Last week, Duchess Meghan revealed a secret project she’d been working on: a children’s book called The Bench, which she dedicated to her husband and is about the sweet relationship between father and son.

Meghan announced in a statement that the book’s idea was influenced by a poem she penned for Prince Harry on his first Father’s Day.

The book is due out next month, but insiders couldn’t help but notice Meghan’s news came just days before her sister-in-law, Duchess Kate, launched her own book project, Hold Still, a picture series of British people during the pandemic.

Meghan Markle has been accused of “trying to upstage Kate” by releasing her upcoming children’s book at an inconvenient time.

According to Bristol Live, some Royal Family followers have pointed out that the news came just days before the Duchess of Cambridge’s photography book is set to be released on Friday.

Meghan Markle has been accused of attempting to outshine the Cambridges before by posting photos or making news at inopportune moments.

She’s now facing backlash for taking the spotlight just days before Catherine’s memoir, Hold Still: A Portrait of Our Nation in 2020, is set to be published.

“And surprise surprise released just before the Duchess of Cambridge photographic one.” one critic said.

“So now just as Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, has the HOLD STILL book about to be released on May 7, the desperate, despicable MeMeMe! Montecito mum chooses to release a book she wrote in 2019. Connect the dots, people!” another enraged Meghan critic tweeted.

“Funny how it’s being advertised now just as the Duchess of Cambridge’s book on the photographs taken by the public during lockdown is due to be released!” said another.

“There was some tea spat at Kensington Palace when Meghan came out with this book, that’s for sure,” a source tells New Idea.

“Not only is she writing about relationships with dads – which is ironic given she’s iced out her own dad and played a huge part in the destruction of Harry’s relationship with Prince Charles – but it also looks a lot like she’s attempting to steal Kate’s thunder.”

Furthermore, online critics have panned Meghan’s entry into the literary realm, saying that the book seems to be quite similar to another children’s book, The Boy on the Bench, which is also about a little guy on a bench with his father.

Corrinne Averiss, the author of that book, shot down the allegations on Twitter, insisting, “This is not the same story or theme.”

Kate’s project has been ongoing for a year, and the book’s impending publication was announced on Kensington Palace’s official Instagram account in late March.

When Meghan revealed the publication of her book, which will be released on June 8, some of her fans took to Twitter to criticize the timing.

Meghan’s fans retaliated, claiming that she had the same right to write a book as other members of the Royal Family and accusing the opponents of pandering to a hate agenda that pushed the Duchess of Sussex back to the United States.

They point out that the timing is significant to her since the book is devoted to her two-year-old son, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor. The couple is expecting a daughter in the near future.