I’ll admit it outright. Before it emerged in the autumn of 2016 that Suits actress Meghan Markle had been quietly dating Prince Harry for a couple of months, I had precisely zero awareness of The Tig, Markle’s lifestyle blog or – as she put it – her hub for the discerning palette.
But as the old adage goes, you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone, and ever since the site was excised from the web (presumably at the request of Kensington Palace) and taken off Instagram, The Tig has become a source of fascination.
What does ‘Tig’ mean? Did it have an internship programme? Did Meghan Markle spend her evenings consulting Google Analytics for the site while sipping on its namesake wine?
Sadly, we’ll probably never know, but thanks to archiving tool The Wayback Machine, we can take a look at a handful of Meghan’s old posts for some unexpected insights into her attitude to life…
Image via Meghan’s old Instagram account @meghanmarkle, which was shut down with The Tig.
1. She has a ‘girl crush’ on Elizabeth Hurley
In the introduction to the Liz edition of her Tig Talk interview franchise, Meghan even mentions the British star’s role in The Royals, a guilty pleasure drama based on the exploits of a fictional European monarchy…
2. She’s fully sold on meditation…
The name of her former meditation guru? Light. Just Light. Here’s hoping he’s summoned over to the palace some time soon.
3. But baking is not her thing
“There’s something about the technicality of it that stifles my inner rebel; no dash of this or extra spoonful of that,” she writes. Don’t expect to see the Duchess starring on celebrity Bake Off any time soon, then.
4. A ‘Tig moment’ is a moment of discovery
Or, as Meghan puts it, a moment of ‘getting it.’ The inaugural Tig moment came when she first sipped Tignanello wine – makes sense now, doesn’t it?
5. She loves a well put-together coffee table
We’re now picturing Meghan as she artfully strews the surfaces of Nottingham Cottage with Audrey Hepburn photobooks and succulents, to Harry’s slight bemusement.
6. She spent a month in Italy after reading Eat, Pray, Love
Elizabeth Gilbert, you have so much to answer for.
7. She has not one but four nicknames
Meg, MM, M&M and Flower. We wonder if the Queen uses any of them…
8. She listens to Sophie Ellis-Bextor
Or, at least, a Sophie Ellis-Bextor tune once graced one of her pick-me-up playlists on The Tig. Here’s hoping it was Murder On The Dancefloor.
9. She’s an advocate of ‘alone time’
Going to the cinema on your own, taking yourself out for dinner, solo holidays – Meghan’s a fan of all three.
10. She’s been having facials since she was 13
Which probably explains how she looked so radiant in minimal make-up on her wedding day…
11. Her favourite drink? Red wine hot chocolate
We’ll need a few minutes to get our head around that one, but according to La Markle, it “combines two of every lady’s classic loves, wine and chocolate”. Who are we to question?
Via our sister site Grazia.
