Meghan Markle’s Latest Hosting Advice Echoes Pippa Middleton’s Entertaining Playbook

Meghan Markle has turned to one of her familiar subjects, entertaining, for the latest social media update from As Ever. The advice is straightforward: do as much preparation as possible before guests arrive, then leave one small kitchen task to finish once everyone has settled in.

The idea may sound familiar. Years before Meghan began sharing lifestyle and hosting tips through her brand, Princess Kate’s sister, Pippa Middleton, built part of her public profile around practical advice for throwing parties and entertaining at home.

Meghan’s simple formula for hosting

In a recent Instagram post from her lifestyle brand, As Ever, Meghan shared what the account described as her hosting notes.

Her advice centers on preparation. She recommends completing as much as possible before guests arrive and deliberately saving one uncomplicated job for the final stage of the preparation.

The remaining task, she suggested, should be something that can be completed in the kitchen while guests are getting comfortable.

Her message was that preparation can make entertaining feel considerably easier.

The post appeared alongside an image of Meghan wearing a white apron, keeping the focus firmly on the home and hosting side of her As Ever brand.

For experienced hosts, the suggestion may seem fairly self-evident. But simple instructions can still be useful for people who are less accustomed to organizing gatherings, particularly when the goal is to make the process feel manageable rather than complicated.

That approach has a notable parallel in the Middleton family.

Pippa Middleton had already made entertaining a specialty

The Middleton family has long had a connection to party planning. Kate’s family business, Party Pieces, centered on party supplies, giving the family practical experience with celebrations and entertaining.

Pippa Middleton later turned that background into a book.

In 2012, she published Celebrate: A Year of British Festivities for Families and Friends, a guide to home entertaining that drew on her experience with Party Pieces and her work with London-based events company Table Talk. The book covered British-themed occasions as well as recipes, crafts, games and party-planning advice.

Some of Pippa’s recommendations were similarly practical and basic. Among the suggestions were putting away valuable breakables, removing unnecessary furniture, deciding where guests should leave their coats and asking children to take off their shoes.

For children’s parties, she advised keeping the event to two hours. Parents, she suggested, could stay for a cup of tea or a glass of Prosecco before the party bags were handed out.

The emphasis was on preparation and organization rather than elaborate entertaining tricks.

Pippa was aware that some of her advice seemed obvious

Pippa’s book attracted criticism when it was released, with journalists questioning whether some of the recommendations were too obvious.

She addressed the reaction herself in a December 2012 column for The Spectator. Pippa acknowledged that she had been teased over the book and that some journalists considered the advice glaringly obvious.

Her defense was straightforward: Celebrate was intended to be a guide to party planning, so she believed it had to include the basics.

The criticism became part of the book’s story. A parody Twitter account, @pippatips, was created to mock the simplicity of some of the suggestions, adding another layer of attention to the book’s reception.

That history makes Meghan’s latest hosting post particularly familiar in tone. Both women have presented entertaining as something that can be made easier through advance preparation and straightforward planning.

Meghan has faced similar reactions to lifestyle advice

Meghan has also spent considerable time presenting herself as a source of advice on cooking, entertaining and everyday home life.

Her Netflix series With Love, Meghan followed that format, with Meghan welcoming celebrity guests into her home while discussing food, hosting, crafts and lifestyle ideas. The series faced criticism when it launched alongside As Ever in 2025, with some reviewers taking issue with the simplicity of some of the advice.

Her latest As Ever post returns to that same territory, this time in a much shorter format.

Rather than an extended demonstration, Meghan’s message boils hosting down to a simple routine: get most of the work done ahead of time, then keep one small task for the moment when guests arrive.

Meghan’s return to the UK

The hosting advice comes as Meghan adjusts to life in the UK with Prince Harry. The couple relocated to the UK at the end of August, and Meghan has kept a relatively low public profile since the move.

She has nevertheless been seen with comedian Ellen DeGeneres and DeGeneres’ wife, Portia Rossi.

Meghan’s friend Kelly McKee Zajfen has also offered glimpses of the Sussexes’ life in Britain through Instagram. In September, Zajfen shared photographs from time spent with Meghan and the family, providing a rare look at their life following the move.

The public appearances have remained relatively limited, while As Ever continues to provide Meghan with a platform for lifestyle content.

That makes the latest hosting post a fitting example of how she is continuing to use the brand. It brings her back to a subject that has featured repeatedly in her work: food, home entertaining and the small preparations that can make hosting easier.

A familiar royal-family connection

There is no indication that Meghan’s post was specifically inspired by Pippa Middleton. The similarity is in the subject matter and approach rather than any stated connection between the two.

Still, the comparison is striking. Pippa built a book around the practical mechanics of entertaining, while Meghan is now sharing similarly accessible guidance through As Ever.

Both approaches place considerable importance on getting organized before guests arrive and keeping the process simple.

For Pippa, that philosophy became the basis of a 2012 book that generated both interest and criticism. For Meghan, the same kind of advice has resurfaced through a modern lifestyle brand and social media.

And, in both cases, the message is remarkably uncomplicated: prepare ahead, leave yourself one manageable task, and make room to enjoy the gathering once everyone arrives.