Not sure, but this is my opinion of what happened based on what I have read and heard since ARO launched last year.
She launched ARO prematurely, because Richard Eden of the DM had contacted her about it (presumably had heard a rumour or seen some filed IP application) and was about to run a story on it. He contacted her "office" for comment and the next thing is she's launching it, completely overshadowing her own husband's appearance at the Diana Awards. She was clearly not ready to launch ARO, but I don't think she can cope with being a step behind a press story, so she did so anyway. And invited in all the ensuing derision, about the name, the silly video, the lack of any products, and all the legal problems surrounding IP. She effectively killed it right there and then, and drew negative comparison with/copying accusations about Charles' Highgrove brand.
ARO was supposed to be selling locally produced goods, ie from the Montecito area. There was a lot of talk about how she could possibly make jam in any large quantities (it takes a lot of strawberries for one pot). I think it was the DM who contacted local Santa Barbara farmers to see if they were supplying MM, and none of them said yes. MM clapped back through the US tabloids when Highgrove jam had its spike in sales, claiming it was not made from their own fruit either, and that they were copying her. Clearly she was being rumbled on the authenticity of her product and was panicking because she simply wasn't ready. Those silly Instagram stories of numbered jam jars/lemons/dog biscuits were all desperate attempts to make it look as if something was in the pipeline.
Originally, she was trying to position herself as a local/organic/ethical producer of high end products made in exclusive quantities, like Flamingo Estate (whom she apparently tried to "collab" with, but who knocked her back). And that's fine if you are, say, a Julianna Moore, with a thriving acting career, and you sell your pots of honey from your own hives on the side at $250 a pot to raise money for charity. But it's not a workable model if you need to make millions.
The other issue is FDA regulations. Home-made comestibles that you can get away with selling small scale at a farmer's market is one thing, but you need FDA approval for food sold commercially on a large scale. The best way to cut out the long process of getting FDA approval is to sell something that already has it.
So, to make money on this enterprise, you need to sell mass produced (ie cheap), ready to go goods that you can, ahem, elevate with your own brand label, and hope people will be fooled buy into the lifestyle you are conveying and buy it to emulate you. IMO, that must be what Netflix told her she needed to do to tie in a profitable product line with the With Love, Meghan series.
ARO wouldn't work for this, because of its tie in with Montecito only products. And she didn't have time, before the series airing, to register yet another TM for "With love, Meghan". So she goes through her back catalogue of IP registrations (of which there are many), and comes up with the nearest thing that ties in with the Netflix title - " As Ever"- both names being correspondence sign offs, (and she does pride herself on her fancy cursive writing/correspondence, so this is her "brand" now).
Not using ARO is an embarrassment, but can use the excuse that no longer using ARO allows her to promote "so many other great products that are not limited to Montecito" (I'm paraphrasing her instagram video), ie, to do a 180 on the original, ethical, high end and authentic concept (like Flamingo State's, like Highgrove), and go for mass market sales of mass produced products, which is what she needs right now to make money. That doesn't mean she won't carry on with the ARO project, just that it will not be tied in with With Love, Meghan.
And when everyone is saying WTF, she claps back again with the "mood board", trying to make the impression that "As Ever" is a longstanding project/idea, not a hastily cobbled together attempt to rescue a clusterfuck.