She was in a jam.
Meghan Markle has revealed that some of her nearest and dearest friends “took it personally” after not receiving a jar of her homemade jam last year.
The Duchess of Sussex’s Netflix cooking series “With Love, Meghan,” which boasts eight episodes, premiered on the platform Tuesday and offers up a “how-to guide” for entertaining.
In the second episode of her show, the former working royal, 43, is joined by “The Office” alum Mindy Kaling as the duo host a garden tea party.
During one scene in the kitchen, Kaling, 45, gushed over how delicious Markle’s homemade preserves were that she sent out to pals last year during the initial rollout of her American Riviera Orchard lifestyle brand, which was recently renamed to As Ever.
The “Suits” alum sent out lemon-filled gift baskets containing fresh fruit jam to 50 of her friends last summer.
Each package was labeled 1 through 50 on customized jar stickers sporting her brand’s old logo.
“When I received a box of your preserves in the mail, it was probably one of the most glamorous moments of my life,” the “Mindy Project” star told Markle.
“But then, I looked at the label and it said there were like 50, and then I, of course, as a very hierarchical person, was like, ‘Who are these other people? Does having a lower number make me more special?’”
“I did not think about it,” Markle said in response. “It was not a ranking. It was just, ‘Let me share them.’ And then people started to take it very personally.”
Kaling — whose jar was labeled 19 of 50 — revealed that she rushed over to Instagram to search for other recipients of Markle’s preserves.
“I’m zooming in to see what numbers they have,” she confessed with a laugh.
Markle then revealed that the very first batch, labeled 1 of 50, was reserved for her mother, Doria Ragland.
“I did save 1 of 50 for my mom,” Markle admitted. “Felt like the right thing to do. And then I just thought, ‘Anyone who got one of those 50 jars that I was making on my stove in my actual kitchen at my house.’ I hope they all felt like, ‘No, I want to share this with you.’”
“It was extremely good,” Kaling says. “And a lot of people asked to taste it. And you know what I told them? Get your own jar.”
Kaling, who has been friends with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex since 2022, was among the several famous names to receive the jam.
Tracee Ellis Ross, Kris Jenner, designer Tracy Robbins and Argentinian model Delfina Blaquier, the wife of Prince Harry’s close friend and polo player Nacho Figueras, also received Markle’s strawberry condiment.
“That’s a raspberry preserve I made yesterday,” Markle told Kaling during their episode. “You know, technically, it can’t be called jam because jam has to be equal parts sugar and fruit.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
