Meghan Markle may have returned to Britain with Prince Harry and their children, but her latest business venture is selling a very different destination: the California mansion the couple left behind. And as British public opinion toward the Sussexes grows increasingly negative, the Duchess of Sussex faces an awkward question about where her future really lies.

The 45-year-old duchess has turned her family’s $14.65 million Montecito estate into the centerpiece of a luxury Christmas offering from her lifestyle brand, As Ever.

Launched on October 1, the limited-edition advent calendar features 24 handcrafted chocolates created in partnership with Los Angeles chocolatier Compartés. Priced at $148, the collection comes in a decorative box inspired by Meghan and Harry’s Mediterranean-style California residence.

The packaging features palm trees, chickens, and an illustration of the couple’s sprawling home. Inside, the chocolates take inspiration from the gardens and products that have helped establish As Ever’s identity.

The brand describes the collection as “thoughtfully inspired by our Montecito garden,” presenting it as a festive countdown filled with small indulgences.

Each chocolate bears a number reproduced from Meghan’s handwriting and finished with edible gold detailing.

The seasonal launch would ordinarily be another chapter in Meghan’s growing lifestyle business. But the timing adds significance.

In late August, the Sussexes returned to the United Kingdom with their children, Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, ending six years of living primarily in California.

They have retained their Montecito estate, however, and their latest commercial campaign suggests that California remains central to the Duchess’s business identity, regardless of where the family happens to be living.

Meghan’s $148 Christmas Offering Turns Montecito Into a Brand

The advent calendar represents more than another addition to As Ever’s growing product range.

It transforms Meghan’s former everyday surroundings into something customers can purchase, display and experience during the holiday season.

The estate itself has long been associated with the Sussexes’ efforts to establish an independent life after stepping back from senior royal duties in 2020.

Purchased for $14.65 million that year, the seven-acre property served as the backdrop to their post-royal lives, family photographs and, eventually, Meghan’s commercial ventures.

For As Ever, that setting has considerable marketing value.

California gardens, homemade preserves, outdoor entertaining and relaxed domestic luxury are recurring elements of the brand’s presentation.

The advent calendar brings those themes together in a single product.

Its tastes draw on As Ever’s existing fruit spreads, including strawberry, raspberry, blackberry and orange marmalade. Other selections include a chocolate featuring the brand’s flower sprinkles and a dark chocolate ganache truffle from Compartés.

Meghan also promoted the collaboration through behind-the-scenes footage showing her working with Compartés chief executive Jonathan Grahm in California.

The footage, which she described as Christmas planning during June, indicates that the project was already taking shape before the family’s return to Britain.

That detail is important because the calendar cannot reasonably be portrayed as a direct reaction to the negative British polling released months later.

Instead, it demonstrates how deeply Montecito was already embedded in Meghan’s commercial plans.

Even after the family crossed the Atlantic, As Ever continued selling the California lifestyle she had invested years cultivating.

The Sussexes Are Back in Britain — But the Numbers Are Uncomfortable

The commercial launch comes as Harry and Meghan confront a difficult reality about their public standing in the United Kingdom.

A YouGov survey published October 29 found that just 20% of British adults held a favorable opinion of Meghan, compared with 68% who viewed her unfavorably.

Her net favorability rating stood at minus 48, the lowest recorded for her in YouGov’s royal family tracker. Harry’s numbers were also weak.

Only 29% of respondents viewed the duke positively, down four percentage points from July. Another 60% expressed an unfavorable opinion.

The survey questioned 2,116 adults across Great Britain on October 22 and 23, approximately two months after the family’s return.

The data show that coming back to Britain has not produced an immediate improvement in the couple’s public image.

But they do not establish that the relocation caused the decline, nor do they prove that British consumers would reject Meghan’s products.

Signs also suggest that public attitudes toward the couple’s family relationships are more complicated than the unfavorable ratings suggest.

An Ipsos survey conducted in late August found that 38% of Britons believed a reconciliation between the Sussexes and other members of the royal family would be a positive development.

