Sussex book casts shadow over a happy family portrait
THE Duchess of Sussex faces being quizzed in court over intimate details revealed in a tell-all biography after the authors admitted that she was a source.
Finding Freedom, published yesterday, lays bare the innermost thoughts of the Duke and Duchess and the tensions behind the scenes that led up to their departure from official royal life.
It includes the claim that the Prince of Wales’s 70th birthday photograph, which seems to show a happy picture of family unity, was an “absolute nightmare” to plan because his sons blew “hot and cold” with their father.
The 350-page book is expected to be thrust to the heart of a High Court privacy case brought by the Duchess against The Mail on Sunday.
The Sussexes have distanced themselves from the book, while Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand, its authors, have repeatedly insisted the pair were not interviewed and did not contribute, despite a startling level of detail of their innermost thoughts and feelings.
However, buried in an “author’s note” at the back of the book, is the intriguing admission: “We have spoken with close friends of Harry and Meghan, royal aides and palace staff (past and present), the charities and organisations they have built long-lasting relationships with and, when appropriate, the couple themselves.”
The Mail on Sunday’s legal team are understood to be examining whether it is evidence that the Duchess allowed friends to speak to the media on her behalf, which is central to the case – in which she could be called to the stand.
Mark Stephens, a leading media lawyer and partner at Howard Kennedy solicitors, said: “Essentially, that’s a confession that this is as near as damn it to an authorised biography.”
He said the Duchess could be questioned on the stand about whether she gave the green light to friends and colleagues to contribute to the book.
The Duchess is suing The Mail on Sunday for breach of privacy after it published part of a letter she had written to her father.
IN TELLING the story of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, it is inevitable that other members of the Royal family will play leading roles.
And in Finding Freedom, the hotly anticipated biography of the couple, the intricacies of relationships with certain relatives are laid bare.
The Prince of Wales is much admired by the Duchess, whom authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand reveal she found to be a trusted confidant who “changed her life for the better”.
“Not a father-in-law but a second father,” a source reveals. It is also claimed that the Prince has a soft spot for the Duchess and admires her confidence and energy.
Her husband’s relationship with his father is more complicated, amid suggestions the Duke felt he was often more focused on work than on family.
“Charles tended to be more of a presence at big family events,” one source is quoted as saying. “This isn’t a family that pops by to say hi or texts each other to see how they’re doing. There’s a formalness there.”
The book, published yesterday, reveals that the Prince’s official 70th birthday photograph with his family was an “absolute nightmare” to plan because his sons blew “hot and cold” with their father. “Neither William nor Harry made much of an effort to make themselves available,” a source said.
The Prince’s birthday, in 2018, was marked by the release of two images featuring the heir to the throne sitting on a bench with Prince George on his knee, and next to him was the Duchess of Cornwall and Princess Charlotte.
Standing behind them were the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge with Prince Louis, alongside the Sussexes.
“While Charles may be father to Harry, he’s also their boss, and that makes the relationship complex for a number of reasons,” a source states.
“Charles is extremely focused on his public image, and there have been times Harry has felt that has taken precedence over everything else.”
The Duchess of Sussex’s relationship with her sister-in-law is presented as rather more fraught than that with her father-in-law.
It is the Duchess of Cambridge, rather than her husband, who comes in for the most stinging criticism, after apparently being “indifferent” about meeting Meghan and then failing to extend a hand of friendship.
“Despite the fact that Harry was a regular guest in her household, Kate had seemingly not shown much interest in finding out who this woman was who had made her brother-in-law so happy,” the book states.
However, it concedes that when the two women did meet, the Duchess told Meghan she was “always welcome to contact her if she needed anything”.
Princess Eugenie comes in for mild criticism, as the authors claim she expressed frustration with the Sussexes’ decision to announce they were expecting a baby at the same time as her wedding. It was also said to be one of her members of staff who tipped off a journalist about their relationship, after they secretly went on double dates.
Archie
Fans starved of detail about Archie, the couple’s son, will delight in the many snippets the book offers up about the youngest member of the Royal family.
Meghan described the moment she first held her son as “ecstasy... total bliss and contentment”.
The boy’s birth was shrouded in secrecy, but the authors divulge that “Archie was alert as soon as he arrived – eyes wide open”. As a baby, he was “in the ninetieth percentile for height”, the Duchess boasted to friends.
After his birth, the couple hired a night nanny “to establish a sleep schedule and be an extra pair of helping hands” but were forced to let her go in the middle of her second shift “for being unprofessional”, the book claims.
The couple hired a second night nurse but their experience with the first left lasting scars. Whatever had happened, they felt unable to fully relax at night without checking on their son and so eventually decided to take on the nights themselves, instead hiring a nanny to work weekdays.
