghan also advised saving one ‘simple task for the end’.
In an Instagram post labelled ‘Meghan’s Hosting Notes’, her As Ever firm suggested it should be: ‘Something you can finish in the kitchen while everyone settles in.’
It added: ‘A little preparation goes a long way toward making hosting feel effortless.’
The advice was accompanied by a picture of Meghan tying a white apron around her waist.
The duchess’ Netflix series With Love, Meghan, which offered recommendations for hosting, cooking and crafting, was panned by critics when it was launched alongside As Ever, which sells jam and flower sprinkles, in 2025.
Meghan welcomed her close friend Kelly McKee Zajfen to the UK last month, and Ms McKee Zajfen posted that the duchess has been given a ‘loving’ reception on her return, which has been ‘beautiful to witness’.
The Princess of Wales’s sister, the then Pippa Middleton, once wrote a book called Celebrate, about entertaining, but it was mocked for its over-simplistic advice and even sparked a parody social media account.
Meanwhile, Harry and Meghan’s spokesman said yesterday that international paparazzi who were seen looking into the grounds of Archie and Lilibet’s school were ‘extraordinarily reckless’ and accused them of an ‘unacceptable intrusion into the privacy of children’.
Two young men with backpacks and using a white van are understood to have been spotted by private security and school staff walking the perimeter of the school and monitoring children.
Meghan also posted a video of herself with Compartés creative director Jonathan Grahm
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at a David Foster Foundation event in Canada on August 7
A spokesman for the Sussexes called the actions ‘an extraordinary lack of judgment’ in the wake of the suspected terror plot near RAF Fairford, with a number of American children with families connected to the base said to attend the school.
Harry and Meghan, who returned to live in the UK just over a month ago, are waiting to hear whether they will be given taxpayer-funded security.
They pulled Archie and Lili out of their first-choice British school in September after just two days when heavy traffic in the area meant their private security team struggled to stay in a convoy during the school run.
The Sussexes stepped down as working royals in 2020 for personal and financial reasons but rumours remain rife as to why they unexpectedly relocated to the UK from California.
Speculation ranges from the couple wanting their children to develop a closer relationship with their grandfather King Charles, Meghan seeking a return to acting and the Sussexes wanting to increase their profile.
In the run-up to their return, Charles was said to be glad to be able to spend more time with the family but remained adamant they would not be working royals, and there was no half-in, half-out option.
Within two weeks of arriving, there was reported pushback from Harry and Meghan after a letter, authorised by the King, was circulated by the Lord Chamberlain to senior stakeholders in the Government and military reiterating the couple were ‘private citizens’ and setting out guidance on how they should be treated.
The duke and duchess were said to be ‘surprised’ by the formal letter and the couple, who are waiting to hear whether they will be given taxpayer-funded security, were reported to prefer the term ‘public figures’ instead.
