A £20,000 Mystery: Did Meghan’s Personal Gift to Princess Eugenie End Up on eBay?

A first-edition copy of Meghan Markle’s children’s book The Bench, apparently bearing a deeply personal handwritten message to Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank, has surfaced on eBay with a £19,999 asking price.

The inscription, dated 2021, addresses the couple as “Eug & Jack” and refers to the special bond between a father and son. It also reveals that Meghan wrote the poem that inspired the book while she and Prince Harry were living at Frogmore Cottage.

But one important question remains unanswered: how did a book apparently intended as a personal gift to Eugenie and Jack end up in the hands of an online bookseller?

The handwritten message at the centre of the mystery

The copy was offered by London-based dealer Nicholas Greenwood, who operates Drive Easy’s Signed Books on eBay.

According to the listing, the book was presented to Eugenie and Jack after the birth of their first child, August, who was born in February 2021.

The handwritten dedication reads:

“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 your guys. All love, Meghan.”

The inscription has not been independently authenticated. The seller, however, said he believed the handwriting was “undeniably” Meghan’s, while the signature appeared consistent with examples of her handwriting.

The use of “Eug” is particularly personal. It is a nickname used by members of Eugenie’s close family, including her sister, Princess Beatrice.

The message is dated 2021, the same year Eugenie and Jack welcomed August.

A book linked to Frogmore Cottage

The note also provides a direct connection to Frogmore Cottage, the Windsor home where Harry and Meghan lived before leaving royal duties and relocating to the United States.

Meghan’s message says she wrote the poem at Frogmore and expresses the hope that Eugenie would experience the same love there with her own family.

That detail is significant because Eugenie and Jack moved into Frogmore Cottage in late 2020, after Harry and Meghan had moved abroad. The couple later left the property in 2022.

The eBay seller described the book as a “presentation copy” and presented it as a rare piece of royal memorabilia.

His listing claimed that the inscription connected the Sussexes directly with the wider Royal Family at a specific point in time and place.

The seller wrote that the book was an “exceptionally rare” example of a personal gift passing from one member of the Royal Family to another and suggested it would be of interest to collectors, autograph hunters and museums.

There was no certificate of authenticity accompanying the book.

Why was it being offered for £19,999?

While an ordinary copy of The Bench can still be found online for around £2, this particular edition was listed at £19,999, or roughly £20,000.

Buyers who did not want to pay the full amount immediately were offered the option of making 24 monthly payments of around £943.29 through PayPal.

The listing also stated that 10 per cent of the proceeds would go towards a charity supporting disadvantaged children in education in Thailand.

Greenwood has been selling signed books on eBay for around a decade. His business has sold more than 2,300 items and, according to the article’s original account, has a 100 per cent customer satisfaction rating.

Yet the seller did not explain publicly how he acquired a book that was allegedly given directly to Eugenie and Jack.

That missing piece of provenance became the central mystery surrounding the sale.

Then the listing suddenly disappeared

The mystery intensified when the eBay listing was abruptly ended on Friday afternoon after being online for around a week.

Its disappearance raised the possibility that the book had been sold privately or withdrawn by the seller. There was no public confirmation that Eugenie or Jack had personally sold or given away the book.

The listing had promised that evidence of provenance would be provided to a genuine purchaser after payment had been made in full and delivery confirmed.

Greenwood also specifically asked potential buyers not to contact him about the item’s provenance before completing a purchase.

When approached for comment, he declined to discuss the listing.

Representatives for both Princess Eugenie and the Duchess of Sussex were also asked for comment.

The Bench and its modest sales

Meghan released The Bench through Random House Children’s Books on June 8, 2021.

The £12.99 children’s book explored the relationship between fathers and sons through a mother’s perspective. Meghan had reportedly secured a £500,000 advance for the project two years earlier.

The book did not make the UK Official Top 50 chart during its first week. It sold 3,212 copies in its opening week, according to figures cited in the original report.

Meghan has not published another children’s book since The Bench, while some estimates have put the book’s total sales at fewer than 10,000 copies.

That makes the purportedly personalized copy substantially different from an ordinary first edition, at least from a memorabilia perspective.

