British Royal family news reveals Meghan Markle’s first children’s book arrived a few days after she gave birth to her first daughter, and it’s already made it to the top of the New York Times best-selling list in the children’s picture book category.
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The children’s book was inspired by a poem she’d written for her husband Harry on Father’s Day. The poem itself was inspired by the Duchess watching Harry’s relationship with their first child Archie grow.
In a recent interview to promote her book, Meghan Markle praised Harry for his affectionate and tender role as a father as the reason The Bench exists. Though Meghan’s daughter didn’t arrive before work on The Bench concluded, Meghan, 39, paid a tribute to her in the book in a beautiful way.
Meghan Markle Explains Her Objective In Writing The Book
To go back to the very beginning as to what inspired the title of her book, Meghan revealed that she got Prince Harry a bench for his very first father’s day.
“As most of us do, you go, what am I going to get them as a gift? And I thought I just wanted something sentimental and a place for him to have as a bit of a home base with our son,” Meghan says.
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“This is your bench,” the poem reads, “Where life will begin/For you and our son/Our baby, our kin.” These words were inscribed on the bench – where Meghan hopes Harry and Archie will spend memorable times.
As for the book, it portrays the relationship between a father and a son in a softer light; as a friend rather than a strict disciplinarian.
“I often find, and especially in this past year, I think so many of us realized how much happens in the quiet,” she says. “It was definitely moments like that, watching them from out of the window and watching [my husband] just, you know, rock him to sleep or carry him or, you know … those lived experiences, from my observation, are the things that I infused in this poem.”
Another thing that the former “Suits” actress made sure of in her illustrated book was the representation of different families with different backgrounds and beliefs.
“Growing up, I remember so much how it felt to not see yourself represented,” says Meghan. “Any child or any family hopefully can open this book and see themselves in it, whether that means glasses or freckled or a different body shape or a different ethnicity or religion.”
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The Duchess of Sussex Describes Her Inspiration For The Book
While some characters in the book were imaginary, Meghan Markle said that she found inspiration from real life people and stories. Meghan’s mother’s favorite flower and her husband’s mother’s favorite flower were subtly included in the book, along with a touching story that Meghan heard one time.
One representation that Meghan said was particularly important to her was that of the military family.
“He had told me the story about how he wasn’t able to teach his son how to play catch because he was away,” Meghan recalled the story of a sergeant from Texas she met during her USO tour. “And so he and his son would mail this baseball back and forth to each other from Texas to Afghanistan and write the date on it.”
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