Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton book wars: The royal rift saga continues

Rumours of an alleged royal rift between former Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, 39, and future Queen of England, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, also 39, – formerly known as Kate Middleton – have been circulating online for a number of years now.

Meghan was even accused on several occasions of trying to “upstage” Royal Family member’s news and engagements with perfectly timed announcements on her social media or through Archewell.

Has Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton’s feud been reignited?

It seems that the Duchess of Cambridge has taken a page out of Meghan’s book, and has hit back with her very own perfectly timed post to promote the release of her photography book, Hold Still, just as the former Duchess of Sussex’s made the announcement that she’s releasing her debut children’s book, The Bench.

Meghan Markle’s team announced on Tuesday (May 4), in a statement published to Archewell, that:

"“Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex, has authored her first children’s book, The Bench, about the special bond between father and son—as seen through a mother’s eyes. Inspired by her own husband [Prince Harry] and son [Archie].”"

READ THE FULL STATEMENT HERE

In a post shared to The Today’s Show Twitter, page fans can see a preview of what the new children’s book will look like.

The Bench will be published on June 8, according to the official press pack, and is currently available for pre-order. The press pack also revealed that the audio version of The Bench will be read by the author herself!

But despite the exciting news, only a day later, Kate Middleton made an exciting announcement of her own about her very own book.

On May 5, the Duchess of Cambridge shared an exciting sneak peek of her new photography book, Hold Still, that captured people of the UK dealing with life in lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A video montage of pages from inside Hold Still was posted to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s official Instagram, which gave royal watchers an exclusive look at what’s to come.

See the sneak peek below.

Many fans flooded social media to comment on the suspicious timings of both announcements, many stating that the royal rift is “back on“; one particular Instagram user even commented on the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge post, stating:

"“This is so stunning! I feel so proud of our beautiful and talented future queen!!!! Catherine wins every time in my eyes, there’s no book war with Megs!!”"

Of course, some royal watchers have commented online that Meghan Markle attempted to take away some excitement from the May 7 release of Hold Still, in the first place, by announcing her writing debut on May 4, which is only three days before the publication of her sister-in-law’s book, so Kate’s response was justifiable.

But what do you think? Leave a comment below!