An explosive new biography about Meghan Markle has been slammed by a high-profile journalist after they said it didn't show the 'respect and admiration' he has for her.
Sam Kashner, a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, hit out at the new book by royal expert Tom Bower after it made extraordinary claims about his cover story interview with the Duchess of Sussex back in 2017.
During the interview, which took place at her Toronto flat around a year before her royal wedding to Prince Harry, Meghan is alleged to have made insulting comments about Mr Kashner's way of speaking.
According to excerpts from 'Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the war between the Windsors' published in The Times at the weekend, she told him that she liked him because of his stutter and felt he was "not like a typical journalist".
Mr Bower writes that this left the Vanity Fair editor wondering if he "was being played", adding: "It was a cat-and-mouse game, he reasoned, and she was calculating how to take advantage of the cards played."
But Mr Kashner responded via a letter to the newspaper this weekend to rubbish the claims, writing : "Sir, I'm afraid Tom Bower didn't convey my admiration and respect for Meghan Markle in the excerpt of his new book in The Times on Saturday ("Writer 'felt manipulated' by Meghan").
"I found Ms Markle to be exceptionally warm and gracious and admired her intelligence and remarkable courage, as I still do."
As well as giving a belated congratulations to Prince Harry in the letter for marrying "such an extraordinary woman" he also denied that he had a stutter, adding that while he may "hem and haw" in his speech he believed this was a stammer instead.
Elsewhere his book Mr Bower writes that the front cover of the Vanity Fair issue carrying the interview in October 2017 left the Duchess "furious" after it downplayed her charity work in favour of her relationship with Harry.
The headline, which read "She’s just wild about Harry", came despite her efforts to focus the piece on her own acting work and philanthropy.
Mr Kashner did not comment on this claim within the letter.