{"id":24345,"date":"2025-08-26T13:17:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-26T13:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/24345\/"},"modified":"2025-08-26T13:17:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T13:17:10","slug":"like-a-montecito-marie-antoinette-critics-deliver-soul-crushing-reviews-of-meghan-markles-netflix-season-2-as-they-dub-it-painfully-contrived-with-cast-of-nano-celebrities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/24345\/","title":{"rendered":"‘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’"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

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.<\/p>\n

The Mail’s Liz Jones branded the new season ‘staged, fake and dull’<\/a> – but unlike other critics, commended Meghan for being ‘genuinely earnest’.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Guardian dismissed the show as a ‘gormless lifestyle filler’, while The Telegraph described her as a ‘Montecito Marie Antoinette’.<\/p>\n

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’.<\/p>\n

Even with celebrity guests including\u00a0Chrissy Teigen<\/a>, John Legend<\/a> and Tan France<\/a>, critics argue the show lacks substance – and claim Meghan failed to be authentic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During the show, she admits to chef Christina Tosi: ‘Usually, I don’t like baking because it’s so measured.’\u00a0Her own range As Ever launched in March, however, includes ready-made shortbread cookies and crepe mixes with pre-measured amounts.<\/p>\n

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.’<\/p>\n

But others found it grating – and deeply self-indulgent.<\/p>\n

\"Model <\/p>\n

Model and TV personality Chrissy Teigen turns up with her husband, the singer-songwriter John Legend, in the series<\/p>\n

\"Meghan <\/p>\n

Meghan Markle opens up about her family a number of times in the lifestyle show, which features cooking, crafting and hosting tips<\/p>\n

\"Radio <\/p>\n

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’<\/p>\n

Daily Mail\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Mail’s Liz Jones branded the new season ‘staged, fake and dull’<\/a> – but unlike other critics,\u00a0praised Meghan for being ‘genuinely earnest’.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘It is all staged and fake, of course \u2013 it’s again filmed in a hired house near her home in Montecito \u2013 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘What I love about Meghan \u2013 aside from the fact she makes a pressed forget-me-not necklace for Guy, her beagle (RIP) \u2013 is she seems genuinely earnest: it really is not an act.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘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.’\u00a0<\/p>\n

Guardian\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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.’<\/p>\n

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.’<\/p>\n

The Times\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘Mainly, though, it was the bookbinding, a TV programme about watching glue dry. It went downhill from there.’<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘That’s an entry for Miss World, not a concept for ten hours of TV.’<\/p>\n

Radio Times\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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’.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘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’.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Harry <\/p>\n

Harry took Meghan away on a romantic trip to Botswana where the pair camped under the stars for their third date<\/p>\n

\"Meghan <\/p>\n

Meghan landed another series despite her last being met with excoriating reviews from critics, who branded it ‘bland’ and ‘toe-curling’\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The Netflix show, which is streaming from today, was filmed last year in a rented home in Montecito, close to the Sussex’s own mansion\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Telegraph\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Telegraph’s Anita Singh said Harry’s absence from the show – despite the programme being\u00a0based on the couple’s Californian home life – was becoming ‘increasingly weird’.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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.’\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Telegraph gave the series just two stars, and titled their review ‘More tone-deafness from the Montecito Marie Antoinette.’\u00a0<\/p>\n

Throughout the eight-part series Meghan is seen baking with her guests \u2014 at one point preparing sourdough for Teigen and creating homemade McDonald’s-style apple pies with France using ready-made puff pastry.<\/p>\n

‘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.’<\/p>\n

She later adds: ‘I love the idea of being able to rethink baking to be just a little more spontaneous.’<\/p>\n

With Love, Meghan follows the same format as the critically-savaged first series.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.’<\/p>\n

According to Meghan, she cooks breakfast for both children most days, fried eggs and pancakes.<\/p>\n

‘But I like to do surprise pancakes for the kids,’ she revealed during one episode.<\/p>\n

‘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.”<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Prince Harry did appear fleetingly in the final episode of series one.<\/p>\n

The Netflix show was filmed last year in a rented home in Montecito, close to the Sussex’s own mansion.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The Sussex’s office this week declined to confirm or deny if that is under consideration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Critics have delivered scathing reviews of Meghan Markle’s new Netflix series, labelling the Duchess of Sussex ‘needy’ and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24346,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[268],"tags":[434,4705,118,18,117,19,17,20445,5091,127,8505],"class_list":{"0":"post-24345","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-chrissy-teigen","10":"tag-dailymail","11":"tag-eire","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-john-legend","16":"tag-meghan-markle","17":"tag-netflix","18":"tag-royals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24345","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}