Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, has an unexpected supporter as she prepares to launch her first authored book, The Bench. Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, seems to have changed her tune about Prince Harry's wife, as she gets behind the former's bid to become a published writer.
Many have been surprised by the Duchess of York's support since she was speculated to have been at odds with Markle. Ferguson was also the one person to send a message to TV presenter Piers Morgan after he lashed out at Markle for doing the sit-down interview with Oprah Winfrey and putting the royal family to shame.
According to royal observer Christine Marie Liwag Dizon, Ferguson was said to have resented Markle because she stole the thunder of her daughter, Princess Eugenie. It happened when Meghan Markle announced her pregnancy at Eugenie's wedding in 2018.
However, the Duchess of York told Daily Mail that, despite what has happened, she is fully behind Markle since it's hard to come up with a book, regardless of the genre. Ferguson said that Markle's decision should be "supported and respected."
Ferguson knows the challenges of writing a book too well as she has been writing children's story for almost a decade. It has been her source of income after her divorce from Prince Andrew. She will soon release her first historical romance novel, Her Heart For A Compass, under Mills & Boon.
Her plea comes as Markle has been receiving a lot of criticisms and mockery for her first attempt at publishing a story. Even Daily Mail came up with their parody of Markle's poem.
Markle said that The Bench is based on the poem she wrote for Harry when he celebrated Father's Day for the first time after the birth of their son, Archie. The Duchess of Sussex also expressed hope that her story will resonate with fathers and their children, regardless of their status or race.
However, critics like Morgan have said that Meghan Markle's book shows hypocrisy as she has been estranged from her father, Thomas Markle, for more than three years. Her father has also never met Archie and will likely not get to meet her soon-to-be-born baby girl. Royal commentator Andrew Neil had the same observation as Morgan as he blamed Markle for instigating the rift between Harry and his father, Prince Charles, after the Duke of Sussex detailed in the Winfrey interview that his father cut off his financial support when the pair left the royal fold.