The seller described the volume as having been read but said it had suffered only “very slight” scratches and creases to the cover and pages.

The listing characterized it as a unique presentation copy because of the handwritten dedication rather than simply because it was signed.

Meghan and Eugenie’s long-standing friendship

The apparent gift also carries significance because of the history between Meghan, Harry, Eugenie and Jack.

Meghan’s friendship with Eugenie dates back to the early stages of her relationship with Harry.

The two couples spent time together before Meghan and Harry’s relationship became public, including a Halloween night out in Toronto in 2016.

Meghan later discussed the evening during an interview with Ellen DeGeneres in November 2021.

She explained that Harry had travelled to Toronto to see her and that Eugenie and Jack had joined them for a night out in costume before the couple’s relationship became public.

The group also included Meghan’s friend Markus Anderson. Meghan recalled that they had chosen a post-apocalyptic theme and dressed in elaborate costumes so they could enjoy one last night out without attracting attention as a couple.

The story was later revisited in the first episode of the Netflix documentary series Harry & Meghan, where the couple described going out incognito in borrowed costumes.

Eugenie and Jack have also visited Meghan and Harry in Toronto, where Meghan was filming the legal drama Suits.

The families have since been linked to Portugal, where Eugenie and Jack split their time between a villa and other residences, while Harry and Meghan are also believed to have bought a property in the same resort.

The apparent appearance of the book on eBay therefore attracted attention precisely because of the previously close relationship between the two couples.

What the eBay listing does and does not establish

The photographs appear to show a handwritten dedication addressed specifically to “Eug & Jack”, along with a signature attributed to Meghan.

The wording also fits the circumstances of the time: Eugenie and Jack had welcomed their son August only months before The Bench was published, and the note refers directly to the father-son relationship explored in the book.

But the listing itself does not establish that Eugenie personally put the book up for sale.

Nor does the fact that it appeared on eBay prove that she was responsible for its appearance there.

The book could have changed hands in a number of ways, and the seller’s promised provenance was not made public before the listing ended.

That distinction is important because much of the reaction online centred on speculation about why a supposedly intimate royal gift would appear on a public marketplace.

One social media user who noticed the listing suggested that Eugenie had either discarded or sold the book, adding that some treasures were evidently not appreciated by everyone.

That remains speculation rather than an established account of what happened.

The wider royal backdrop

The eBay mystery emerged at a busy time for the Sussexes and the wider Royal Family.

On Thursday, Prince Harry attended the United for Freedom gala at the Imperial War Museum in central London, where the event raised money for organisations supporting Ukraine.

Wearing a tuxedo and accompanied by his bodyguard, Harry spoke about Britain’s historical ties with Ukraine and his experiences during recent visits to the war-torn country.

He described meeting people who had lost limbs, homes and loved ones while still finding the strength to rebuild.

Harry also praised Ukrainians defending the frontline while maintaining businesses and schools and developing technology that he said was changing modern warfare.

He argued that their resilience should not become a reason for others to accept their continued suffering, saying their courage deserved more than admiration.

At the same time, Prince William appeared virtually at the Bowelbabe Fund Rebel Ball at the Hurlingham Club in west London.

The event marked what would have been Dame Deborah James’s 45th birthday and raised money for her charity and Cancer Research UK.

William had spent the day in Wales but sent a video message paying tribute to Deborah’s positivity and humour in the face of adversity, referring to what she called “rebellious hope”.

Meghan’s latest commercial venture

The same day, Meghan launched a £112 ($148) advent calendar in her first commercial venture since relocating in late August.

The calendar contains 24 gourmet chocolates said to have been inspired by her Montecito home and features a festive illustration of the £11 million California mansion where she and Harry lived for six years.

The developments came as Harry continued his charitable work, including his appearance at the United for Freedom gala.

For now, however, the question surrounding The Bench remains unanswered.

The eBay listing established that a copy bearing a highly personal dedication to “Eug & Jack” was offered for almost £20,000. It did not establish how the book reached the dealer, whether it was ever sold for that amount, or whether Princess Eugenie had anything to do with its appearance on the marketplace.

Until the promised provenance is disclosed, the journey of the book from an alleged personal gift to an eBay listing remains a mystery.