Princess Eugenie has reportedly personally apologised to Meghan Markle after a signed copy of the Duchess of Sussex’s children’s book, inscribed especially to the royal, mysteriously appeared for sale on eBay.
The hardback copy of Meghan’s 2021 book, The Bench, was listed for £20,000 (about AUD $38,000) by London-based seller Drive Easy’s Signed Books.
The book featured a personal handwritten note, seemingly penned by the Duchess and dated December 2021, addressed to Eugenie and her husband, Jack Brooksbank.
“Dear Eug & Jack, Celebrating the special bond between father and son. I wrote this poem at Frogmore – I hope that Eug, you witness the same love there with your guys. All love, Meghan,” the inscription read.
Princess Eugenie, 36, and Brooksbank, 40, temporarily lived at Frogmore Cottage in Windsor after Prince Harry and Meghan stepped down as senior working royals and relocated to the US in 2020.
The couple’s eldest son, August, was born in February 2021, almost two years after the birth of Harry and Meghan’s eldest child, Prince Archie.
The eBay listing, which has since disappeared, noted that ink from the handwritten inscription had “gone through to the previous page”, while describing the book as “an absolute masterpiece of modern royal history”.
It added: “Written in the Duchess’ highly celebrated, fluid signature calligraphy style, the personal message links the Sussexes directly to the heart of the British Royal family.
“Authentic intimate gifts sent from one member of the Royal family directly to another are exceptionally rare to find on the open market. This book is thus a pinnacle piece for any serious royal memorabilia collector, autograph hunter, or contemporary archivist.”
The listing reportedly attracted more than 20,000 views by Friday before it vanished from the platform amid a flurry of publicity, with it unclear whether the book had been sold or simply withdrawn.
Now, insiders have claimed a “horrified” Eugenie contacted Meghan directly to insist she had nothing to do with the book ending up for sale.
“Eugenie called Meghan herself. She was horrified the book had somehow ended up for sale and made it absolutely clear she would never knowingly sell a personal gift from Meghan,” a source told Rob Shuter’s Naughty But Nice Substack.
According to the insider, the mother-of-three “genuinely doesn’t know how it [the book] left her possession”.
“What mattered to her was making sure Meghan knew this wasn’t some deliberate snub,” they added, claiming the 45-year-old Duchess of Sussex “accepted the explanation”.
“But nobody can explain how the book got there [on eBay].”
The bizarre mystery has since sparked speculation over exactly how such a personal royal gift could have made its way onto the open market.
Respected royal reporter Tom Sykes has outlined three possible explanations, arguing the most likely scenario is that Eugenie and Brooksbank inadvertently left the book behind when they moved out of Frogmore Cottage in 2022.
“The rumour mill has gone into overdrive. There are three explanations,” Sykes wrote on his Substack, The Royalist.
“The first, and to be fair probably the least likely, is that Eugenie decided to sell it herself. Even by the standards of the venal and grasping Yorks, that would be pretty shocking stuff,” he said.
Sykes suggested another possibility was “forgery”, noting the inscription has not been independently authenticated but arguing that explanation seems “very unlikely”.
“Why would a forger include the stuff about Frogmore? And the flourishes and the signature match handwritten notes Meghan has previously published,” he said.
His third theory was considerably more mundane: “The third, and most likely, is that the book was simply left behind at Frogmore Cottage when Eugenie and Jack moved out, and was picked up by a staffer when the place was cleared.”
Sykes argued that explanation could still prove “intensely embarrassing” for Meghan given Eugenie and Brooksbank have long been regarded as among the Sussexes’ closest allies within the Royal Family.
“This kind of stuff cuts through, because it makes people laugh and Eugenie and Jack are supposed to be her closest allies,” he said.
“They were living in her house! And the generous explanation is that they thought her book was so bad it was either not even packing or slipped down behind a sofa and wasn’t missed.”
The apparent blunder is particularly awkward given Eugenie has maintained a relationship with Harry and Meghan despite the Sussexes’ increasingly strained ties with other members of the Royal Family.
News24.com.au has contacted Sussex representatives for comment.