New Harry and Meghan book will be accurate portrayal, say authors

New Prince Harry and Meghan Markle book will be the ‘definitive story’ and an accurate portrayal of the couple’s lives as modern royals, say authors

• Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand’s book Finding Freedom due out in the summer
• Book is advertised as an ‘honest, up-close and disarming portrait,’ of the couple
• Authors say they had ‘unique access,’ as they set out to tell the couple’s story 
• Sussexes gave interview to the authors before move to America, MoS learned 

A new book on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will be the ‘definitive story’ of the couple’s lives as modern royals, say its authors.  

Last month the Mail On Sunday learned Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand interviewed the Sussexes before they moved to America.

The authors, one a notable Meghan Markle supporter, the other a royal correspondent for Elle magazine, say they felt there was a need to present an accurate version of the Sussex’s lives after years of media attention.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry will be the subject of a new book, Finding Freedom, which will be released in the summer

Finding Freedom will be released in the summer

Last autumn Harry issued a statement accusing elements of the press of bullying his wife. 

Meghan Markle has told friends that  if Kate Middleton was constantly being criticized by the press, the royal family would have stepped in and changed its media policies and shunned the tabloids, an insider exclusively told DailyMail.com last week.

‘[Meghan said] no one would have put up with it, and the broken and outdated system would have been revised. Those outlets responsible for their vicious attacks would have been shut out,’ the friend explained.

The Sussexes have previously announced they would have ‘no corroboration and zero engagement’ with four UK tabloids, including the Daily Mail, citing Meghan’s poor treatment. 

Scobie and Durand, whose book Finding Freedom is published this summer, said: ‘The aim of this book is to portray the real Harry and Meghan, a couple who continue to inspire many around the world through their humanitarian and charitable work but are often inaccurately portrayed.

‘Our mission has been motivated by a desire to tell an accurate version of their journey and finally present the truth of misreported stories that have become gospel simply because of the amount of times they have been repeated.

‘It is thanks to our sources that we have been able to share the definitive story of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.’

The book has the full title Finding Freedom: Harry And Meghan And The Making of A Modern Royal Family, and will be published in August by Dey Street Books.

The publisher reportedly had briefings with people close to the couple and publication is likely to be serialised ahead of a full release.

Promotional material on Amazon says the authors had ‘unique access,’ adding: ‘Written with the participation of those closest to the couple, Finding Freedom is an honest, up-close and disarming portrait of a confident, influential, and forward-thinking couple.’

Harry and Megan were wed in May 2018, but earlier this year they announced they wanted to step back as senior royals and become financially independent

The 320-page biography, due to be released on August 11, is expected to be a global bestseller.

The Sussexes plunged the royal family into a period of crisis when they announced earlier in the year that they wanted to step back as senior royals and become financially independent.

A summit of senior royals was convened by the Queen at Sandringham to discuss the issue, with Harry sitting down for talks with his grandmother, father the Prince of Wales and brother the Duke of Cambridge.

It was later announced the couple would no longer be working members of the monarchy or be known as HRH, and would spend the majority of their time in North America but have the ability to earn money.

The celebrity writers chosen by Meghan to tell her ‘real’ story: Omid Scobie has been dubbed Meghan’s ‘mouthpiece’ and Carolyn Durand writes about the Royals for Elle 

Biographer and journalist Omid Scobie planted his flag firmly in Meghan’s camp soon after she became linked to Harry. Having begun his journalistic career on the celebrity magazine Heat, British-Iranian Scobie had covered the Royals for a number of years and, say friends, was eager to boost his profile.

Aligning himself with a beautiful woman whose romance with Prince Harry was transfixing the world was one way of going about it.

Writing her biography one day would be another.

And so began his cultivation of Meghan, at first through her friends. Struggling to cope under intense media scrutiny after her wedding, the Duchess needed a journalist she could trust, a man whom she could rely on to fight her corner and not write nasty things. Scobie was happy to oblige and, perhaps unfairly and possibly through jealousy, was dubbed Meghan’s ‘mouthpiece’.

Anyone doubting where his allegiance lies, though, need only consider the fulsome piece he wrote for the Harper’s Bazaar website last month.

In it, he wrote of shadowing the Sussexes’ work, ‘getting to know the couple better through their humanitarian endeavours, engagements and overseas visits.’ He went on: ‘Their high-energy work ethic and passion for social justice attracted a new, more diverse demographic of royal watcher. As a young(ish), biracial royal correspondent, the change was exciting. And as their popularity grew around the world, so did a new golden era for the House of Windsor.’

Little wonder that he was one of the few favoured journalists invited to witness Meghan’s tearful farewell to staff at Buckingham Palace. In what must have delighted Meghan and Harry, he has written about the ‘almost daily mistruths’ of the British press.

Scobie teamed up with another Sussex-friendly journalist, Carolyn Durand. Well respected, she is a former producer with US broadcaster ABC and has covered the Royals for more than 15 years. Ms Durand now writes about the Royal Family for Elle magazine.

Scobie and Durand’s biography promises to tell the couple’s ‘real’ story. For that we must wait.

There are parallels with Princess Diana’s story. Like Meghan, she felt like a ‘prisoner in the palace’ and, desperate to express her torment, chose a biographer, Andrew Morton, to tell her story.

But unlike Scobie, there was nothing remotely ‘woke’ about Morton, a straight-talking Yorkshireman and seasoned Fleet Street operator.

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