Meghan Markle accused of plagiarising upcoming children's book

Meghan Markle’s upcoming children’s book is already getting heat before its official release, thanks to hawk-eyed Twitter users who are slamming her for plagiarizing the content, reported Page Six. 

Days after Markle announced the release of the book titled The Bench, Twitterati caught onto remarkable similarities between Markle’s work and another illustrated children’s book titled The Boy on the Bench by Corrinne Averiss and Gabriel Alborozo, originally published in 2018.

“Before you run out and waste money on the book by Harry’s wife, read The Boy on the Bench by Corrinne Averiss and Gabriel Alborozo. The original,” a user tweeted.

Meghan's book is REMARKABLY SIMILAR to a book called, "The Boy on the Bench" by Corrine Averiss. The Averiss book is a story "about the love between a father & a son, & describes how the boy learns to socialise confidently." Perhaps Corrine Averiss will consider legal action? pic.twitter.com/A2RoJOR85g

— Nickster63 🍅🍅🍅 (@Nickster632) May 4, 2021

According to many, they did not end at the title – the illustrations also seemed similar to many. 

According to Page Six, one online critic commented, “I’ll wager a bet that Corrinne’s book is in Archie’s collection. That’s where her idea came from. I don’t believe that this is all her own thinking or reflects her idyllic life whatsoever.”

However, the original author of the aforementioned book, Corrinne Averiss has addressed the allegations, dismissing them as untrue. “Reading the description and the published excerpt of the Duchess’s new book, this is not the same story or the same theme as The Boy on the Bench. I don’t see any similarities,” she tweeted. 

https://twitter.com/CorrinneAveriss/status/1389918927073988608

Well, there you have it!

Illustrated by artist Christian Robinson, Markle’s The Bench will be published on June 8, with her also narrating an audiobook version, publisher Random House Children’s Books said.

“The Bench started as a poem I wrote for my husband on Father’s Day, the month after Archie was born. That poem became this story,” the duchess said in a statement.