MEGHAN Markle may have been paid up to £500,000 as an advance for her kids’ book, a royal biographer has said.
Angela Levin believes the Duchess could have been handed the handsome some for writing The Bench which is expected to retail at £12.99.
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“We don’t know yet whether Meghan got an advance but there are rumours that she was offered 500,000 advance,” the author of Harry said.
“The book is being sold for £12.99. That’s not extortionate but I’m not quite sure who will read it.
“Little children I don’t think will read that, maybe it will be people who just want to know what she’s up to now.”
Ms Levin also explained how it is unclear how the Duchess will use the rumoured advance.
“But we don’t know, even if she has been offered this massive advance, whether she will give any money away to charity or whether she will keep it for herself,” Ms Levin said.
“They’ve got a lot of expenses what with their guards and big house and 16 bathrooms to look after.”
The Duchess penned her children’s book The Bench after originally writing a poem for Harry’s first Father’s Day from Archie, who will turn two next month.
A picture of the book was posted online yesterday ahead of its publication on June 8.
On the front cover, the mum-to-be’s pen name is given as: “Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex”.
Ms Levin said the use of Meghan’s title is “laughable” considering she wanted to cut all Royal ties.
“The fact that she wants to cling on to her royal title and the book is written by Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, is laughable,” the Prince Harry biographer told The Celeb Report Online.
“Because they wanted to get away from the Royal Family, they hated the Royal Family – they felt trapped.
“They didn’t like it, they wanted freedom and they’ve got freedom. You can’t have everything you want like that.”
According the author, most people with a royal title would not use it when signing off a book.
“You don’t use your royal position to make commercial gain,” she said.
“Not many people sign a book with their titles, it’s just ridiculous.
“They write their name and people should know who they are – they don’t add ‘Duchess of this and that’ after it.”
Meanwhile, Meghan has been accused of stealing her children’s book The Bench from a British author’s 2018 work.
Critics have pointed out it bears similarities with The Boy and The Bench written by Corrinne Averiss – who has dismissed the claims.
Meghan will also narrate an audiobook of the tale, which is published by Random House Children’s Books.
Her book is the latest project in a long list of work for the couple since they moved to the US.
They signed a £75million Netflix deal and a megabucks deal with Spotify with a docuseries now planned about the Invictus Games.
And Harry got a standing ovation as he appeared solo at a Covid concert on Monday night – with US fans saying “he belongs to us now”.
