Meghan Markle’s Lifestyle Brand As ever has officially gone to the dogs — in the best possible way. On Thursday, Oct. 22, the Duchess of Sussex released “Chapter 2” of the brand’s 2026 holiday collection, and tucked among the candles and porcelain sits a genuine first: a Pet Toy, shaped like the brand’s signature jar of raspberry spread, complete with a squeaker inside and a $20 price tag.
The Plush Toy is a soft, squeezable tribute to the product that launched As ever into the world, the raspberry Fruit Spread that sold the brand’s story of a Montecito kitchen garden. Turning that jar into a Squeaker Toy is a playful piece of brand logic: the most recognizable object in the As ever universe, reimagined at floor level, where the family’s most honest critic spends her days.
(Christopher Macsurak / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0))The Perfect Product Tester
That critic is Pula, the family’s black Labrador, whom Meghan teased earlier this month in an Instagram Story carrying the new toy outdoors. As product testers go, Pula is unimpeachable — a dog cannot be coached into enthusiasm, and a plushie that survives a Labrador’s jaws has passed a genuinely demanding review. The Product Launch leaned into that authenticity, presenting the toy as something designed in a real house, for a real dog, rather than a novelty dreamed up in a boardroom.
Pula’s name means “rain” in Setswana, a detail longtime followers know well. She joined the family shortly after Meghan and Prince Harry’s 2018 wedding, traveled with them to California when they stepped back from royal duties in 2020, and has now returned with them to Britain following the family’s move back in August. Few dogs have a passport history like hers — and fewer still get credited, however unofficially, with approving a Holiday Collection.
(Genevieve / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0))What Else Is in Chapter 2
The pet toy headlines the drop, but Chapter 2 is a full seasonal table. It includes a new two-wick holiday candle, a porcelain teapot, embroidered linen and handwoven rattan tabletop pieces, room sprays, reed diffusers, coasters, a leather notebook and a renewed collaboration with Los Angeles chocolatier Compartés. There are also new additions to The Gift Basket Collection, presented in rustic woven wicker.
As ever’s Brand Founder has built the label around exactly this blend: pantry staples with a story, homeware with a handmade feel, and now, a first step into the enormous world of pet products. Announcing it through Instagram Stories — a glimpse of Pula mid-play rather than a polished campaign — kept the reveal in the brand’s established voice: personal first, commercial second.
(Fuzheado / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0))Why a Dog Toy Makes Sense
Pet products are the natural next chapter for a brand built on home life, and Meghan’s home life visibly includes dogs. Pula appears frequently in As ever’s world, as does Mia, the family’s rescued beagle. A $20 plush Raspberry is also the most accessible item in a collection that includes a $148 chocolate advent calendar — an entry point for followers who want a piece of the brand without the luxury price.
The Dog Behind the Drop
To appreciate the launch, it helps to understand Pula’s standing in the household she now advertises for. She is not a prop borrowed for a campaign; she is the dog who arrived with the marriage itself, joining the couple just after the 2018 wedding and sharing every reinvention since. She lived the California years in Montecito, appeared throughout the couple’s post-royal life, and made the return journey to Britain this August like the senior family member she is. Casting her as the tester of As ever’s first pet product is therefore less a gimmick than a statement of seniority.
The rollout understood that. Rather than a studio shoot, the tease was an Instagram Story of a black Labrador carrying a jam-jar plushie through the outdoors, doing exactly what Labradors do with new toys and considerably less posing than a professional model would require. Followers who have watched Pula grow up across two countries and two royal eras were being handed a small, warm continuity: the same dog, a new garden, and a toy that turns her owner’s most famous product into something she can actually enjoy.
Strategically, the pet category is one of the most reliable expansions available to a home-focused brand, because devoted pet owners treat quality toys, treats and accessories as household essentials rather than luxuries. As ever entering that market through its own signature object — rather than a generic bone with a logo — keeps the move on-brand, and the $20 price places it within reach of the casual follower who admires the candles and teapots from a distance. The squeaker, in other words, is the collection’s friendliest door.
Chapter 2 will ultimately be remembered for whether its bigger pieces sell, but its most-shared image is already settled: a duchess’s dog, trotting off with a raspberry that squeaks. Meghan has spent two years teaching audiences to read As ever as the story of her home. This week, the home answered back — in the voice of its oldest four-legged resident, who approves the product the only way that matters. She took it, and she kept it. In the economics of modern lifestyle brands, where attention is the scarcest currency of all, a founder’s dog generating the season’s most persuasive product photograph is not a soft detail on the margins of the launch. It is the launch, working exactly as designed.
Whether a full pet line follows will depend on how Chapter 2 lands with shoppers. But as first steps go, this one is perfectly cast: a signature product, a beloved family dog, and a squeaker. Meghan had the perfect product tester at home all along — she just had to hand her the toy and let the review write itself.