Meghan Markle has shared another aesthetic video to promote her lifestyle brand As ever – but royal fans soon spotted a slightly disturbing detail.
The Duchess of Sussex, 44, this week released the new trailer for the second season of her Netflix show – With Love, Meghan – as well as sharing photos and videos displaying a selection of homemade treats made using ingredients from her brand.
In one video, shared as a story to her Instagram account @aseverofficial, Meghan could be seen making a cup of tea next to a plate of shortbread cookies with jam and flower sprinkles alongside sprigs of foliage.
But as eagle-eyed royal fans shared the clip to social media, they soon noticed what appeared to be a tiny insect crawling around near a flower cookie at the bottom of the plate.
The bug could be seen moving around the biscuits for a few seconds, before disappearing from view.
One person wrote on X/Twitter: ‘There’s literally a BUG crawling around on the plate! You think Meghan would notice this BEFORE posting!’
Another added: ‘Ewwww! I see it.’
A third said: ‘OMG…there IS a bug! I had to look really hard but it is definitely there!’ while a fourth noted: ‘Oh my god there is a creepy crawly on the plate.’
Meghan Markle has shared another aesthetic video to promote her lifestyle brand As ever – but royal fans soon spotted a slightly disturbing detail. Pictured in the trailer for the second series of her lifestyle show, With Love, Meghan
In one video, shared as a story to her Instagram account @aseverofficial, Meghan could be seen making a cup of tea, with an arrangement of shortbread cookies with jam and flower sprinkles
Others noted that while insects are to be expected when eating outside in the summer, especially with homemade goods, it was more surprising that it could still be spotted in the Instagram brand photos.
One person said: ‘When I serve biscuits in the garden, something like that can happen quickly. But when I’m filming to publish, I check every little detail.’
Another added: ‘It most likely came from the greenery she elevated the table with.’
The clip is no longer available to view on the As ever Instagram account as stories expire after 24 hours.
The team also posted a similar photograph to their permanent feed, again featuring cookies with flower sprinkles.
It was captioned: ‘The As ever team getting creative in the kitchen with our shortbread cookie mix, flower sprinkles, and delicious fruit spreads. Perfect for tea time…or anytime.’
The new trailer for With Love, Meghan was released on Tuesday and showed Meghan hosting a fresh batch of celebrities and influencers at the rented California house close to her and Prince Harry’s Montecito mansion.
With Love, Meghan was renewed for a second season just as season one was released in March. All the episodes were filmed at the same time, it is understood.
But as eagle-eyed royal fans shared the clip to social media, they soon noticed what appeared to be a tiny insect crawling around near a flower cookie
The bug could be seen moving around the biscuits for a few seconds, before disappearing from view
People were horrified after spotting the bug – and that it had managed to make it to Instagram
Guests on season two will include Chrissy Teigen and Jamie Kern Lima, the trailer revealed.
In the one-minute, 27-second teaser, Meghan is seen eating cheese, prepping snacks and drinks with friends and even reveals the food her husband Prince Harry doesn’t like.
‘Do you know who doesn’t like lobster? My husband,’ she says as she prepares the seafood.
As the trailer comes to an end, Meghan reveals: ‘I love these moments of discovery and beauty. So let’s be curious together.’
Meghan’s lifestyle show failed to break into Netflix’s top 300 programmes for the first half of 2025 and was even thrashed by multiple seasons of Suits. The numbers watching were ‘dismal’, an insider at the streamer reportedly said.
Meghan has also filmed a Christmas special for broadcast in December, in a potential clash with the Princess of Wales’ annual carol concert at Westminster Abbey.
The first series showed the former Suits star, 44, inviting friends and famous guests to a California estate, where she shared cooking, gardening and hosting tips.
But it was panned by many reviewers who called it ‘sensationally absurd and trite’ with the Duchess of Sussex called ‘tone-deaf’ and punting a show that ‘vibrates with vacuous joylessness’.
