Meghan Markle pays tribute to Princess Diana in her children's book

Meghan Markle paid a subtle tribute to Princess Diana in her children's book "The Bench" by having the late royal's favourite flower in one of the drawings.

The Duchess of Sussex spoke about the tiny special details included in her book, which initially started as a poem for Prince Harry to celebrate his first Father's Day. She said there are illustrations in there of some of the sweet memories she has. There are also personal touches and homages to people she has known and met.

These include the late Princess Diana. Although she never met the Princess of Wales, Meghan knows from her husband that her mother-in-law's favourite flower is the forget-me-not.

"I think you can find sweet little moments that we hid in there – of my favourite flower, even my husband's mom's favourite flower, forget-me-nots," she said in an interview with NPR about "The Bench."

"We wanted to make sure those were included in there. There are many, many special details and love that went into this book," she added. They even included their rescued chickens as she pointed out, "I needed my girls in there."

The storybook also includes a drawing of a military dad lifting his son high up in the air, while his wife watches from the window with tears in her eyes. Fans first came to the conclusion that the man is Prince Harry, coming home from his tour to the welcoming embrace of Archie.

But the Duchess of Sussex further explained the personal meaning behind that picture. She said it is a reminder of that time she went on a USO tour and met a sergeant from Texas. The man had told her that he could not play catch with his son because he was stationed in Afghanistan. What they did then was to mail each other (back and forth) a baseball.

"He had told me the story about how he wasn't able to teach his son how to play catch because he was away. And so he and his son would mail this baseball back and forth to each other from Texas to Afghanistan and write the date on it."

"That page is true to form for him and his family. There are lots of little small moments like that that were personal memories or anecdotes that I wanted infused in there," she explained.

Despite it being a children's book, Meghan Markle hopes for readers to find the story's universal message about love. She said that "The Bench" is a "love story that transcends the story" of her family.