Meghan’s Signed Copy of The Bench for Princess Eugenie Has Somehow Ended Up on eBay

A first-edition copy of Meghan Sussex’s 2021 children’s book The Bench, which the seller claims was personally signed and inscribed to Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank, surfaced on eBay with an asking price of £19,999.99.

The listing is from a London-based professional bookseller, Drive Easy’s Signed Books, which describes the volume as a presentation copy associated with Eugenie and Jack. The seller says the inscription was written by Meghan and dates it to 2021. The eBay listing also states that 10% of any sale will benefit the Students’ Education Trust, a charity supporting disadvantaged students in Thailand.  

Important distinction: no evidence shows that Eugenie listed the book or that anyone paid £20,000 for it. The seller listed it for £19,999.99 with a “best offer” option, then ended the listing on Oct. 2 because the item was “no longer available.” eBay does not say whether someone bought it or, if so, what they paid.

The Inscription Makes It Even More Personal

The handwritten message is what makes this unusual. According to the seller, Meghan addressed the book to “Eug & Jack,” referenced writing the original poem at Frogmore and wished that Eugenie would experience the same father-and-son bond with her own family. The timing also fits: Eugenie and Jack welcomed their son, August, in February 2021, and Random House published The Bench four months later in June.

Meghan has said The Bench began as a Father’s Day poem for Prince Harry after Prince Archie was born and later became a children’s book about fathers and sons. Random House published it on June 8, 2021, with illustrations by Christian Robinson, and the publisher lists it as a No. 1 New York Times bestseller.  

That is why the sight of this particular copy on eBay feels so strange. If the seller’s provenance is genuine, this was not a random promotional copy but a personal family gift carrying a handwritten message.

So How Did It Get There?

That is the part nobody currently knows. Perhaps Eugenie or Jack passed it on years ago. Perhaps it went to a charity shop, a friend or another household and later found its way to a dealer. Someone else could also have removed or passed on the book without Eugenie and Jack knowing where it eventually ended up.

What we cannot say is that Eugenie is selling it, that she deliberately discarded it, or that the listing proves some new Sussex-York feud.

Still, if I had received a personally inscribed book written by a relative, especially one referencing my husband, child and former home, I would probably have kept it as a family keepsake. Eugenie’s children are still young, which makes the apparent departure of such a personal copy from the family’s possession especially curious.

Naturally, Meghan Will Somehow Be Blamed

The predictable part is watching people invent ways to make this Meghan’s fault. There is already speculation online that she somehow arranged the sale herself or that the listing proves financial desperation. There is no evidence for either claim.

The seller is a professional bookseller with thousands of previous sales, and the listing identifies the item as associated with Eugenie and Jack.   If anything, the uncomfortable question sits elsewhere: how did a personal family gift end up on the open market?

And yes, the whole thing is undeniably tacky if someone in Eugenie’s household knowingly sold it for profit. But we do not know that happened.

For now, all we really have is a very personal book, a very ambitious £20,000 asking price and one extremely awkward mystery. Somewhere, a tabloid editor is probably already typing “Megan Benched.”