Meghan Markle is attempting to build a business empire.

The Duchess of Sussex has worn many hats in her lifetime, working as an actress before becoming a working member of the royal family after marrying Prince Harry in 2017 and then taking a turn at producing after the couple left the royal family in 2020. But now, Markle is trying her hand at becoming a lifestyle guru.

Last month, she announced the upcoming launch of American Riviera Orchard, a lifestyle brand. She hasn’t released any further details on the company, but trademark applications show that the brand is hoping to produce everything from textiles to gardening tools to bath soaps.

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The filings show that it’s possible she’s planning on opening a retail space, and that in the future she might publish cookbooks.

While it seems clear that Markle has big plans for the brand, it also appears that she’s very hands-on with the business venture — so much so that she devised the logo herself.

American Riviera Orchard’s website and social media showcase a simple logo — the name of the brand written in an elegant cursive script. According to a report from People, that script was written in Markle’s own handwriting.

As she explained in a 2013 interview with Esquire, her handwriting is exemplary because “I went to an all-girls Catholic school for like six years during the time when kids actually had handwriting class. I’ve always had a propensity for getting the cursive down pretty well.”

Markle had aspirations to be an actress after growing up in Hollywood — she said in the same interview that she spent “every day” on the set of the sitcom “Married… with Children” where her now-estranged father, Thomas Markle, worked as a lighting director and director of photography. She even had a small part in an episode when she was a child.

In her young adult life, Markle spent several years auditioning and taking small roles until she landed her breakout role as Rachel Zane on “Suits.” During that time, she told Esquire that she had a “pseudo-waitressing job.”

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“I didn’t wait tables,” she said. “I did calligraphy for the invitations for, like, Robin Thicke and Paula Patton’s wedding.”

Thicke and Patton married in June 2005, which would have made Markle 23 when she took the job. It wasn’t the only high-profile gig she landed thanks to her calligraphy skills, as she said that she also did the same thing for “Dolce & Gabbana’s celebrity correspondence over the holidays.”

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She recalled, “I would sit there with a little white tube sock on my hand, so no hand oils got on the card, trying to pay my bills while auditioning. I’m glad that in the land of no one seeming to appreciate a handwritten note anymore that I can try to keep that alive.”

Markle said then that doing that kind of calligraphy is “super lucrative” because “there are so few people doing it.”

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During this time period, Markle also taught calligraphy at a shop called Paper Source in Beverly Hills. In 2018, the CEO of Paper Source, Winnie Park, told People, “It was her part-time job as she was going through auditions. She taught calligraphy and hosted a group of customers and instructed them during a two-hour class on how to do calligraphy.”

She also taught lessons in gift-wrapping and book-binding during her time at the store.

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On Monday, fashion designer Tracy Robbins and Delfina Blaquier, a photographer and wife of polo star Nacho Figueras, were among the first to share a photo of the brand’s first product, strawberry jam, on Instagram Stories. Markle’s signature can be seen on the jar’s label.

Fox News Digital’s Stephanie Nolasco contributed to this report.

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Elon Musk’s Tesla slashed the U.S. prices of its Model Y, Model X and Model S vehicles by $2,000 each on Friday after first-quarter deliveries came up short of expectations.

The valuable electric-vehicle maker lowered the prices for its Model Y base variant to $42,990, while the long-range and performance variants now cost $47,990 and $51,490, respectively, the Tesla website now shows.

“Affordabiity is key to our mission,” Tesla North America posted on X, the social media platform owned by Musk. “Model Y now starts at $29,490 after US federal tax credit & estimated gas savings.” 

The basic version of the Model S now costs $72,990 and its plaid variant $87,990. The Model X base variant now costs $77,990 and its plaid variant is priced at $92,900.

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But with the price cuts comes some bad news for customers: the company’s referral program benefits will end in all markets on April 30.

Tesla’s referral program allows buyers to earn exclusive benefits by referring other first-time customers or being referred by an existing customer. 

The changes come after Tesla’s quarterly deliveries declined for the first time in nearly four years and fell short of Wall Street analysts’ estimates.

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Earlier this month, Tesla announced that it delivered roughly 387,000 vehicles in the first quarter – well below expectations of about 443,000 and an 8.5% decrease compared to the first quarter of last year.

Dan Ives, managing director and equity analyst of Wedbush Securities, called the first quarter report an “unmitigated disaster” for Musk and Tesla.

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Tesla faced an escalating price war in China, a key market for the EV maker, as low-cost competitors like BYD forced it to reduce prices and cut into its margins. 

High interest rates in the U.S., a byproduct of the Federal Reserve’s fight against inflation, have also made it more expensive for American car buyers — a dynamic Tesla has sought to counteract with temporary discounts to entice customers and now U.S. price cuts.

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The company also experienced production issues at its Gigafactory near Berlin, Germany. It announced a nearly two-week production pause at the facility in late January and early February due to a parts shortage caused by the shipping crisis in the Red Sea precipitated by Iran-backed Houthi militants. The facility also was forced to pause production for nearly a week in March due to an arson attack by an environmental activist against an electricity transmission facility that helped power the plant.

Tesla will release its first-quarter earnings report on Tuesday.

FOX Business’ Eric Revell and Reuters contributed to this report.

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