Only 17% thought such a reconciliation would be bad.

Still, an unmistakable contrast exists between the welcome Meghan’s lifestyle marketing seeks to create and the skepticism she continues to encounter in Britain.

That contrast could become an important consideration as As Ever grows.

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Why California Still Makes Commercial Sense for Meghan

For Meghan, Montecito offers something the British royal establishment cannot: a recognizable lifestyle identity she controls independently.

The As Ever business is built around her tastes, experiences and deliberately curated vision of domestic life. The California connection supplies much of that identity.

Its imagery evokes sunshine, gardens, entertaining and a version of luxury that feels informal rather than ceremonial.

Britain, by comparison, brings Meghan into a public conversation dominated by her complicated relationship with the monarchy, the couple’s departure from royal duties and years of highly publicized disagreements.

Those controversies do not necessarily prevent commercial success in the United Kingdom. But they can make it harder for a lifestyle brand to separate its products from the public debate surrounding its founder.

There is also a practical business consideration.

As Ever has developed relationships with American suppliers, including Compartés, and its operations persist closely connected to California.

Sustaining those relationships while living abroad is entirely possible.

The larger challenge is preserving the brand’s identity without making it feel disconnected from Meghan’s current life.

That is where the holiday collection is especially revealing.

Rather than introducing an English country-house aesthetic to reflect her family’s new surroundings, Meghan has continued to stress the Montecito home that helped characterize her post-royal reinvention.

Whether that choice indicates a long-term commercial strategy, a product conceived before the relocation, or simply Meghan’s personal affection for California is not publicly established.

What is apparent is that the brand has not abandoned its American roots.

Harry’s British Return Has a Different Purpose

For Prince Harry, the move back to Britain appears to carry a strong family dimension.

In a GQ interview released in October, the duke said he wanted Archie and Lilibet to experience the country where he grew up.

He also spoke about the significance of their attending school in Britain, suggesting that the opportunity to share that part of his upbringing influenced the family’s decision.

The Sussexes are reportedly residing in the Cotswolds, away from official royal residences.

A November 3 report in Harper’s Bazaar, citing an unnamed source at another publication, suggested the family moved from a friend’s main house to another property on the same estate.

The details of that arrangement have not been independently confirmed.

The couple has also made clear through reporting surrounding their relocation that they do not intend to resume their former positions as working royals.

Their extended stay in Britain therefore does not automatically signal a professional return to the monarchy.

Instead, it could allow Harry to reconnect with his British roots while Meghan continues running a business with substantial American ties.

That arrangement is not inherently contradictory.

The couple can have family priorities in one country and commercial interests in another.

But their decision to retain the Montecito property also means California is still a practical option if their circumstances change.

The Bigger Question Is Where Meghan’s Future Really Lies

The most interesting aspect of Meghan’s Christmas launch may not be its price, packaging or elaborate chocolates.

It is the notice that the Sussexes now have two very different worlds to navigate.

In Britain, their return has renewed attention on their relationships with King Charles, Prince William and the wider monarchy.

The latest polling shows that public acceptance continues to be a significant challenge, even as some Britons support efforts toward family reconciliation.

In California, Meghan has a business built around an image that exists independently of royal protocol.

That distinction gives her considerable flexibility.

She does not need to be permanently based in Montecito to continue selling products inspired by the property. Nor does the calendar prove that the family’s British stay is merely temporary.

There is no public evidence that Meghan intends to abandon Britain or that weak polling has caused a change in the couple’s plans.

Nevertheless, the brand’s reliance on Montecito raises a legitimate commercial question: Can Meghan build the next phase of her business while living thousands of miles from the lifestyle that gives it much of its appeal?

For now, As Ever appears to be betting that the California connection is still valuable enough to travel.

The Sussexes may have returned to Britain, but Meghan’s business is still selling the dream they created in Montecito. And with her British approval ratings at a historic low, the contrast between those two identities has rarely been more striking.

The advent calendar offers customers a small piece of the couple’s California life. Whether that life eventually becomes their primary home again remains an open question.