The Duchess of Sussex’s children’s book, The Bench, is now at the top of the New York Times Best Sellers list, and it’s also a big hit with her family at home. During Meghan Markle’s interview on NPR’s Weekend Edition on Sunday, the Duchess said that her son, Archie, whose relationship with Prince Harry inspired the book, is already a big fan of The Bench.
During the interview, Meghan spoke about how she knew Archie would take note of certain aspects of The Bench, including the image of the military dad coming home, with the bench in the background and a popsicle on the ground. “I knew out son would notice all these elements. And he loves it…he loves the book.”
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Prince Harry and Meghan’s son is already quite the little bookworm, as Meghan said, “He has a voracious appetite for books. And, constantly, when we read him a book he goes, ‘Again, again, again.'” She added, “Now the fact that he loves The Bench, and we can say, ‘Mommy wrote this for you,’ feels amazing.”
Duchess Meghan dedicated the book to Prince Harry and Archie; she wrote, “For the man and the boy who make my heart go pump-pump.” During the interview with NPR, the Duchess also shared what she gifted Prince Harry for his first Father’s Day after Archie’s birth. Meghan presented Prince Harry with a bench, which featured a poem she wrote him inscribed on a plaque on the back; the poem and bench helped inspire the book. “I just wanted something sentimental and a place for him to have as a bit of a home base with our son,” Meghan said.
Meghan, who gave birth to the couples’ second child, daughter Lilibet Diana, on June 4, also revealed that she left little easter eggs throughout The Bench, including a lovely nod to Princess Diana. “If people start digging, I think you can find sweet little moments that we’ve tucked in there,” including “my husband’s mom’s favorite flower, forget-me-nots.” And even though baby Lili wasn’t yet born when Meghan wrote the book, Duchess Meghan also made sure to include her daughter in The Bench, as the final two-page illustration is an image that appears to be of the Sussexes as a family of four, in the backyard of their Montecito home.
