Runaway royals Prince Harry and Meghan Markle settled in the LA last year, effectively losing their patronages, privileges, and titles. They’re still free to use their “Duke and Duchess of Sussex” names, but critics say they are trying to profit from the titles.
By royal author, Angela Levin title has been blasted as “ridiculous” and “laughable” Meghan Markle’s decision to sign her soon-to-be-released children’s book using her “Duchess of Sussex”. It expected to be released on 8 June and Titled “The Bench,” the book which Meghan says began as a poem she penned for Prince Harry on Father’s Day when Archie was just one month old.
Book’s newly published cover, painted by acclaimed artist Christian Robinson, has then caused a stir among Brits, who are questioning why Markle is signing off as the Duchess given her very public criticism of “the Firm.” “Because they wanted to get away from the Royal Family, they hated the Royal Family they felt trapped,” the author of “Harry: A Biography of a Prince” added.
“They didn’t like it, they wanted freedom and they’ve got freedom. You can’t have everything you won’t like that.” The other options on the table were Meaghan Markle or Meaghan Mountbatten-Windsor if Meghan hadn’t opted to use her Duchess title. After her 2018 wedding, she could have adopted the latter but the surname is usually ditched by the royals, who prefer to be known by their first names.
According to an interview with US chat show queen Oprah Winfrey, the Sussexes revealed that they left their senior royal posts in March 2020 to escape the “racist” UK media and due to a lack of support from Buckingham Palace. Meghan also alleged there were “concerns” from one unnamed royal about the skin tone of their son Archie when she was pregnant with him. And having said that
Prince Harry backed up her claim but stopped short of revealing who it was, with Oprah later clarifying that it wasn’t the Queen nor her late husband Prince Philip. Meantime, the Duke of Sussex also said “he believed his father Prince Charles and elder brother Prince William are “trapped” in the institution with no chance of leaving as he did”.
Some have raised the point that the title and style of Markle’s story very much resemble “The Boy on the Bench” a children’s book written by Corrinne Averiss nearly three years ago. However, in general, news about the upcoming book has sparked more online joy than criticism. Then the England-based author, however, has dismissed the “plagiarism” accusations, writing on Twitter that she sees no similarities.