The Duchess of Sussex has written a children’s book inspired by the relationship between her husband and son, but it hasn’t gone down well with some, and as expected Piers Morgan is up in arms about it.
Meghan’s debut publication for youngsters is called The Bench and is about the special bond between a father and son — as seen through a mother’s eyes, Puffin, an imprint of Penguin Random House Children’s UK announced.
The book deal comes after the Sussexes signed a lucrative contract with Netflix and Spotify, rumoured to the worth more than £100 million.
The illustrated publication will go on sale on June 8 and features work by award-winning artist Christian Robinson, with the duchess narrating the audiobook.
Meghan, who is expecting a daughter in the summer, said: “The Bench started as a poem I wrote for my husband on Father’s Day, the month after Archie was born.”
“That poem became this story. Christian layered in beautiful and ethereal watercolour illustrations that capture the warmth, joy and comfort of the relationship between fathers and sons from all walks of life; this representation was particularly important to me and Christian and I worked closely to depict this special bond through an inclusive lens.
“My hope is that The Bench resonates with every family, no matter the make-up, as much as it does with mine.”
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will celebrate the second birthday of their son, who helped inspire the book, this week.
Archie turns two on Thursday and has spent much of his life living in north America with his parents, Harry and Meghan.
Piers was fuming about the fact Markle has written a book and made his thoughts clear on social media.
In his latest column for the Daily Mail, Piers also claimed Meghan “continues to cynically exploit her royal titles because she knows that’s the only reason anyone is paying her vast sums of money to spew her uniquely unctuous brand of pious hectoring gibberish in Netflix documentaries, Spotify podcasts or children’s books”.
But it isn’t even his comments about the book that have enraged people. It was a meme he posted about Bill Gates, who is currently getting divorced, and as everyone knows, is an insanely wealthy man.
He took to Instagram this morning and shared an image of Meghan smiling to herself with text reading: “So Bill Gates just got divorced.”
One told him: “You’re obsessed with her. WEIRD!”
Another pointed out: “She lives in your head rent free.”
And a third commented: “Gosh, do you spend every waking hour thinking about her? #obsessed.”
The Duchess of Sussex’s handwritten letter to her estranged father does not belong to the Crown, lawyers acting on behalf of the Queen have told Meghan’s legal team.
At the latest hearing in the duchess’s case against the publisher of the Mail On Sunday, the High Court heard that lawyers representing “the Keeper of the Privy Purse, acting on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen” told Meghan’s solicitors they “did not consider the Crown to be the copyright owner”.
Meghan, 39, sued Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), the publisher of the Mail On Sunday and MailOnline, over a series of articles which reproduced parts of a handwritten letter sent to Thomas Markle, 76, in August 2018.
She claimed the five articles, published in print and online in February 2019, misused her private information, infringed her copyright and breached the Data Protection Act.
In February, the High Court granted Meghan summary judgment in relation to her privacy claim, meaning she won that part of the case without having to go to trial, as well as most of her copyright claim.
At a remote hearing on Wednesday, Lord Justice Warby was told that the Keeper of the Privy Purse’s lawyers had written to Meghan’s solicitors “disclaiming any claim to copyright on behalf of the Crown”.
In written submissions, Ian Mill QC, for the duchess, also said Jason Knauf – formerly communications secretary to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, whom ANL previously said may have been involved in writing the letter – has “emphatically” denied being a co-author.
Mr Knauf’s lawyers confirmed he did not write the letter to Mr Markle and “it has never been his belief that he was an author”, Mr Mill said.
The court heard that his lawyers said: “Mr Knauf did not draft, and has never claimed to have drafted, any parts of the electronic draft or the letter and would never have asserted copyright over any of their content.
“In our client’s view, it was the duchess’s letter alone.”
