Putting my job as a royal reporter aside for a brief moment, I have been counting down the days until the release of ‘With Love, Meghan’, the Netflix series which was sensibly postponed from the scheduled January 15 date because of the tragic California wildfires. Excited for multiple reasons for its launch on March 4 – including being a fan of culinary delights and royal-inspired TV spin-offs, I honestly believed this was The Duchess of Sussexes’ big chance to prove to the world she had once again found a comfortable platform to be her true self and to inspire others, five years on from stepping down as a senior working royal in 2020.
As expected, viewers were treated to hours of Meghan Markle in the kitchen alongside her special guests. However, the streaming giant promised a “time for connection” and an opportunity to “get a sense of the magic” created between the duchess and her friends – something that, in reality, I believe was only strongly apparent with one special guest – Hollywood’s Mindy Kaling. Episode two titled ‘Welcome to the Party’ welcomes the actress and comedian, Mindy Kaling, as they begin preparations for a garden party. Only a couple of minutes after Meghan welcomes her friend into the rented multi-million-pound mansion in Montecito, I finally like felt it was an excitable watch.
Throughout the series, Meghan’s remarks and light-hearted jokes failed to land with her audience, but Mindy’s comedic timing and effortlessly funny personality had me hooked.
As Meghan welcomes a fashionably double-denim-dressed Mindy to the programme, she hands her a glass of fizz before Mindy jokingly asks: “Am I going to get hammered?”. It’s a breath of fresh air to see a naturally relaxed Mindy, enjoy the filming experience with her friend, poke fun at situations including jam rankings, and also claim she could do “Romanian deadlifts” with Meghan’s heavy Le Creuset cookware.
During Meghan’s attempt at sharing noticeable differences between her and Prince Harry’s terminology while making tea party bites, Meghan reveals her husband calls ladybugs “ladybirds”, as per the rules of the British English language. Jokingly disagreeing with Prince Harry, Mindy suggests he should now adopt the American term since he’s living in the United States. “It’s not a bird” she quips, “It a bug, Harry, I’ll tell it to his face! Say it right, you know?”.
Social media users, however, have also picked up on the awkward moment in which Meghan appears to correct her friend on her last name, with some X users believing it was “an insult to verbally correct her”. “It’s so funny you keep saying Meghan Markle, you know I’m Sussex now,” Meghan explains and then goes on to relay how it feels to share a name with her children.
This isn’t the first time the pair have ‘worked’ together – The Office star first appeared publicly on the Duchess’ now-defunct Spotify Podcast, Archetypes, and now have reunited on-screen in Montecito to film Meghan’s second episode of her series.
For me, their friendship, however, has common ground, both having portrayed characters in successful US TV shows, Meghan as Rachel in Suits and Mindy as Kelly Kapoor in the American version of The Office.
Reflecting on this, the two also partake in a short exchange about their length of time filming and uprooting to film their respective shows. Mindy’s career has since rocketed, having developed The Mindy Project, which aired on Hulu, and most recently co-creating and writing the successful Netflix Show Never Have I Ever about a first-generation Indian American teenager. Her many talents awarded the mother-of-three a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame earlier this year.
Ultimately, I believe the success of Meghan’s show is not just tied to her personality but to the authenticity of its multiple guests – including the fabulous cameos from talented chef Roy Choi to the glamorous influencer Delfina Blaquier. But Mindy Kaling’s presence provides a level of sincerity that feels needed at this stage of Meghan’s new brand launch and will be impactful to the success and quality of the show.