Royal commentator quoted in new book on Meghan Markle says author lied about being friends with Duchess

• Kristen Meinzer says she was wrongly named as a friend of Meghan Markle in a new book.

• In “Revenge”, author Tom Bower used quotes from Meinzer that she had given to The Times of London.

• Meinzer told Insider that Bower got the pronouns wrong, despite them being in his Twitter bio.

Kristen Meinzer, a US-based royal commentator, says she is not friends with Meghan Markle despite being named as such in a new royal book.

In ‘Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the War Between the Windsors,’ published Thursday, author Tom Bower used quotes Meinzer gave to a news outlet about the racism and misogyny Markle faced upon entering the royal family. , Meinzer told Insider.

Meinzer shared an excerpt from the book on Twitter on Friday, writing that Bower misrepresented her as a friend of the Duchess and that she had not been interviewed for the book.

The excerpt reads: “‘No one,’ agreed Kristen Meinzer, a friend and writer, ‘could have been prepared for the level of racism, misogyny and vitriol she faces.’ He/she, as Meinzer describes himself, blamed the “inbred, messed up, dysfunctional family” that was up against a “highly educated, self-made millionaire who knew how to play the PR game… A lot of people think you had so much lucky to have it, and you’ve ruined everything.'”

Meinzer’s quotes were originally given in an interview with The Times of London ahead of Oprah’s interview with Markle and Prince Harry in March 2021.

“In his new book, Tom Bower says I’m friends with #MeghanMarkle and use he/she pronouns,” Meinzer wrote alongside the excerpt on Twitter.

“If he can’t even understand these simple facts, how can we trust anything he says about the Sussexes?” she added.

Further down the Twitter thread, Meinzer responded to someone who asked if she had been interviewed for the book, writes: “No!”

Representatives for Tom Bower and the Duchess of Sussex did not respond to Insider’s request for comment.

Kristen Meinzer says she speaks out against racism against Meghan Markle because it’s the ‘right thing to do’, not because she wants to be friends

Speaking to Insider on Monday, Meinzer said she had had no correspondence with Bower while he was writing the book and that she was unaware that he was “taking quotes that I had given to other outlets”.

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Meinzer added that her pronouns, “She/her,” are in her Biography Twitterand before that they were included in her Twitter profile name as: “Kristen Meinzer, she/her”.

Meinzer said she had “never claimed to be” friends with Markle and that her motives for speaking out against the racist treatment the Duchess received from British tabloids had nothing to do with friendship.

“I don’t call out racism and sexism against the Duchess of Sussex because we’re pals,” Meinzer said. “I do it because it’s the right thing to do. We should all speak out against racism and sexism when we see it.”

Meinzer has spoken frequently about the racism Markle has faced, previously telling Insider that the royal has been criticized for doing the same things Kate Middleton has been praised for, such as cradling her pregnant belly or crossing her legs in photos. .

“I don’t think Meghan would face any of those double standards if she were white,” Meinzer said.

This isn’t the first time Bower’s book has come under fire

Meinzer isn’t the only person to accuse Bower of twisting the truth in his book. Writing in the letters section of The Times of London on July 19, journalist Sam Kashner denied Bower’s claim that he was manipulated by Markle when he interviewed her for Vanity Fair’s cover story in 2017.

Bower wrote that Kashner felt “played” by the Duchess, who told him, “you’re not like a typical reporter”, and that she liked him because of his stutter.

In Kashner’s letter to The Times, titled ‘My interview with Meghan Markle’, Kashner said Bower ‘did not convey my admiration and respect’ for the Duchess and found her ‘warm and gracious’ when ‘they were talking.

“One more thing, I don’t stutter,” Kashner said. “I can hem and haw a bit but a stutter isn’t a stutter, and as far as I know Ms. Markle never said she loved me because of it!”

Read the original Insider article