The team had posted a similar photograph to their permanent feed, again featuring cookies with flower sprinkles
Meghan in the new trailer for the second season of her lifestyle and cooking show
In the one-minute, 27-second teaser, Meghan is seen eating cheese, prepping food and drink with friends and even reveals the food her husband Prince Harry doesn’t like: lobster
Guests on season two will include Chrissy Teigan (left), the trailer revealed today
Guests also include Jamie Kern Lima (right), who Meghan recently interviewed with
It has an IMDB rating of 3.2 out of 10 and a 38% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, indicates that the TV show is considered ‘rotten’.
Meghan was also lampooned for putting pretzels from the packet into a plastic bag, chiding one guest for using Markle as her surname instead of Sussex and one viewer threatened to sue claiming her recipe for homemade bath salts burned her skin.
Meanwhile, outraged fans criticised the Duchess and Netflx after it was revealed American model Chrissy Teigen is among the guests on the second season of With Love, Meghan.
Her inclusion has cast a shadow over the second installment of With Love, Meghan – even before its release – after social media users highlighted the former Sports Illustrated model’s bullying row.
In 2021, John Legend’s wife Chrissy faced severe backlash after abusive tweets by the star – dating back to 2011 – resurfaced online. In one, she told then-16-year-old Courtney Stodden – who identifies as they/them – to kill themselves.
While the star has since apologised, it appeared fans have yet to fully forgive Chrissy for the disparaging tweets towards Courtney after they spotted her laughing and joking in the kitchen with Prince Harry’s wife.
The appearance of Chrissy in the show is all the more baffling, given Meghan’s propensity to distance herself from pals who find themselves at the centre of controversy.
Despite the bullying controversy, however, Chrissy has been close with the Duchess, especially after the Sussexes relocated to California in 2020.
As the food-filled trailer comes to an end, Meghan reveals: ‘I love these moments of discovery and beauty. So let’s be curious together’
The Duchess of Sussex in her Netflix series With Love, Meghan which came out in March
Now, her cameo on the forthcoming season of With Love, Meghan has called their friendship into question after several people highlighted how the Duchess has championed for stricter online safety regulations while speaking out against cyberbullying.
Last October, Meghan reportedly described herself as being ‘one of them most bullied people in the world’ during a meeting with teenage girls at the youth leadership organisation Girls Inc in Santa Barbara.
Earlier that year in August, Harry and Meghan’s Archewell Foundation launched the Parents’ Network in support of ‘parents who have first-hand knowledge of the pain and destruction caused by social media use’.
Netflix viewers highlighted the irony of roping in Chrissy, who said she was ‘ashamed and completely embarrassed’ by the tweets in her public apology to Courtney, for the show helmed by Meghan – who has consistently spoken out about children’s digital safety.
‘She advocates against online bullying then has Chrissy Teigen on…make it make sense Netflix,’ one X user wrote.
Another message read: ‘How can Meghan Markle associate with Chrissy Teigen, a self-confessed online bully and troll who purports to suport the Parents Network who are campaigning against this very thing?’
‘This round may destroy her,’ one X user added. ‘Chrissy Teigen guests this season. WTF thought she was a good idea?’
A similar comment read: ‘You couldn’t make it up, I wonder if it will help support the parents of the people Chrissy Teigen has bullied?’
Prince Harry and Meghan at the ESPY Awards at Dolby Theatre in Hollywood in July 2024
‘How do you have a charity for the parents of children who took their lives due to social media bullying but be besties with Chrissy Teigen and feature her in your show? I’m truly baffled.’
Courtney incurred relentless bullying both publicly and in private from Chrissy, who tweeted at the then-teen in 2011: ‘My Friday fantasy: you. dirt nap. mmmmmm baby’, followed by: ‘go. to sleep. forever.’
Old tweets from 2013 have also resurfaced in which she described nine-year-old Oscar nominee Quvenzhané Wallis as ‘cocky’ and called Teen Mom star Farrah Abraham, then 21, a ‘wh***’.
