Last week, we heard the odd news that a signed copy of the Duchess of Sussex’s children’s book, The Bench, was on sale on eBay. Intriguingly, the inscription was clearly to Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank, as in this was a gift sent to them directly by Meghan, and Meghan penned a lovely note on it. Eugenie and Jack sublet Frogmore Cottage circa 2020-2023, and one theory is that the copy possibly got let behind as Eugenie & Jack were moving houses in 2022 or 2023. Another theory is that the copy was stolen, or that Eugenie might have sold it to a book seller for cash.
What we know, for sure, is that the eBay bookseller was Drive Easy’s Signed Books, owned by Nicholas Joseph Greenwood, and the bookseller yanked the listing last Friday. No one knows if the listing was yanked due to a sale or some kind of complaint or lawyer’s call. The original eBay listing claimed: “Provenance – and proof thereof – will be disclosed to the genuine buyer after payment in full and confirmed delivery.” So… the bookseller claimed to have authentication or provenance? Interesting. So, this has left people with some questions about whether Eugenie is still close to Prince Harry and Meghan, whether Eugenie was the one to sell the book and what exactly happened here. According to Rob Shuter, Eugenie doesn’t even know how the book ended up on eBay, but she apologized to Meghan.
Princess Eugenie personally contacted Meghan Markle after a copy of Meghan’s 2021 children’s book, The Bench — personally gifted to Eugenie and her husband, Jack Brooksbank — mysteriously appeared on eBay with a staggering £20,000 asking price, sources tell Naughty But Nice.
“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 tells Naughty But Nice.
The Bench is a children’s picture book exploring the bond between fathers and sons through a mother’s eyes. Meghan has said it began as a poem she wrote for Prince Harry on his first Father’s Day after the birth of their son, Archie. The first-edition copy given to Eugenie and Jack contains a handwritten inscription addressed to “Eug & Jack,” celebrating the father-son bond and referencing Frogmore Cottage.
So how did something so personal end up online? Sources point out that Eugenie and Jack have moved and divided their time between different homes over the years, raising the possibility the book was misplaced, stored or passed along without their knowledge.
“Eugenie genuinely doesn’t know how it left her possession,” an insider tells Naughty But Nice. “What mattered to her was making sure Meghan knew this wasn’t some deliberate snub.”
The eBay listing has since disappeared.
“Meghan accepted the explanation,” the source adds. “But nobody can explain how the book got there.”
And that remains the mystery.
That’s the part I’d like to know as well – how in the world did this end up in a random bookseller’s hands? If Eugenie was the one to sell it, I feel like she would have the kind of contacts to ensure a private sale, something that wouldn’t end up on eBay. I’m leaning towards “this copy was stolen” or “it was misplaced in a move, and picked up by some staff member or maybe even Sarah Ferguson.” Like… I just don’t believe that Eugenie would sell this herself, in this way. This whole thing is so low-class.
PS… Remember those random reports earlier this year that some work was being done on Frogmore Cottage, despite the fact that Frogmore had been (officially) sitting empty for three years? I wonder if someone “found” that copy of The Bench while there were workmen over there.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images, screencaps courtesy of Archewell.
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While the explanations for the book being on E-Bay offered by Kaiser sounds plausible. Nothing by Rob Shuter is of interest to me, he is a gutter rat who parrots his fellow gutter rats talking points
This is exactly the kind of thing Grandma Sarah would do……just saying..
💯
…or (someone on behalf of) Grandma Camilla, just to stir the pot and cause pain and a rift.
Or William…
Fergie, all day long.
I agree with the theory that the book was left behind in Frogmore when Eugenie and family moved and had another child soon after. An empty Frogmore cottage would have been a huge interest to anyone. A cleaner, repairman, mover etc would have easily taken it.
As someone who has a huge library at home, every four or five years I sell or donate my books. Sometimes signed books from treasured authors get mixed up with the donation pile. I don’t think this is a huge issue and I think Meghan would have just shrugged. Of all the hurt that’s been done to her, this is nothing.
That was my immediate thought. It got mistakenly put in the donate pile. Someone at the charity shop realized the book was signed and sold it to the auction guy. I’ve donated books signed to me by authors I know. I seriously downsized, sorry!
