Meghan Markle says she left ‘Easter eggs’ in her book The Bench, including a tribute to Princess Diana

Meghan Markle has revealed that her children’s book “The Bench” includes some “Easter eggs” - one in particular paying tribute to Princess Diana.

Her debut book is a poem which was originally for Prince Harry as a Father’s Day gift.

The story is based on Prince Harry’s relationship with his son Archie, told from Markle’s perspective.

In an exclusive interview with NPR, ahead of the book’s released and aired on Sunday, Markle told readers to keep an eye out for “little Easter eggs.”

“Just all of those little Easter eggs or nuggets that are tucked within the book — I mean, there’s a lot,” she said.

Penguin Random House

But there was one sweet Easter egg in particular that pays tribute to Prince Harry’s late mother, Princess Diana and her favourite flower.

“If people start digging, I think you can find sweet little moments that we’ve tucked in there from my favourite flower, even my husband’s mom’s favourite flower, forget-me-nots — we wanted to make sure those were included in there.

“There’s a lot of special detail and love that went into this book,” she added.

Forget-me-nots were often planted on the grounds of Kensington Gardens - in the Sunken Gardens -where Princess Diana resided as a royal.

The Duchess of Sussex also shared how she collaborated with the book’s illustrator, Christian Robinson to make sure the book was inclusive.

“We both started to explore even what diversity means when you look at it through illustration,” Markle said.

“And it’s not just Black and white. You know, growing up, I remember so much how it felt to not see yourself represented.

So any child or any family hopefully can open this book and see themselves in it, whether that means glasses or freckled or a different body shape or a different ethnicity or religion,” she added.

Markle has been enjoying commercial success with her book.

Since it was released on June 8, and she has topped the New York Times list of bestselling children’s picture books within the first week.