Master Manipulator Or Unfair Target?

After the release of Samantha Markle’s book, royal autobiographer Duncan Larcombe looks at why they may be just the ‘bitter rantings’ of a half-sister

- Duncan Larcombe

The Duchess of Sussex is braced for a backlash after being branded ‘mean and controlling’ in a new book penned by her half-sister, Samantha Markle.

Samantha’s memoir, The Diary of Princess Pushy’s Sister, has hit bookshelves four years after the 56-year-old revealed it was in the works.

The timing could be a bitter blow because of Meghan’s announcement that she and Harry are expecting their second child this summer.

Harry and Meghan made the announcement on Valentine’s Day by issuing a photo – exactly 37 years after Princess Diana revealed she was expecting Harry.

The happy news comes as Meghan faces fresh accusations that she neglected her father in the run-up to the 2018 royal wedding, and the book itself is a deeply personal broadside from one of her strongest critics.

Samantha – who shares father Thomas with Meghan – said her sister should have postponed the nuptials when her father had a heart attack, saying, ‘The royals couldn’t postpone the wedding so that my father could be included. I knew it was not unreasonable that they reschedule, given resources available to make that happen.’

The new autobiography reiterates Samantha’s previous allegations that Meghan shunned her American relatives and what she saw as cutting off their father days before the ceremony in 2018.