I’m guessing the article about apologizing to Meghan came from Bea or someone close to her.
I agree, it is all too easy for a book or other loved item to go missing in a move or clean out. Someone discovered it and thought they would profit. It sucks but it’s also not a story except to the scandalmonger tabloid media.
I go through the piles of my child’s old books specifically to make sure we keep inscribed copies, but Eugenie has a more complicated life than I do, so.
Maybe I’m being naive, but I believe Eugenie that she had nothing to do with it? Aside from attending that one questionable luncheon with Piers and Jeremy Clarkson, she’s never shown anything but fondness for both Harry and Meghan. They seem to have a good relationship. And maybe she’s “broke” compared to Charles and William, but she’s not hurting for money, her husband does well enough.
I’d believe that Fergie or a random worker did this before I’d believe that Eugenie did it.
I also like the fact that she’s willing to apologize; W&K would never.
I agree, there are several ways of this book making it to ebay like this. My guess is that it just got left behind inadvertently while packing/moving and someone snatched it up. If Eugenie was going to sell it for money i think she would have done so privately.
How does a source know she called Meghan and apologiesed, Does Eugenie have staff who eaves drop on her phone calls showing she is not not lacking funds so there would be no need to sell stuff on ebay, besides she works for an art gallery and would know better ways to raise money off stuff related to Meghan. Still sucks to be Eugenie,she still get my side eye
This is so crass and icky but goes to underline the perennial theme: the royals don’t pay people market rates for the roles they play. So, they have to make ends meet. Hence: they sell stories, no matter how inconsequential or tedious. They sell mementoes. They even sell jewellery. Princess Margaret’s children sold her things at auction. Fawcett was notoriously dubbed “Fawcett the Fence,” as he sold off so many of Charles’ unwanted gifts from foreign dignitaries, till said dignitaries just opted to start showing up with bags of cash. Oh so tacky. These people are the Clampetts with posh accents. LOL. None of them earn an honest living, but Meghan and Harry. That’s the reason the other family members resent them. Do the timeline on Carole Middleton’s launch of the smear campaign, the little ladies’ lynch mob. GDPR data protection laws came into effect in the EU and the UK in 2018 IIRC. That cut off her major revenue stream, which was not party hats and silly outfits but customer data. That’s when the panic set in. They spent a few years scrambling before the collapse inevitably came. 2018 was also the year of Meghan and Harry’s wedding. Coincidence? I think not. I think Carole was earning a pretty penny for those stories demonising “the American actress” who so palpably outclassed and outperformed her dowdy, dingy daughter. You reading, Carole? Good.
@Yankeedoodles brilliantly stated and informative, thanks.💐👏👏
Who buys anything at that price point without knowing its provenance first? Like, nobody. So this is a stunt, a distraction.
I wonder if the posting of the item on the web was a way of establishing the provenance? Because Eug has (maybe) confirmed it’s legit her copy, and Meghan hadn’t denied that was her inscription? And now it can be sold privately.
Agree with everything but one — I’d argue the Clampetts had FAR more class, not to mention genuine family values.
@C-Shell, I laughed out loud, and hard at that one
Very true, @C-Shell. More hospitality too. Sigh. Is there any redeeming virtue to *any* of these people???
I forgot that Frogmore was being renovated back to “staff” quarters! That lines up neatly. Another possibility that I’m just considering now is that the kind of unscrupulous bookseller who would sell this book might also have contacted someone at the palace to buy it back and take it off the market, trying to avoid further scrutiny.
To be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that her mom stole the book to sell it.
That would not surprise be at all.
This screams “Fergie.”
I also agree with Kaiser that if Eugenie was the one who tried to sell it (which I don’t believe), she would have figured out a smarter and more discreet way to do it than freaking eBay.
I’m still not going to believe Shuter has any real sources.
Anyways, I think a staff member (or someone who got the book from a staff member) put it on EBay. Either by straight up stealing it or by stealing it from a donations pile Eugenie or her staff had created.
My money is on Sarah Ferguson stole it, sold it to someone else thinking they would be a final owner and no one would be the wiser, but that person later went to the bookseller to make a profit, probably when they saw the renewed interest in Meghan following her return to the UK
Fergie for the win! She goes thru $£€¥ like oxygen.
