Meghan Markle’s Sweet Gift to Princess Eugenie Turns Up on eBay for a Whopping $26,000: Report
The special copy reportedly features a handwritten message addressed to “Eug and Jack” and is in the Duchess of Sussex’s famous penmanship.
Meghan Markle published her first-ever children's book, The Bench, in 2021. And perhaps like any debut author, she must have sent specially inscribed copies to her near and dear ones, including Princess Eugenie. However, no one would have possibly imagined that a few years down the line, one of those editions would be listed on eBay for many times the selling price. But that did happen.
Recently, a copy of The Bench seemingly gifted by Markle to her sister-in-law, Eugenie, and her husband, Jack Brooksbank, resurfaced on eBay priced at a whopping $26,500. A normal copy of the book is priced online at around $18. The sale initiated by Drive Easy’s Signed Books was ended by the seller on October 2nd 2026. Unfortunately, that didn’t quite seize the shock waves the listing initiated.
The special copy reportedly features a handwritten message addressed to “Eug and Jack” and is in the Duchess of Sussex’s famous penmanship. The note is dated 2021, the year Eugenie and Brooksbank welcomed their first child, August, while staying at Frogmore Cottage, Harry and Markle’s former home, where they themselves had their firstborn, Prince Archie. The inscription gave a nod to their residential connection. “Celebrating the special bond between father and son. I wrote this poem at Frogmore — I hope that Eug, you witness the same love there with your guys,” it read. It was signed, “All love, Meghan.”
The listing described the book as a “presentation copy inscribed, dated and signed by Meghan to Princess Eugenie and her husband Jack Brooksbank to the top left-hand side of the first page.” The seller warned “the ink has gone through to the previous page, the front free end paper” and the copy had seen some wear and tear, including “very slight creasing & marking to a few of the pages”.
The Duchess sent a signed copy of her book to Eugenie despite her rift with the monarchy. however, doesn't come as a surprise. The Princess was close to Markle during her courtship with Prince Harry and had maintained good ties with the couple even after their royal fallout. She even visited them in the US later on. Footage of Harry welcoming his cousin and her playing with Archie on the beach was included in their Netflix docu-series that came out in 2022.
While it is unclear where Eugenie stands with the Sussexes at the moment, the hope is that all is good between both parties, and the incident with the book is a simple case of misplacement.
