The mother-of-two recently launched her book, "The Bench." The inspiration for the book came from her husband's relationship with their son, Archie.
Meghan and Harry welcomed their second child, Lilibet Diana, on June 4. According to PEOPLE, the Duchess of Sussex joined NPR Weekend Edition for an interview on Father's Day, where she revealed that the inspiration for her book, The Bench, came from her husband's relationship with their son, Archie.
Meghan shared that her gift for Harry on his first Father's day, when Archie was barely a month old, was a bench; a place for them to “reset.”
“As most of us do, you go, what am I going to get them as a gift? And I thought I just wanted something sentimental and a place for him to have as a bit of a home base with our son,” Meghan says in the interview.
On the back of the bench is a plaque, where Meghan's poem is etched. "This is your bench," the poem reads, "Where life will begin/ For you and our son/ Our baby, our kin."
The mother-of-two went on to describe The Bench as a "love story."
"I often find, and especially in this past year, I think so many of us realized how much happens in the quiet," she said. "It was definitely moments like that, watching them from out of the window and watching [my husband] just, you know, rock him to sleep or carry him or, you know ... those lived experiences, from my observation, are the things that I infused in this poem."
"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 added.
During the course of the interview, Meghan also spoke about how it was important to her that the illustrations in the book—done by Caldecott Medal recipient Christian Robinson— were inclusive. “Growing up, I remember so much how it felt to not see yourself represented,” says Meghan. “Any child or any family hopefully can open this book and see themselves in it, whether that means glasses or freckled or a different body shape or a different ethnicity or religion.”
While little Archie perfects the role of being an elder brother, he's also brushing up on his reading skills. The Bench is a favorite of Archie, who “has a voracious appetite for books."
“Archie loves the book! Now the fact that he loves The Bench, and I can say, ‘Mommy wrote this for you’ feels amazing.”
References:
https://people.com/royals/meghan-markle-gives-first-interview-since-oprah-reveals-sentimental-fathers-day-gift-prince-harry/
https://www.npr.org/2021/06/20/1007625324/meghan-markle-prince-harry-the-bench-picture-kids-book-christian-robinson
Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