I doubt he knows about a phone call unless Fergie called and told him for cash.
That said, it sounds like some member of staff did this mess and had to take it down once they realized it was out there.
I have to feel sorry for the York girls. They can’t trust their own mother not to sell them out? Not being able to trust your own mom to profit off of you using any means possible is awful.
I won’t even get into what their father has done to their lives.
I love that so many of us automatically assume Fergie was responsible. She’s such an epic mess. And a truly horrible human being.
So true. Unethical profiteering? Probably Fergie!
I don’t forget when Sarah had Breast cancer followed by skin cancer and she told the world about it and advised people to get help if they had a problem. Better than both Charles and Kate who kept their problems to themselves instead of offering some advice.
It’s Occam’s Razor. This stunt has Fergie’s fingerprints all over it. She’s been pulling this kind of crap since at least the early 1990’s.
She also was Epstein’s pal and apologized to him for having criticized him so she could remain on his gravy train.
I used to like Fergie, but after reading her autobiography, after learning of her association with Epstein, she is giving me all kinds of ick.
That was the ONE thing she did well, announcing the kinds of cancer she had & what to watch for. Although I suspect if we delve a little into her various interviews on that we’ll find she was paid.
Is Eugenie Rob Shuter’s source?
Every time I move, stuff gets lost.
“Provenance – and proof thereof – will be disclosed to the genuine buyer after payment in full and confirmed delivery.”
This could only be Eugenie and or Sarah.
My bets that it was Sarah because she came back without a dime and ransacked her daughters houses for money.
Also, it is most likely Sarah because she never considers the consequences of her actions. It is completely reasonable that she took the book without asking and made the deal with this company. As an author herself she knows who to go to. However, she never considered the backlash to her own daughter for publicly selling her book. All she saw was money that she needed.
I do feel sorry for Eugenie and Beatrice having two extreme narcissists as parents. The only question is how far have these two apples fallen from the tree. I understand more and more why Philip hated her. He was never the shining example of parenthood but Sarah is the worst along with her ex. I also understand why the girls would rather live in a cupboard than with their parents at Royal Lodge.
Harry should consider himself lucky. Eventhough he only had his mother for 12 years she was the most “normal” human in that whole lot.
I don’t think Eugenie would have done this. Her parents have become persona non grata due to their connection with Epstein, this was a huge wake up call for Beatrice and Eugenie that their parents have always been shady and terrible with money. She would not want to draw attention to herself in a super tacky way like this given all the negative press her family has gotten.
I wouldn’t put it past Sarah Ferguson, who has no fixed address since she was kicked out of Royal Lodge, to steal the book from Eugenie’s house and to sell it on Ebay for money out of sheer desperation. She can’t even use her Duchess title anymore.
But it could have been a random worker who found it at Frogmore Cottage and then decided to make money off of it. I have a feeling the Ebay seller took off the listing because they realized the book may have been stolen/could lead to legal action. I hope they give the book back to Eugenie.
At least one of the royals knows how to apologize when they are wrong. Too bad Charles, Will, Kate, Andy etc. can’t/won’t do that. The rest are too entitled and believe G-d and history will be on their side when they are clearly in the wrong. Neither will be.
I couldn’t even begin to count how many times my daughter has lost her books or left them behind somewhere; that could easily be the case here, too. I lose things just as often when moving house. It might be nothing, but the theory that Sarah could have done it is also quite plausible, considering she is constantly worried about money.
I just find this so interesting. I’ve moved a lot in my life, I mean, A LOT, as a child & as an adult. I’ve never left behind a book, I’ve never left behind anything. There’s always that final walkthrough & my eyeballs will spot something amiss, every time. And a book that size? Absolutely I’m going to see it. Now, things have been ‘lost’ in my moves–I had both crates fall off a moving truck, burst open, & everything pushed into a warehouse for later delivery. Somehow two picture packs got ‘lost’, each of which contained framed art. But that’s different.
We can’t know what happened. I would conclude that Eugenie was careless with a gift, but I don’t think she would sell it on eBay. I would also conclude that it had not become a well-loved book of the Brooksbank boys. I think only August was born when the book came out.
I’m sticking with the Fergie-done-it theory, just because I love it