Meghan Markle Says Children's Book 'The Bench' Promotes Soft Masculinity

Meghan Markle celebrated her children's book The Bench becoming a bestseller with a public statement declaring that it models "a world that so many would like to see."

The Duchess of Sussex stepped briefly out of her family leave with newborn baby Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor to celebrate the success of her first work as a children's author.

The Bench was released on June 8 with illustrations by Christian Robinson. It is now number one on the New York Times bestseller list for children's picture books.

She described it as a "love letter" to husband Prince Harry and first-born Archie Mountbatten-Windsor.

Meghan said in a statement on her Archewell website: "While this poem began as a love letter to my husband and son, I'm encouraged to see that its universal themes of love, representation and inclusivity are resonating with communities everywhere.

"In many ways, pursuing a more compassionate and equitable world begins with these core values.

"Equally, to depict another side of masculinity—one grounded in connection, emotion, and softness—is to model a world that so many would like to see for their sons and daughters alike.

"Thank you for supporting me in this special project."

The book begins with a dedication: "For the man and the boy who make my heart go pump - pump."

It begins: "This is your bench, where life will begin, for you and our son, our baby, our kin."

It ends with an image that appears to be Prince Harry and Archie on a bench surrounded by the family's rescue chickens.

Meghan, back turned and newborn baby in a sling, is depicted with the family's black Labrador Pula at the farm of their Montecito mansion.

The Bench has had mixed reviews, with a three-star rating on Goodreads and 4.5 stars on Amazon.

A review in the New York Times was headlined "The Tortured Rhyme and Reason of Meghan Markle's Picture Book Debut."

It describes The Bench as a "sweet little tale" while also suggesting "a heavier editing hand would have been a big help."

Meghan fell out with her own father after he colluded with the paparazzi to stage pictures for money ahead of her wedding to Prince Harry in May 2018.

Harry has also publicly criticized Prince Charles for cutting him off financially and for stopping taking his calls for a period of time while the couple were trying to negotiate their way out of royal life.

The prince told the Armchair Expert podcast how he wanted to break the cycle, suggesting problems in his relationship with his father may have their roots in flaws in Charles' own upbringing.

He said: "I don't think we should be pointing the finger or blaming anybody, but certainly when it comes to parenting, if I've experienced some form of pain or suffering because of the pain or suffering that perhaps my father or my parents had suffered, I'm going to make sure I break that cycle so that I don't pass it on, basically.

"It's a lot of genetic pain and suffering that gets passed on anyway so we as parents should be doing the most we can to try and say 'you know what, that happened to me, I'm going to make sure that doesn't happen to you.'"