October 2, 2026 at 11:10am EDT

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A very personal gift Meghan Markle once gave Princess Eugenie has resurfaced in an unexpected place, and the awkward discovery is raising fresh questions about where the women’s friendship stands.

The source of the issue? Meghan Markle’s 2021 children’s book, The Bench. According to The Royalist Substack, Meghan’s personalized copy to Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank was up for sale on eBay with an astounding $26,400 price tag.

The listing has now been deleted, but not before the sweet message inside was revealed: “2021. 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 seller, Drive Easy’s Signed Books in London, mentioned that the Duchess of Sussex gifted the couple with the book after the birth of their son, August, in February 2021. Eugenie and Brooksbank lived at Prince Harry and Meghan’s Frogmore Cottage from November 2020 to May 2022. The Sussexes were evicted by King Charles in March 2023.

Now, Eugenie and Meghan’s relationship is being scrutinized because a royal artifact made it onto an auction platform. Did Eugenie hand over the item herself? Was Meghan’s signature verified? Or did the book accidentally get left behind when the couple moved to Portugal, and somebody else decided to profit off the moment?

In August, Hello! Magazine was claiming that the Sussexes’ relationship with their cousins had soured ahead of their move back to the U.K.

“Harry and Meghan are not so close to Beatrice and Eugenie anymore, and Harry did not see Eugenie over the summer in Portugal,” a source alleged. “Harry has very few friends left from before. They’re going to have to make some serious social inroads and gatherings to get back in the fold.”

Even though Harry and Eugenie were “once so close,” it seems that distance may have been an issue. Plus, Eugenie and Beatrice had a rough year with the fallout from their parents’ scandal. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Sarah Ferguson have basically been exiled from the royal family.

The palace insider continued, “They didn’t even see each other when they were over in Portugal recently, probably because Eugenie was so heavily pregnant, but it’s a real difference to how close they used to be, so close that they let Eugenie and Jack stay in Frogmore cottage, remember when they needed a place to stay. They’re not that close anymore.”

It’s hard to say where Meghan, Harry, and Eugenie stand now because the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are back in the U.K., keeping a low personal profile. And Eugenie and Brooksbank spend most of their time in Portugal — it’s a mystery without a solid answer right now.