Meghan Markle has unveiled a £112 advent calendar illustrated with her California home, marking her first commercial venture since returning to Britain.
The Duchess of Sussex has created the limited-edition As Ever product in partnership with Los Angeles chocolatier Compartés. It contains 24 chocolates.
The selection includes strawberry, raspberry, blackberry and orange marmalade flavours, alongside a special chocolate decorated with Meghan’s own flower sprinkles.
According to a press release, every element was carefully designed, including countdown numbers hand-painted in Meghan’s handwriting with edible gold lustre.
Compartés’ dark chocolate ganache truffle is also included, while Meghan’s personal lettering is said to make each daily opening feel like a small, intimate moment.
Priced at $148 (£112), the calendar will be available to pre-order in the US through the As Ever website from 5pm UK time today, with deliveries expected to begin early next month.
As Ever described the launch as the latest stage of its ongoing partnership with Compartés, following the release of their $12 (£9) chocolate bars.
The box takes design inspiration from Meghan’s Montecito home and garden. She developed the artwork alongside Compartés creative director Jonathan Grahm.
Meghan has introduced a £112 advent calendar decorated with an illustration of her California home
The calendar contains 24 chocolates and features a festive depiction of the Montecito mansion
The product is intended to be enjoyed throughout December and kept afterwards, bringing together Compartés’ confectionery craftsmanship with the warmth associated with As Ever.
An email sent to the As Ever mailing list last night announced: “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 is also offering three other “ultra-giftable advent calendars” for $120 (£91) each: Enchanted Castle, The Nutcracker and Winter Forest.
Before the calendar’s launch, Meghan posted a video on her Instagram Stories showing her and Mr Grahm travelling around an unidentified estate in a golf cart.
Meghan was driving and could be heard telling him, “Hang on!” Mr Grahm replied, “Stay tuned!” as the pair laughed together.
The clip featured Michael Bublé’s Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) and carried the caption: “Christmas planning in June.”
Meghan also shared early images of the box design, along with footage of her beloved black Labrador, Pula, carrying an As Ever plush toy while the duchess gently stroked her head.
The Duchess has continued to promote As Ever, which launched in February last year, through Instagram since returning to the UK in August with her children, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five.
Before the advent calendar was announced, As Ever published Meghan’s hosting advice, including the recommendation to have as much prepared as possible before guests arrive.
The numbers are ‘hand-painted in Meghan’s own penmanship using edible gold lustre’
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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.