Early last summer, Archie started taking swimming lessons, but only after his nervous parents looked up Youtube videos about how babies hold their breath under water. The Duchess sent videos of Archie to her husband to “lift his spirits” in January, while he was London thrashing out the terms of their exit deal with royal aides.
The love story
The Duke and Duchess “did their homework” and Googled each other before their first date, the book reveals.
They need not have bothered, with the couple being “obsessed” with each other from the start, and the book documents many of their intimate moments together, including Meghan’s first visit to Nottingham Cottage.
Their third official date was a luxury trip to Botswana, of which almost every detail is pored over, from “cosy, handwoven comforters” on the teak beds to their breakfast choices (bacon and eggs for him, fruit and yogurt for her).
He was “delightfully surprised by Meghan’s down-to-earth attitude”, the book notes, detailing how she cleaned her face with baby wipes and “happily wandered into the woodlands if she needed a bathroom break”.
One of its biggest revelations is that the couple secretly got engaged on a later trip to Botswana, several weeks before the Duke officially popped the question over a roast chicken in London. He had earlier gone on a “secret diamond scouting” mission with a friend, who helped him source “the perfect conflict-free stone”.
The book reveals that “prayer and conversations with God” play a significant role in their relationship and that they have “been on a journey of faith together”. As a couple, they enjoyed curling up to watch box-sets such as Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad.
The Duchess “fell hard” after her first glimpse of how Prince Harry would be as a father, watching him win over her best friend Jessica Mulroney’s children with ease, the book reveals.
However, it is less than flattering about the Duchess’s first husband, the “brash” Trevor Engelson, who has never spoken publicly about their relationship. Mr Engelson is accused of failing to support Meghan’s burgeoning acting career and preferring her to be dependent on him.
The authors confirm that the couple were planning a move to the US ever since they decided to step away from royal life and carefully chose the words “North America” in their public statements to allow them the opportunity to relocate when the time was right.
‘This isn’t a family that pops by to say hi or texts each other to see how they’re doing. There’s a formalness there’
Royal training
The Duchess was given training in everything from curtsying to surviving kidnapping attempts as royal aides prepared her for life in the Firm.
Experts were employed to teach the American actress “how to most gracefully exit your chauffeured sedan while wearing a pencil skirt” and “when to curtsy to members of the family several rungs up the hierarchy from you”.
Like the Duchess of Cambridge before her, she also underwent a two-day security course with the SAS, when she was “bundled into the back of a car” by a “terrorist” and driven to a location before she was saved by officers.
Private royal meetings
The book is brimming with extraordinary detail on the couple’s private meetings with Royal family members.
When Meghan was first introduced to the Duke of Cambridge, he said he had been “looking forward to meeting the girl who has put that silly grin on my brother’s face”.
The trio “walked straight past the drawing room, with its neutral colour palette accented by important antiques and artwork”. Similarly, when she was introduced to the Queen, she took in the “maroon-and-cream Aubusson carpet accented with a floral-and-scroll pattern” as well as Old Master paintings hanging on eggshell-blue walls.
The Duchess appears to have been less impressed with Harry’s “humble” Nottingham Cottage, where, later in their relationship she filled an entire bedroom with her clothes.
Palace frustrations
The Duchess has made no secret of her frustrations with the sometimes archaic inner workings of the Palace.
She was said to have become exasperated with aides “flip-flopping between decisions”, not least as they agonised over when the couple should first be photographed together.
“Heads nodded all around on one idea, only to have an aide at another household dismiss the entire plan as a bad idea the very next day,” it states.
On one occasion, a senior aide is said to have contacted Oprah Winfrey after she offered the Duchess’s mother her support, to ensure she was not using their friendship to get an interview.
The book settles one or two scores with staff, the first being over the departure of Melissa Toubati, Meghan’s personal assistant. “Despite the glowing press accounts, the couple had grown dissatisfied with Melissa’s work and were not disappointed when she left,” the authors claim.
The book also documents in detail the visit the couple paid to Buckingham Palace to try on tiaras for the wedding and appears to confirm newspaper reports that the Duchess initially wanted to wear one set with emeralds.
In the event, the Queen and Angela Kelly, her personal dresser, came up with five options, which were presented to the Duchess for consideration. “With Meghan seated in front of a full-length mirror, each tiara was carefully placed upon her head, until a decision was made,” the book documents.
“The Queen agreed with Meghan upon her choice of [Queen Mary’s] tiara for the wedding. Meghan tried on all five but knew right away which one she liked best. It was a special moment for both of them.
“When more than a year later the story broke about Meghan demanding a different tiara to wear on her wedding day, she called a friend and said, ‘How sad; I love my tiara.’”