Meghan Markle has said she’s had a ‘full circle’ moment by collaborating with Soho House, where she and Harry had their first date.
The Duchess of Sussex, 44, said she was ‘so excited’ to see her products in Soho Home, Soho House’s interior design store, on Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood.
The former royal posted a video on her Instagram to Diana Ross‘s song ‘The Boss’ and showed herself stepping into the store, which was dressed up with products from her lifestyle brand, As Ever.
Her collection of jams, honeys, flower sprinkles, mulling kits, candles and various other products was placed on a table, followed by her $89 (£67) bottles of Napa Valley Brut.
Dressed in a simple black vest top and suit, trousers paired with a belt and a brown jacket, Meghan beamed and applauded herself as she strolled around the store.
The mother-of-two urged people to visit the As Ever pop-up, adding that the full collection was available and ‘open to everyone’ – despite Soho House’s exclusive reputation.
But the Duchess’s connection to the chain is far more extensive, as the private members’ club is where she and her husband, Prince Harry, who she lovingly calls ‘H’, had their first date.
On her Instagram, she referenced the special connection and wrote: ‘Talk about a full circle moment! In my old stomping ground of West Hollywood, with a brand, family and friends that have been part of my life for so long…and also a part of my love story with H (since our very first date was at a SH restaurant).’
Meghan Markle posed with her As Ever range in the Soho Home store in West Hollywood on her Instagram
Harry and Meghan are pictured together on their second date, as shown in their 2022 Netflix docuseries
In his memoir, Spare, the Duke of Sussex said that after exchanging texts, she suggested meeting for drinks at a Soho House, ‘her headquarters whenever she came to London’, and booked a table for them on July 3, 2016.
But it was a Soho House in Toronto where the couple’s love truly blossomed.
In his book, Harry shared that he and Meghan went to a Halloween party hosted at that club with his cousin, Princess Eugenie and her partner Jack Brooksbank.
Also at their intimate gathering was Meghan’s friend Markus Anderson, a consultant for Soho House and often referred to as the ‘second most important man’ in her life.
He was instrumental in helping Harry and Meghan’s relationship flourish and was even by her side during her first public appearance with Harry at the Invictus Games in 2017 in Toronto.
He was her ‘bouncer’ as the global media thronged outside a New York hotel when she hosted her £350,000 baby shower; and in a website post to him, she once wrote: ‘What would I do without you, my loving, supportive, and endlessly fun friend… I love you SO much.’]
Debonair, charming and with impeccable contacts, Markus is so close to Meghan that she refers to him as uncle to her beloved dogs and the pair were even photographed on holiday together in Madrid.
He worked as a waiter at the A-list members’ club in London when he caught the eye of well-connected Soho House founder Nick Jones and eventually rose through the ranks, developing his own network of celebrity friends.
Meghan’s collection of jams, honeys, flower sprinkles, mulling kits, candles and various other products was placed on a table, followed by her $89 (£67) bottles of Napa Valley Brut
Markus and Meghan have been close friends for years, pictured in an old Instagram post
Nick soon sent him back to Canada to set up Soho House in Toronto, and in 2011, Markus met Meghan when she arrived there from Los Angeles to film the first series of TV legal drama Suits.
A Soho House source previously told the Daily Mail: ‘Long before Prince Harry came on the scene, Markus was introducing Meghan to all sorts of rich and powerful people.’
Often dubbed ‘Mr Soho House’, Markus introduced Meghan to George and Amal Clooney and also to Jessica Mulroney, the daughter-in-law of ex-Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Jessica became her closest female friend, although the pair are believed to have drifted apart.
Back then, Meghan was still with her first husband, film producer Trevor Engelson, and while Engelson remained in LA, Markus squired her around Toronto, introducing her to local celebrities, including the man who is now Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau.
Markus was a shoulder to cry on as Meghan’s marriage fell apart in 2013. He would set her up on dates with eligible men drawn from his vast network of contacts. But it was after she met Prince Harry in 2016 that Anderson became an even more vital part of Meghan’s life.
He would arrange for the couple to meet secretly in private rooms at the club.
The Soho House mogul did the same in London and even arranged a romantic weekend away at Babington House, a picturesque hotel in Somerset run by the club.
