RICHARD EDEN: Meghan Markle finds the ideal boss for her American Riviera Orchard… herself! Duchess of Sussex takes up CEO role at her lifestyle brand after fruitless search to find someone able to meet her expectations

Having announced her new cooking and lifestyle business, American Riviera Orchard, with great fanfare back in March, the Duchess of Sussex began a search for a suitable Chief Executive Officer.

‘Meghan is interviewing candidates for the CEO role at the moment,’ a source told me at the time.

Despite having interviewed several candidates for the position, Prince Harry’s wife was unable to find anyone who matched her expectations.

Now, insiders say she has found the perfect candidate – herself.

‘She is the CEO of American Riviera Orchard,’ a ‘source in the know’ told the New York Post.

In April, a California-based source told me: ‘The initial CEO search has not panned out so far.’

I reported that the Duchess’s difficulties had led to an intriguing new development: she had begun negotiations with Netflix about the U.S. streaming giant entering into a commercial partnership with American Riviera Orchard.

‘This is something new for Netflix,’ the source told me. ‘It would run the lifestyle business with Meghan, developing products as spin-offs from her show. ‘If a partnership is agreed, it’s likely that Netflix would install its own CEO to run operations.’

Meghan is said to hope that American Riviera Orchard, which will focus on home, garden, food and lifestyle wares, will be highly lucrative.

Her lawyer has applied to trademark the brand in the U.S. for various goods, including cutlery, recipe books, tablecloths, napkins, jams, edible oils, vegetable and dairy-based spreads. The trademark application also appears to extend to a physical shop where items could be sold.

The Duchess, 43, unveiled the venture nine months ago by posting a glitzy video on Instagram in which she could be seen busying herself in a rustic-looking kitchen, arranging white and pink flowers and whisking something in a bowl.

She posted the video the day after I contacted her office for comment on her plans, which may have overshadowed an appearance by Harry, via video link, at an event that evening for the Diana Award, an organisation close to his heart.

The news that Meghan has appointed herself chief executive of the business follows a string of departures from Harry and Meghan’s workforce.

The total number of staff the Sussexes have lost since they married in 2018 is said to be at least 18, with nine or more having left since they moved to California.

A spokesman for the Sussexes declined to comment last night.