Making themselves clear

Harry & Meghan Release Statement As 'Finding Freedom' Extracts Make Headlines

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have released a statement through a spokesman as the first extracts of Finding Freedom circulate online. Previously, there was uncertainty on the extent to which the Sussexes contributed to the tell-all biography, but they've now made clear their relationship to the book. Read on to see what their spokesman has said.

Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan have spoken out as their experiences and names are once again dominating the headlines.

Finding Freedom, the highly-anticipated book about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their royal exit, debuted first extracts in The Sunday Times over the July 25-26 weekend. In this first release, new insight has been provided on everything from the Queen's feelings on Harry and Meghan's stepping down as senior royals, to tense Sussex-Cambridge relations, and mutually bitter feelings held between Harry and Meghan and Buckingham Palace officials.

Prince Harry & Duchess Meghan address Finding Freedom

Throughout the lead-up to Finding Freedom's release, it remained unclear just how much, if at all, Harry and Meghan had contributed to the work, written by journalists Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand. But on Day 1 of the Finding Freedom extracts, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex released a statement through a spokesman making clear their lack of involvement with the headline-making book.

"The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were not interviewed and did not contribute to Finding Freedom," the statement read. "This book is based on the authors' own experiences as members of the royal press corps and their own independent reporting."

'Finding Freedom' arrives on Aug. 11

Harry & Meghan's Tell-All Bio Is Coming Soon - But Have They Authorized It?

Sources quote Harry & Meghan in book Finding Freedom

Though never billed as a conventionally authorized biography, Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family has described itself as having been written "with unique access" and "the participation of those closest to the couple."

Daily Mail had reported that Harry and Meghan allegedly may have spoken with Scobie and Durand, but the Sussexes' new statement appears to overrule that speculation.

All the same, Finding Freedom has, in its Times extracts, presented sources who feel close enough to quote words that the Duke and Duchess have allegedly spoken. Moreover, the BBC has so far observed in the book connections with sources at Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace, and team Sussex.

It's now clear, however, that when Finding Freedom arrives in-full on Aug. 11, it will not come as an authorized biography, nor have its authors consulted directly with Prince Harry or Duchess Meghan on the contents.