One of the weirdest claims within Vanity Fair’s February cover story was the “rumor” about the Duchess of Sussex “pitching” a divorce memoir to publishers. Allegedly, publishing sources claimed that, a couple of years ago, Meghan put out feelers to see if there was any interest in her potential post-divorce memoir, suggesting that she was thinking of divorcing Prince Harry. This never made any sense at any level. The thing that’s most striking to me is the idea that Meghan wouldn’t KNOW that any potential memoir (post-divorce or still-married) would be a huge “get” for any publisher. This is not something she would have to pitch. Beyond that, the whole thing is just absurd – the Sussex marriage is strong, much to the dismay of the royalists who have been trying to drive a wedge between M&H for the better part of eight years. Well, now Life & Style claims that Harry was very hurt at that particular divorce-memoir story.

Vanity Fair’s February cover story painted a largely unflattering picture of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. In the 8,000-word piece, scores of sources detailed how the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been incompetent in business ventures, such as their now-defunct Spotify deal, and annoyed their Montecito, California neighbors. But perhaps the most jaw-dropping allegation of all was that there’d been a rumor Meghan’s team had approached a publisher to gauge interest in a potential new book: a memoir Meghan could write if she divorced Harry.

Nothing ever came of the project, which was reportedly proposed “a few years ago,” and Harry, 40, and Meghan, 43, are still very married. Yet, an insider exclusively tells Life & Style that seeing the anecdote in the pages of a respected magazine was a gut punch to the prince. “He and Meghan were aware some type of article was in the works, since journalists were poking around among their friends and colleagues for while, but Harry didn’t expect anything like this; it’s shocked him to his core,” reveals the insider. “He feels blindsided. The accusations are extremely unsettling to him.”

When the exposé dropped on January 17, Harry seemingly wanted answers from his wife of nearly seven years. Says the Life & Style insider, “Meghan assured him the whole thing had been totally blown out of proportion.”

An unnamed confidant also dismissed the “distressing” claims. But given that the couple were plagued by split rumors last fall – when they were often in different parts of the world for work and went months without being photographed in public together — it’s no surprise the Vanity Fair piece raised eyebrows.

“The story’s got everyone talking! People in Harry’s world are wondering what on earth Meghan was thinking and are calling on her to explain herself,” says the insider. “Exploring any type of divorce plotline just makes no sense if they’re actually happily married.” Indeed, the insider insists that the former Suits star has no plans to leave Harry or uproot their children, Archie, 5, and Lilibet, 3, as of now. “Meghan convinced Harry she’s in this for keeps,” says the insider. “But the pressure these claims have put on them has been intense. Once again, they’re having to defend themselves and their relationship.”

[From Life & Style]

“Meghan assured him the whole thing had been totally blown out of proportion.” WTF – is this a suggestion that at some point, something like this happened? Yeah, I still doubt it. Basically, everyone who meets them talks about how they seem crazy in love and obsessed with each other. This has got me thinking though – I believed that the divorce memoir story was an attack on Meghan at the time, but maybe it was aimed at an audience of one: Harry, as always. That VF piece called him dim, out of touch, they attacked his wife in a million different ways, and then they said his wife was thinking about leaving him. The fact that it came out just days before the Murdochs capitulated and settled with Harry too… the whole thing is fascinating.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, cover courtesy of Vanity Fair.