Meghan launches $148 As Ever advent calendar inspired by Montecito home

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, has launched a limited-edition As Ever advent calendar, priced at $148 (about £112), with sales opening on 1 October. 1 2 The calendar holds 24 handcrafted chocolates and is a collaboration with Los Angeles chocolatier Compartés. 1 2 Its design is inspired by the Montecito home and garden in California where the Sussexes lived for years before moving to Britain in August. 1 2

According to a press release quoted by Newsweek, the flavours draw on As Ever favourites such as strawberry, raspberry, blackberry and orange marmalade, plus a chocolate finished with Meghan's Flower Sprinkles, and the countdown numbers are hand-painted in her own penmanship using edible gold luster. 2 Meghan promoted it on Instagram, including a story video of her driving round the Montecito garden in a golf buggy with Compartés' Jonathan Grahm, captioned 'Christmas planning in June'; the outlets give his title differently, the Mirror as chief executive and Newsweek as creative director. 1 2 Newsweek says the price is $28 above the rest of the Compartés advent range ($120), but below Vosges's $385 calendar and well above a Walmart calendar under $15. It notes the long-running debate about As Ever's prices, which it says may make the cost raise eyebrows. 2

The Mirror puts the cost at about £4.60 a chocolate and reports that pre-orders were believed to open on Thursday afternoon, with deliveries expected in November. It also says the calendar is believed to be available only to US customers, since the brand ships only within the US; Newsweek says about $6 a chocolate and does not mention shipping limits. 1 2 Newsweek says the Sussexes did not sell the Montecito mansion and may spend Christmas there. It suggests the project may predate the move, and says a return to California is possible, though their children are currently enrolled in an English school. 2 The Mirror adds that the family arrived in the UK in late August and are believed to be living in the Cotswolds for an 'extended stay'. It says Meghan has kept a low profile but was pictured at a pub near Burford with Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi. 1

The calendar follows As Ever x Compartés chocolate bars, which the press release says sold out in under an hour, with more chocolate products promised through the fourth quarter. 2