‘American Princess’ Author Reveals What Makes Prince Harry, Meghan Markle ‘Special’

Leslie Carroll, the author of “American Princess: The Love Story of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry,” recently revealed what she thinks makes the royal couple “special.”

During her interview with Parade magazine, Carroll said that Markle’s status as a divorced woman, who also happens to be biracial, makes her different from everyone else.

“For centuries, when a king or prince took an actress as a mistress, that was considered scandalous. Now, the grandson of the Queen of England is about to marry an actress. Also, she’s 36 (that’s the same age as Diana was when she died), and Harry is three years younger. So he’s marrying an older woman and a career woman, too,” she said.

Carroll also thinks that people are more interested in Prince Harry and Markle’s romance because the prince had such a tumultuous life than his older brother Prince William.

“Harry was only 12 when Diana died. We have this memory of him walking behind the gun carriage that bore her coffin and the little white card on the flowers that bore the word ‘mummy.’ It breaks your heart to think about it. He spoke recently about partnering with a mental health charity and how much grief counseling helped him understand his wildness and anger and acting out – that it was, in fact, his inability to process his mother’s death,” she said.

Carroll added that after Prince Harry figured out why he was acting up, that’s when he changed and met the love of his life Markle.

Meanwhile, the author also talked about her new book and revealed what makes it different from her previous works.

“For starters, Meghan and Harry are alive. My bailiwick is usually the loves and lives of dead royals. But because my wheelhouse is the history of royal marriages and relationships and love affairs and liaisons, illicit or otherwise, I reached back to prior royal relationships that were taboo or could never have made it to the altar and set Meghan and Harry’s relationship in that context,” she said.

Some of Carroll’s other books are “Inglorious Royal Marriages: A Demi-Millennium of Unholy Mismatrimony” and “Royal Romances: Titillating Tales of Passion and Power in the Palace of Europe.”