The Tig: a look back at Meghan Markle’s lifestyle blog

Before becoming a member of the royal family, Meghan Markle’s professional portfolio consisted of acting, philanthropic endeavours and running a self-published lifestyle blog, The Tig.

The website described itself as “a hub for the discerning palate – those with a hunger for food, travel, fashion and beauty”. It featured recipes, travel guides and beauty tips, as well as interviews with highly successful women including Elizabeth Hurley, Ivanka Trump and Priyanka Chopra.

Closing The Tig in 2017 was “among the sacrifices” Markle made when she entered royal life, said Tatler. But the New York Post reported last week that the Duchess of Sussex could be “staging her old blog” for “a major comeback soon”.

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The Tig’s origins

After launching in 2014, Markle’s site “was well on its way to becoming the next Goop”, the lifestyle and wellness brand launched by Gwyneth Paltrow in 2008, said Cosmopolitan.

The Tig took its name from the Italian wine Tignanello. Markle said in the site’s bio that a sip of this wine suddenly made her understand “what people meant by the body, legs, structure of wine”. It was “an aha moment at its finest”, she wrote. And so Tig became Markle’s “shorthand for the feeling of suddenly understanding something”, said The Cut.

Though the blog may have closed, “thankfully, nothing on the internet is ever truly gone for good”, said Cosmopolitan. And “ever since the site was excised from the web”, The Tig “has become a source of fascination”, said Grazia. Its content reveals “unexpected insights” on its founder’s “attitude to life”.

“She’s fully sold on meditation,” the magazine recounted, but was not such a fan of baking: “There’s something about the technicality of it that stifles my inner rebel; no dash of this or extra spoonful of that.”

Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray Love inspired the future duchess to spend a month in Italy, and her favourite drink at the time was “red wine hot chocolate”, a concoction that she said “combines two of every lady’s classic loves, wine and chocolate”. She’s also a strong “advocate” for “alone time”.

Farewell friends

Markle bid farewell to her “passion project” in a post published in 2017. She thanked her “amazing community of inspiration, support, fun and frivolity” for “three beautiful years” of “adventure”.

It was “the end of an era” for Markle, said People. There was speculation that the site’s closure was due to the future duchess’s relationship with Prince Harry, which had recently been made public. A source told the site that those reports were “false” and that the project was brought to an end so that Markle could focus on shooting the upcoming season of US TV drama Suits.

But earlier this month The Mirror reported that Markle could be preparing to go “head-to-head with Gwyneth Paltrow” in the lifestyle blogosphere again by taking on the “mega-successful” Goop. Documents filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office indicate that “a potentially rebooted version” of The Tig could be in the pipeline, said the New York Post.

Twig take two?

Markle previously renewed The Tig’s trademark in 2019, sparking speculation that she could be planning to relaunch the site. But her spokesperson told People that the trademark’s continuation was to “prevent false branding, to avoid others purporting to be the Duchess or affiliated with her”.

Now, “having taken her final curtsy as a working royal”, Markle is “in a different position”, said The Cut. With a podcast, books and Netflix documentary already among her and Prince Harry’s post-royal projects, “why not add a blog to the roster?”

A revival of The Tig “could open up a new avenue for the duchess’s independent career”, said Tatler. According to the filed documents, Markle might also “take on an agony aunt role on the site”, providing “commentary in the field of personal relationships”, said the Mirror.

Some commentators are sceptical about the prospect of Tig 2.0. “Behind every successful female lifestyle brand is the straightforward science of envy,” said Celia Walden in The Telegraph. “But how many women want Markle’s life? Personally, I don’t know any.”

Daniela Elser in the New Zealand Herald agreed that a new chapter of The Tig would be a “disastrous idea”. But the trademark’s renewal may prove to be nothing more than evidence that “a canny lawyer” is trying to ensure “no enterprising sorts can get their mitts” on The Tig “to sell Sussex merch”.