Harry and Meghan 'help journalists write bombshell new biography' that risks opening new royal wounds
Harry and Meghan are set to release an explosive biography that could further pull apart a wounded Royal Family, it has been claimed.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have chosen two "favourable" journalists to write a glowing account of their blossoming romance and their decision to quit The Firm, the Mail on Sunday reports.
But palace courtiers are understood to fear the 320-page book, set for an August 11 release, which will reportedly chart the couple’s decision to quit as senior royals with excruciatingly detailed first-hand testimony.
Sources told the newspaper that the Sussexes gave an interview to the two authors, Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand, before they departed for Los Angeles.
ITV newsreader Tom Bradby, a friend of the couple, previously warned that he knows some of the grievances they could air in a sit-down interview and it “won’t be pretty”.
The paper reports that its contents risks further tearing apart the embattled family, following a reported row between Prince Harry and his brother and breakdown of the 'Fab Four', the historic emergency Sandringham summit in January and Prince Andrew’s car crash interview over the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.
It comes as the couple’s legal action against Associated Newspapers, which publishes the Mail on Sunday and MailOnline, got underway at the High Court this week.
They are suing the publisher for alleged breach of copyright and data protection after it published parts of a letter in February last year that Meghan wrote to her father Thomas, three months after he missed her wedding owing to a heart attack.
The couple’s lawyers accused the Mail on Sunday of harassing and exploiting them. Associated Newspapers deny the couple’s claims, especially that extracts of the letter were deliberately excluded, and say they will contest the case “with vigour”.
In a stormy week to rock their new North America life, Harry and Meghan waged a renewed war on the media on the eve of Queen Elizabeth’s birthday, telling the editors The Sun, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror and Daily Express they will never co-operate with them again.
“This policy is not about avoiding criticism,” they wrote. “It's not about shutting down public conversation or censoring accurate reporting. Media have every right to report on and indeed have an opinion on The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, good or bad. But it can't be based on a lie.”
Harry previously spoke candidly over a “ruthless campaign” against Meghan, adding: “'I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces.”
Insiders reportedly worry the couple have conscripted their friends to contribute to the book, as Princess Diana did with Andrew Morton’s bombshell biography.
The new biography was set for publication by New York-based Dey Street Books last May to coincide with Archie’s birthday, but was pushed back.The fine details are under wraps but an ebook is available to pre-order for £7.49.
Patrick Jephson, Princess Diana’s former private secretary, wrote on Sunday: “Collaborating with pliable authors and magazine journalists while shunning those deemed awkward is standard Royal practice, but for Harry and Meghan it’s not just about image – for them it’s business: a vital part of the selfbranding and marketing process.”
Neither the book authors nor publishers Dey Street and their parent company Harper-Collins were available for comment.
