Did Princess Eugenie Sell Meghan Markle’s Personal Gift? The Mystery Behind the £20,000 eBay Listing

A gift that appeared to carry nothing more than sentimental value between two members of the British royal family has unexpectedly become the center of attention after turning up on eBay with a price tag approaching £20,000. The item in question is a special copy of The Bench, the children’s book written by Meghan Markle, which is believed to have been given to Princess Eugenie and her husband, Jack Brooksbank, after the couple welcomed their first child, August, in February 2021. What has made the story particularly intriguing is the handwritten message reportedly found inside the book, apparently written by Meghan specifically for Eugenie and Jack.

According to the seller, the book is a first edition of The Bench and was described as a rare “presentation copy” connected to a member of the British royal family. The book was listed by Drive Easy’s Signed Books, a London-based signed-book dealer run by Nicholas Greenwood, for £19,999.99, or roughly $26,500. Photographs included with the listing appeared to show a handwritten dedication inside the book, with Meghan referring to the bond between fathers and sons and mentioning Frogmore Cottage, the home where she and Prince Harry once lived. However, the exact provenance of the book has never been fully explained, and the authenticity of the inscription has not been independently confirmed.

That immediately raised the question royal watchers wanted answered: did Princess Eugenie actually sell Meghan’s gift? So far, there is no evidence that she did. The book was listed by the London dealer, rather than by Eugenie or Jack, and the seller has not publicly explained exactly how such a personal royal item came into his possession. According to the original report, a source quoted by royal insider Rob Shuter claimed that Eugenie contacted Meghan herself after learning about the listing. “Eugenie called Meghan herself. She was horrified the book had somehow ended up for sale and made it absolutely clear she would never knowingly sell a personal gift from Meghan.” Neither Eugenie nor Meghan has publicly confirmed the account.

The book itself makes the story more personal because of the dedication reportedly written for the Brooksbank family. According to the seller’s description, Meghan wrote: “Dear Eug & Jack, 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 you guys. All love, Megh.” The message was reportedly written in 2021, around the time August was born. The Bench began as a poem Meghan wrote for Harry for Father’s Day before being developed into a picture book centered on the relationship between fathers and their children. Using that same theme in a personal message to Eugenie and Jack would therefore have carried a particular significance.

Frogmore Cottage adds another layer to the story. The Windsor property became closely associated with Meghan and Harry during their early married life in Britain and was where they lived after their wedding. Eugenie and Jack later stayed at the cottage themselves, creating an unusual connection between the two couples. That shared history may explain why Meghan referred to Frogmore in her dedication rather than simply sending a conventional message congratulating the couple on the birth of their son. If the inscription is genuine, the book represents not only a signed copy of a bestselling royal book but also a snapshot of a very specific period in the relationship between the two families.

Princess Eugenie has always occupied a somewhat unusual position within the British royal family. The younger daughter of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson and a granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II, she grew up under intense media attention while generally maintaining a more private profile than many senior members of the monarchy. After studying at Newcastle University, Eugenie pursued a career in the arts and spent time working in New York before returning to London and joining the contemporary art world. Her professional life has allowed her to establish an identity of her own rather than being defined solely by her royal status.

Her relationship with Jack Brooksbank has also been markedly different from the more formal royal romances of previous generations. The couple reportedly met while skiing in Verbier, Switzerland, around 2010. Their relationship lasted for several years, including a period of long distance when Eugenie moved to New York for work. In early 2018, the couple announced their engagement after Jack proposed during a trip to Nicaragua. They married on October 12, 2018, at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle in a ceremony attended by Queen Elizabeth II and numerous members of the royal family.

One of the most memorable details of Eugenie’s wedding was her decision to wear a gown with an open back, deliberately revealing the scar from the surgery she underwent as a child to correct scoliosis. The choice was not simply a fashion statement. Eugenie wanted the scar to remain visible as part of her story and as a tribute to those who had supported her through the operation. By allowing the scar to be seen on one of the most photographed days of her life, she turned something deeply personal into a quiet statement about confidence and self-acceptance.

Following their wedding, Eugenie and Jack gradually shifted their focus toward family life. Their first child, August Philip Hawke Brooksbank, was born in February 2021, at a particularly complicated moment for the British royal family. Meghan and Harry had already stepped back from their roles as senior working royals, while Eugenie and Jack had connections to Frogmore Cottage. Meghan’s decision to send The Bench to the couple therefore came at a time when even private gestures between members of the family were likely to attract public attention.

