The preview for the second season of Meghan Markle’s Netflix series, With Love, Meghan, debuted today. This comes shortly after Meghan and Harry agreed to a new, less prominent contract with Netflix.

The show, featuring the Duchess of Sussex hosting guests at a rented house near her Montecito estate for privacy purposes, will make its comeback on August 26. This coincides with Netflix scaling back its partnership with the royal couple.

With Love, Meghan secured a second season renewal at the same time the first season premiered back in March. It is believed that all episodes were shot concurrently.

Guests on season two will include Chrissy Teigan and Jamie Kern Lima, the trailer revealed today. 

In the one-minute, 27-second teaser, Meghan is seen eating cheese, prepping snacks and drinks with friends and even reveals the food her husband Prince Harry doesn’t like. 

‘Do you know who doesn’t like lobster? My husband,’ she says as she prepares the seafood. 

As the trailer comes to an end, Meghan reveals: ‘I love these moments of discovery and beauty. So let’s be curious together.’ 

Meghan’s lifestyle show failed to break into Netflix’s top 300 programmes for the first half of 2025 and was even thrashed by multiple seasons of Suits. The numbers watching were ‘dismal’, an insider at the streamer reportedly said.

Meghan has also filmed a Christmas special for broadcast in December, in a potential clash with the Princess of Wales’ annual carol concert at Westminster Abbey. 

The first series showed the former Suits star, 44, inviting friends and famous guests to a California estate, where she shared cooking, gardening and hosting tips.

But it was panned by many reviewers who called it ‘sensationally absurd and trite’ with the Duchess of Sussex called ‘tone-deaf’ and punting a show that ‘vibrates with vacuous joylessness’. 

It has an IMDB rating of 3.2 out of 10 and a 38% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, indicates that the TV show is considered ‘rotten’.

Meghan was also lampooned for putting pretzels from the packet into a plastic bag, chiding one guest for using Markle as her surname instead of Sussex and one viewer threatened to sue claiming her recipe for homemade bath salts burned her skin. 

It came as experts claimed that the Sussexes’ new Netflix deal is a ‘downgrade’ on their previous $100million five-year tie-up and more ‘we’ll call you’ than ‘here’s the chequebook’. 

The couple signed a new ‘multi-year, first look deal for film and television projects’ with the streaming giant – understood to be worth less for the pair than their previous contract. 

The ‘first-look’ arrangement means Netflix can say yes or no to new film or television projects before anyone else – allowing them to pick and choose what they invest in. 

PR expert Mark Borkowski described the new deal as a ‘downgrade’, claiming it falls a long way from the jackpot figure of Harry and Meghan’s original contract in 2020. 

He told the Daily Mail: ‘I think Netflix has done a very neat job of pivoting away from two very expensive people who didn’t deliver, and they’ve taken that deal off the table, and they’ve given them a modest one. 

‘It’s not like they’re gradually uncoupling – it’s a downgrade. Netflix are not going to expose themselves to those budgets again. It’s Netflix saying, ‘Let’s have a look at your content, but we’ll pick and choose, mate’.’ 

He believes the pair will be paid for each production selected by Netflix rather than receiving an overall fee, such as the reported $100million of their first deal.

‘I would be surprised if it’s not pay-as-you-go and it’s well, well below that first mark,’ he added. 

The couple’s new output will include a second season of the Duchess’s ‘With Love, Meghan’ lifestyle show later this month, as well as a Christmas special in December.

The Sussexes are also working on ‘Masaka Kids, A Rhythm Within’ – a documentary about orphaned children in Uganda, where the ‘shadows of the HIV/Aids crisis linger’.

There is also ‘active development’ on other projects with Netflix which ‘span a variety of content genres’, including an adaptation of romantic novel Meet Me At The Lake.

But Mr Borkowski said the couple will not be granted the same budget as they were under their previous contract with the streaming service. 

‘They have shot the golden goose of 2020 – more of a ‘we’ll call you’ than ‘here’s the chequebook’,’ he said. 

‘It’s a first-look deal, which means Netflix gets first dibs but no obligation to bankroll every semi-royal whim.

‘I reckon Netflix is trimming fat industry-wide, so this is less carte blanche, more curated cameo.

‘They’re still in business together – Meghan’s. As ever brand and seasonal specials keep them in the Netflix shop window but make no mistake, this is a slimmed-down sequel to the blockbuster original. So Harry and Meghan’s new Netflix chapter [is] less champagne budget, more Prosecco by the glass.’ 

Netflix has already released the first series of With Love, Meghan as well as Polo, Heart of Invictus, Live to Lead and the couple’s bombshell documentary Harry & Meghan as well as being a business partner on Meghan’s lifestyle brand, As Ever.

Five years ago, Harry and Meghan secured a lucrative contract thought to be worth $100million (£74million) with Netflix after quitting as senior working royals in 2020.

The renewed deal was described by the Sussexes – who made the announcement with Netflix – as ‘extending their creative partnership’ through Archewell Productions. 

But the new terms are understood to be worth less for Harry and Meghan than their previous contract, according to a person familiar with the deal, and represent Netflix loosening its ties with the couple. 

In a statement, Meghan said: ‘We’re proud to extend our partnership with Netflix and expand our work together to include the As Ever brand.’ 

Netflix chief content officer Bela Bajaria said: ‘We’re excited to continue our partnership.’