And ironically enough, Chrissy had stated that she was leaving Twitter before the scandal erupted because she was experiencing too much ‘negative’ abuse.
‘This no longer serves me as positively as it serves me negatively … I’ve always been portrayed as the strong clap back girl but I’m just not,’ she said.
After the barrage of tweets came to light and people called for the model to be ‘cancelled,’ she issued an apology to Courtney – who was catapulted into the spotlight as the teen bride of the much older Green Mile actor Doug Hutchinson.
‘Not a lot of people are lucky enough to be held accountable for all their past bulls**t in front of the entire world. I’m mortified and sad at who I used to be. I was an insecure, attention seeking troll. I am ashamed and completely embarrassed at my behavior but that is nothing compared to how I made Courtney feel,’ she began.
‘I have tried to connect with Courtney privately but since I publicly fueled all this, I want to also publicly apologize. I’m so sorry, Courtney. I hope you can heal now knowing how deeply sorry I am,’ she wrote.
Back in 2014, Chrissy and Meghan were snapped alongside Nina Agdal and Shay Mitchell in New York City as they participated in the DirecTV Beach Bowl at Pier 40
It came as experts claimed that the Sussexes’ new Netflix deal is a ‘downgrade’ on their previous $100million five-year tie-up and more ‘we’ll call you’ than ‘here’s the chequebook’.
The couple signed a new ‘multi-year, first look deal for film and television projects’ with the streaming giant – understood to be worth less for the pair than their previous contract.
The ‘first-look’ arrangement means Netflix can say yes or no to new film or television projects before anyone else – allowing them to pick and choose what they invest in.
PR expert Mark Borkowski described the new deal as a ‘downgrade’, claiming it falls a long way from the jackpot figure of Harry and Meghan’s original contract in 2020.
He told the Daily Mail: ‘I think Netflix has done a very neat job of pivoting away from two very expensive people who didn’t deliver, and they’ve taken that deal off the table, and they’ve given them a modest one.
‘It’s not like they’re gradually uncoupling – it’s a downgrade. Netflix are not going to expose themselves to those budgets again. It’s Netflix saying, ‘Let’s have a look at your content, but we’ll pick and choose, mate’.’
The couple’s new output will include a second season of the Duchess’s ‘With Love, Meghan’ lifestyle show later this month, as well as a Christmas special in December.
One of the ‘easy ways to show up lovingly’ suggested by the mother-of-two in the trailer – is making biscuits dolloped with jam
During a conversation with Spanish restauranteur José Ramón Andrés, Meghan revealed a fun insight into 40-year-old Prince Harry’s tastes
Meghan, pictured with her husband during the Invictus Games earlier this year, revealed her husband doesn’t like lobster
The Sussexes are also working on ‘Masaka Kids, A Rhythm Within’ – a documentary about orphaned children in Uganda, where the ‘shadows of the HIV/Aids crisis linger’.
There is also ‘active development’ on other projects with Netflix which ‘span a variety of content genres’, including an adaptation of romantic novel Meet Me At The Lake.
Netflix has already released the first series of With Love, Meghan as well as Polo, Heart of Invictus, Live to Lead and the couple’s bombshell documentary Harry & Meghan as well as being a business partner on Meghan’s lifestyle brand, As Ever.
Five years ago, Harry and Meghan secured a lucrative contract thought to be worth $100million (£74million) with Netflix after quitting as senior working royals in 2020.
The renewed deal was described by the Sussexes – who made the announcement with Netflix – as ‘extending their creative partnership’ through Archewell Productions.
But the new terms are understood to be worth less for Harry and Meghan than their previous contract, according to a person familiar with the deal, and represent Netflix loosening its ties with the couple.
In a statement, Meghan said: ‘We’re proud to extend our partnership with Netflix and expand our work together to include the As Ever brand.’
Netflix chief content officer Bela Bajaria said: ‘We’re excited to continue our partnership.’
