THE co-author of a bombshell biography of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry has denied claims he interviewed the couple for the book.
Finding Freedom by Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand was released in the UK on Tuesday and features explosive claims about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
The book chronicles their love story and their time as senior members of the royal family before quitting and moving to LA with their son Archie.
A spokesperson for the couple and the authors themselves have insisted the Sussexes were not interviewed for the bool.
But buried in an “author’s note” at the back of the book is this admission: “We have spoken to close friends of Harry and Meghan, royal aides and palace staff (past and present), the charities and organisations they have built long-lasting relationships with and, when appropriate, the couple themselves.”
Finding Freedom claims revealed include:
- Meghan felt people wanted her to serve her child “on a silver platter” after Archie was born
- The Sussexes had to let go of Archie’s nanny in the middle of her second shift
- Prince Harry was “delightfully surprised” when Meghan reportedly peed in the woods on their luxury camping trip in Botswana
- The duke started to scout for an engagement ring just six months after dating Meghan
- Harry was stunned after Meghan’s estranged family gave a series of interviews criticising the duchess
- Meghan had to undergo SAS kidnapping training after an unusually high number of threats
- She fell for Prince Harry after seeing him play with pal Jessica Mulroney’s kids
- The Duchess of Sussex saw Prince Charles as a “second father”
That lead some to speculate the extraordinary detail contained in the book could only have come from collusion with Harry and Megan.
That prompted Scobie to issue a denial on Twitter.
“Let’s make one thing clear: There’s a huge difference between exchanging a few words with a member of the Royal Family on an official engagement or tour to actually interviewing them.
“The amount of nonsense doing the rounds right now is unreal.”
But royal author and author of a biography of Prince Harry Penny Junor was among those who pointed the finger at the couple’s involvement.
“The authors have some extraordinarily personal and private details about Harry and Meghan, but the couple have said they didn’t speak to them directly and we have to take their word for it,” she told the MailOnline.
“What seems absolutely clear, however, is that they colluded. If not, they would have kicked up a huge fuss about this book.
“I suspect they wanted to get their story and their feelings about how they were treated out into the public arena and have done so via friends who sound as though they were very well and carefully briefed.”
The book could now be brought into the centre of Meghan Markle’s lawsuit with Associated Newspapers (ANL), the publisher of the Mail on Sunday, after a “private” letter she sent to her estranged father Thomas Markle, 76, was revealed.
The authors claim they instead spoke to “more than 100 sources, with access to the couple’s inner circle…..(with) everything corroborated with at least two sources”.
And a palace source told The Daily Mirror: “One may indeed wonder who those two sources are.
“It’s fair to say there is a great deal of scepticism over the involvement of the book’s two primary subjects.
“It’s sadly hard to imagine a world where this won’t do lasting damage to many of the personal relationships explored in this very one sided account.”
A spokesperson for the couple has also previously said: “The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were not interviewed and did not contribute to Finding Freedom.
“This book is based on the authors’ own experiences as members of the royal press corps and their own independent reporting.”
‘LASTING SCARS’
The Mail on Sunday’s legal team is said be examining if it is evidence that the Duchess of Sussex allowed her pals to speak to the media on her behalf – meaning she could be quizzed on the stand.
Mark Stephens, a leading media lawyer and partner at Howard Kennedy solicitors, told The Daily Telegraph: “Essentially, that’s a confession that this is as near as damn it to an authorised biography.”
The book is filled with explosive allegations and claims as to what supposedly happened behind closed doors.
One allegation was that the Prince of Wales’ 70th birthday portrait – which depicts a happy family – was actually “a nightmare” to plan because his sons blew “hot and cold” with their dad.
Yesterday it was claimed Princess Eugenie was left upset after Meghan Markle and Prince Harry broke the news they were expecting a baby at her wedding.
Meghan and Harry told friends and family that the duchess was pregnant at Eugenie’s big day at St George’s chapel at Windsor in October 2018.
The book’s authors wrote in the biography: “A source said [Princess Eugenie] told friends she felt the couple should have waited to share the news”.
It comes as the biography claimed that Harry felt like he and Meghan had been “thrown under a bus” to protect members of the Royal Family.
It was claimed the 35-year-old got upset as his reported feud with brother Prince William was played out publicly.
A source told authors Omid Scobie and Caroline Durand: “Harry was upset that it was playing out so publicly and that so much of the information being reported was wrong.
“There had been moments where he felt people working with his brother had put things out there to make William look good, even if it meant throwing Harry under the bus.
“It was a confusing time, and his head was all over the place—he didn’t know who or what to believe, and he and William weren’t talking enough either, which made everything a lot worse.”
