The Duchess of Sussex has highlighted the subtle tribute to her late mother-in-law Princess Diana in her new children’s book, The Bench. In an interview with journalist Samantha Balaban on NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday programme, Meghan revealed that she asked illustrator Christian Robinson to include sketches of Diana’s favourite flowers, forget-me-nots, throughout the book.
“There are all those sorts of Easter eggs and nuggets tucked within the book,” Meghan said during the joint interview with Christian. “There’s a lot if people start digging.
“I think you can find sweet little moments that we’ve tucked in there, from my favourite flower, even my husband’s mum’s favourite flower, forget-me-nots, we wanted to make sure they were included in there. There’s a lot of special detail and love that went into that book.”
The Duchess, who was giving her first interview since the birth of her baby daughter Lili in June, also revealed how her two-year-old son Archie reacted to her debut children’s book.
“Archie loves the book, Christian I haven’t told you… he loves the book, which is great because he has a voracious appetite for books,” she said, adding: “Constantly when we read him a book he goes, ‘Again, again, again,’ and now we can say, ‘Mummy wrote the book for you,’ it feels amazing.“
The mother-of-two also said: “It’s a love story. It’s really just about growing with someone and having this deep connection and this trust so that, be at good times or bad, you know that you had this person.” She went on: “I really hope that people can see this as a love story that transcends the story of my family.”
Prince Harry and Meghan welcomed their baby daughter on 4 June, announcing her arrival two days after the birth. The couple chose to name their newborn Lilibet after the Queen – Lilibet was Her Majesty’s childhood nickname – while also giving her the middle name Diana, after her paternal grandmother.
The Sussexes continue to pay tribute to the late People’s Princess and on Meghan’s first Mother’s Day in 2019, she shared a beautiful close-up photo of Archie’s feet against a backdrop of forget-me-nots, again in reference to Diana.