Eugenie and Jack later welcomed their second child, Ernest George Ronnie Brooksbank, in May 2023. Unlike some senior members of the royal family, Eugenie has generally kept her children away from the center of royal duties, allowing the family to maintain a relatively private lifestyle. Her approach has reflected the broader way she has navigated royal life: remaining connected to the institution while pursuing a career, marriage and family life outside the most intense spotlight.

Her relationship with Prince Harry is another reason the eBay story has attracted attention. Eugenie and Harry are cousins and have long been regarded as relatively close among the younger generation of the royal family. Eugenie and Jack have also shared moments with Harry and Meghan that have been referenced publicly over the years. Their relationship has occasionally been discussed in connection with Harry and Meghan’s departure from royal duties, making any story involving a private gift between Eugenie and Meghan particularly easy for the press to place within the larger narrative of royal family tensions.

Meghan Markle, meanwhile, followed a very different path before entering the royal family. She became internationally known as Rachel Zane on the television drama Suits, while also building a lifestyle platform through her former blog, The Tig. Her relationship with Harry became public in 2016, followed by their engagement in 2017 and their wedding at St George’s Chapel in May 2018. The marriage transformed Meghan from a successful American actress into one of the most closely watched women in the British royal family.

Life inside the monarchy, however, proved considerably more complicated. In early 2020, Meghan and Harry announced that they would step back from their roles as senior working royals and eventually established their lives in North America. Their decision was followed by a series of major media projects, interviews and public statements about their experiences within the institution. Those revelations fueled intense debate about the monarchy and placed their relationship with other members of the royal family under an even brighter spotlight.

The Bench, published in 2021, arrived during this period of transition. The book was based on the poem Meghan had originally written for Harry and explored the emotional relationship between fathers and sons. Although the involvement of a royal author guaranteed enormous attention, the book received mixed reviews from critics. That makes the reported eBay listing particularly interesting because its potential value has little to do with the ordinary retail value of The Bench. Instead, the enormous asking price was based on the story allegedly attached to this particular copy.

The difference is significant. A standard copy of The Bench can be purchased for only a few pounds, while this particular edition was being offered for almost £20,000. Its value, if genuine, would come from the handwritten dedication, the alleged connection to Eugenie and Jack, and the possibility that it was personally given by Meghan to the couple. Yet those same elements also make authentication crucial. The seller reportedly claimed that the handwriting was clearly Meghan’s, but the book was offered without an independent certificate of authenticity, leaving questions about its provenance.

The fact that the book appeared on eBay does not, by itself, prove that Eugenie ever sold it. A personal gift can pass through several hands before ending up with a collector or specialist dealer. There are a number of possible explanations for how the book could have reached the market, but none has been established publicly. Until the seller provides a clear chain of ownership, or Eugenie, Meghan or Jack addresses the matter directly, any theory about how the book left the family remains speculation.

What makes the reported reaction from Eugenie particularly interesting is the suggestion that she did not regard the book as an ordinary possession. If Rob Shuter’s source is accurate, she viewed it as a personal gift from Meghan and was sufficiently concerned by its appearance online to contact her directly. “Eugenie called Meghan herself. She was horrified the book had somehow ended up for sale and made it absolutely clear she would never knowingly sell a personal gift from Meghan.” The statement, while unconfirmed by either woman, offers a very different picture from the idea that Eugenie simply decided to cash in on a piece of royal memorabilia.

The timing of the story has also contributed to the interest surrounding it. Anything involving Meghan, Harry and the wider royal family is inevitably viewed through the lens of years of public disagreements, revelations and speculation about family relationships. Yet an eBay listing cannot, on its own, establish that a relationship has deteriorated. In Eugenie’s case, the picture is particularly complicated because she has maintained her own professional and family life while remaining part of the royal family, and she has historically appeared to maintain connections with both the Sussexes and other members of the monarchy.

For now, the central mystery remains unresolved. The identity of the seller is known, the asking price was public and the listing has since ended, but the full journey of the book from Meghan’s hands to an online marketplace remains unclear. It is also unknown whether the book was actually sold or whether a buyer accepted the seller’s “best offer” option. Neither Meghan nor Eugenie has publicly addressed the matter, leaving the story suspended between a fascinating piece of royal memorabilia and an unresolved question about its provenance.

If the inscription is authentic and the book really was the personal gift Meghan sent to Eugenie and Jack after August’s birth, it represents a remarkably intimate artifact from a complicated period in the royal family’s recent history. It connects the birth of a child, the shared history of Frogmore Cottage, Meghan’s literary ambitions and the relationship between two royal cousins who have often found themselves navigating the pressures of public life in very different ways. But until more evidence emerges, the question of how Meghan Markle’s personal gift ended up on eBay remains exactly that: a royal mystery with no definitive answer.