A Los Angeles school has thanked Meghan Markle after receiving a personal copy of her book for each of its students.
The Assistance League of LA shared a post to their Instagram account, revealing their pupils were left ‘overjoyed’ after the Duchess of Sussex gifted them with her debut book The Bench.
The non-profit organisation, which helps to educate vulnerable children, thanked Prince Harry and Meghan’s charity The Archewell Foundation for their ‘continued support and donation’.
The £12.99 debut book by the Duchess of Sussex, 39, was released in June and was inspired by a poem she wrote for Prince Harry’s first Father’s Day the month after Archie was born, exloring the ‘special bond between father and son’ as ‘seen through a mother’s eyes’.
The Assistance League of LA shared a post to their Instagram account, revealing their pupils were left ‘overjoyed’ after the Duchess of Sussex gifted them with her debut book The Bench
The debut book by the Duchess of Sussex , seen in South Africa in 2019, was released earlier this week on sale for £12.99, and was inspired by a poem she wrote for Prince Harry’s first Father’s Day the month after Archie was born
Posting an array of sweet snaps of their pupils posing proudly with the books, they wrote: ‘The students at our Preschool Learning Center were overjoyed to each receive a personal copy of The Bench, a children’s book penned by Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex!
‘Thank you to The Archewell Foundation for this donation and your continued support of the League and L.A.’s most vulnerable children.’
The post quickly racked up hundreds of likes with followers praising the foundation and revealing they too had read the ‘sweet’ book.
The Assistance League describes itself as ‘Improving the quality of the lives of at-risk children and families in LA, since 1919’.
The non-profit organisation, which helps to educate vulnerable children, thanked Prince Harry and Meghan’s charity The Archewell Foundation for their ‘continued support and donation’
Posting an array of sweet snaps of their pupils posing proudly with the books, they wrote: ‘The students at our Preschool Learning Center were overjoyed to each receive a personal copy of The Bench, a children’s book penned by Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex!
The Assistance League describes itself as ‘Improving the quality of the lives of at-risk children and families in LA, since 1919’
In June Harry and Meghan announced plans to distribute 2,000 copies of The Bench to libraries and schools across the US for ‘no cost’.
In a statement posted to Archewell, the couple said they had ‘received the support of the publisher of The Bench to distribute 2,000 copies at no cost to libraries, community centers, schools, and nonprofit programs across the country’ to ‘help nourish the community through through learning and connection.’
A branding expert previously suggested it would have already netted her £500,000 following a ‘bidding war to secure her first venture’.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have announced plans to distribute 2,000 copies of The Bench to libraries and schools across the US for ‘no cost’ – amid ongoing questions over whether profits from the book will go to charity
Posting online, the couple said the organisations receiving free copies included the Assistance League of Los Angeles, which The Duke and Duchess visited last summer to spend time with the children at the organization’s Preschool Learning Center.
The Duke and Duchess planted forget-me-nots in honor of Princess Diana during the visit to the centre on the 23rd anniversary of her death in August last year.
Archewell is working with the team at First Book, a nonprofit social enterprise that’s distributed more than 200 million books and educational resources to programs and schools serving kids in low-income communities in the United States and Canada.
Popular culture expert Nick Ede told FEMAIL that the Duchess of Sussex would’ve likely been paid between a £250,000 to £500,000 advance to write the book.
Abranding expert previously suggested it would have already netted her £500,000 following a ‘bidding war to secure her first venture’
Posting online, the couple said the organisations receiving free copies included the Assistance League of Los Angeles, which The Duke and Duchess visited last summer to spend time with the children at the organization’s Preschool Learning Center
Scenes in the book include several illustrations of Prince Harry and son Archie – including one feeding their chickens while the duchess is in the garden with her dogs and their newborn daughter Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor.
In one of the last images featured in the book Prince Harry, recognisable with his ginger hair and beard, sits on a bench feeding his rescue chickens, which the couple house at their £11million mansion in Montecito.
As well as the chickens – which appeared during the broadcast of the couple’s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey in March – two dogs also feature in the illustration.
Scenes in the book include several illustrations of Prince Harry and son Archie
Another illustration in the book shows Prince Harry sitting on a bench while holding a newborn baby while his and Meghan’s dogs sat close to them
The duke and duchess also have two dogs – a black Labrador named Pula and a beagle named Guy.
He appears alongside his son Archie, two, who is captured sprinkling food for the three animals while staring adoringly at this father.
Meanwhile, Meghan, dressed in a summer’s hat, white T-shirt and jeans, appears to be sketched in a vegetable patch located near her husband and son. The mother-of-two cradles her daughter, Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor, who arrived on Friday.
The first illustration features a bearded ginger father – who bears a resemblance to the duke – cradling a smiling baby on a bench under a tree.
The text reads: ‘This is your bench, where life will begin, for you and our son, our baby, our kin.’
The book, which was released today in the UK, (pictured, a bookseller at Waterstones Piccadilly placing the book on a display)
Meghan Markle’s children’s book The Bench features an illustration of Prince Harry and son Archie feeding their chickens while the duchess is in the garden with her dogs (pictured)
The Duchess announced in June she would release the book, and said it was inspired by a poem she had written for Harry on Father’s Day the month after Archie was born and will explore the ‘special bond between father and son’ as ‘seen through a mother’s eyes’
The accompanying words read: ‘You’ll love him. You’ll listen. You’ll be his supporter.’
The duchess also makes an apparent reference to the popular 1964 children’s book The Giving Tree from author Shel Silverstein.
To accompany an illustration of a father and son sharing lunch on a park bench, Meghan wrote: ‘You’ll sit on his bench, as his giving tree.’
Another page is illustrated with the words: ‘He’ll feel happiness, sorrow, one day be heartbroken. You’ll tell him ‘I love you,’ those words always spoken.’
Meghan dedicated her 34-page illustrated story to Prince Harry and son Archie, saying they make her heart go ‘pump-pump.’
touching inscription in the book, reproduced from a hand-written note in the Duchess of Sussex’s distinctive calligraphy script, reads: ‘For the man and the boy who make my heart go pump-pump.’
The royal said in a statement: ‘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. Christian layered in beautiful and ethereal watercolour illustrations that capture the warmth, joy, and comfort of the relationship between fathers and sons from all walks of life; this representation was particularly important to me, and Christian and I worked closely to depict this special bond through an inclusive lens.
‘My hope is that The Bench resonates with every family, no matter the makeup, as much as it does with mine.’
In authoring a children’s book she follows in the footsteps of fellow Royals Sarah, the Duchess of York, who has produced her own money-spinning series, Princess Michael of Kent and even Prince Charles, who penned a children’s book called The Old Man of Lochnagar in 1980 to raise money for the Children’s Trust.
In one illustration in The Bench, a red-headed soldier wearing an American-style Army cap is seen holding his young son aloft as a woman watches on crying from a window (pictured)