Spilling the royal tea. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle‘s life in the royal spotlight is dissected in Tom Bower‘s new book, Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the War Between the Windsors.

The couple, who went public with their romance one year before getting engaged in 2017, experienced plenty of highs and lows ahead of their 2020 royal exit. According to Bower, the pair were “addicted” to reading about themselves in the press — but were worried their secrets were getting out through their famous friends.

“Harry and Meghan were shackled,” Bower claims. “Every night they scoured the internet to read the newspaper reports and the trolls’ postings on social media. Irrationally, they grouped the two together and fed each other’s frenzy about the media. Convinced that as champions of goodness they were being persecuted by mendacity and racism, they felt victimized by the mildest criticism.”

The Suits alum, 40, “suspected Victoria Beckham of indiscretion,” Bower writes. “Harry called David Beckham to repeat the accusation. Outraged, Beckham’s truthful denials damaged their relationship.”

Us Weekly reached out to reps for both couples for comment. While it’s unclear where the couples stand today, the 47-year-old soccer legend and the 48-year-old Spice Girls singer attended the Sussexes’ May 2018 wedding in London.

Bower’s book further details tension between Harry, 38, Meghan and other members of the royal family — including Duchess Kate and Prince William. The brothers’ frosty relationship has been a hot topic for years, and the distance between them grew after Harry and the Tig blogger announced their step down from their senior duties in January 2020. The couple later moved to California, where they live with son Archie, 3, and daughter Lilibet, 13 months.

The Archewell cofounders made their exit permanent in February 2021, one month before the couple sat down for a tell-all interview with CBS. During the broadcast, the pair opened up about their decision to leave the palace and discussed where they stand with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, both 40, and Queen Elizabeth II.

While a source exclusively told Us after the interview that “tensions have eased” between the sisters-in-law, Harry and William’s relationship has continued to be rocky.

“They’ll never recover from the damage that has been done,” an insider exclusively told Us earlier this year, noting that William “doesn’t know who [Harry] is anymore and the trust between them is strained.”

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