Meghan Markle has been using a retailer linked to Netflix for her brand As Ever’s selection of teabags, it has been revealed. The Duchess of Sussex’s hibiscus, lemon ginger and peppermint teas appeared to have been made by a firm headquartered in Larkspur, California – with a factory also 2,000 miles away in Illinois.
Meghan has, so far, released two batches of products via As Ever. The first was back in April, which sold out within an hour, and the second was last week, which sold out within 10 minutes. MailOnline has revealed that the name of the supplier is The Republic of Tea, with the company already selling a range of teas on its website featuring the branding of ITV’s Downton Abbey and Netflix’s Bridgerton.
The firm is believed to be the original supplier of Meghan’s £9 [$12] teas and £11 [$15] flower sprinkles – all of which Meghan is selling at triple the price.
As reported by The Sun, royal expert Margaret Holder also brand the former working royal as ‘Meghan Mark-up. She told the publication: “Customers are paying a considerable increase for Meghan’s label. She is taking advantage of celebrity branding. But it’s a case of Meghan Mark-up not Meghan Markle.”
The Mail states that, as of Tuesday, As Ever’s website also read ‘Brand: “republic-of-tea”‘ – which was later changed to ‘As Ever store’. It also reported that it is unclear whether Meghan bought her tea directly from Republic of Tea and had it packaged separately, or whether the company did the product, packaging and branding.
As Ever also mentions, the company is in the FAQ section on the website. The answer reads: “We partner with best-in-class vendors to bring our product ideas to life—translating our founder’s recipes and bespoke concepts into beautiful, scalable goods.”
The Republic of Tea website also reveals it uses ‘caffeine-free Nigerian hibiscus’ – which is notable given Meghan visited the country in a ‘quasi-royal tour’ with Prince Harry last year.
Meghan – who is mum to six-year-old Archie and four-year-old Lilibet – also revealed on her Spotify podcast Archetypes in October 2022 that she found out in a DNA-based genealogy test that she is “43% Nigerian”.
Just three months ago, in March 2025, Meghan released her Netflix series ‘With Love, Meghan’ under the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s lucrative deal with the streaming service.
A second series is also set to be released later this year, with As Ever also acting in a partnership with Netflix.