MEGHAN Markle has been embroiled in another plagiarism row after a British author alleged “striking similarities” with the royal’s proposed kids TV show and her own work.
The Duchess of Sussex, 43, was listed as an executive producer, alongside Sir Elton John’s husband David Furnish, on Netflix animated series Pearl – announced in July 2021.
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The show was a key title in the $100million deal struck between Meghan and Prince Harry and the streaming service.
It was described as telling the story of a young girl as “she learns to step into her power and finds inspiration from influential women throughout history”.
It comes after Pamela Anderson fans accused Meghan of “copying” her Cooking With Love show with her own Netflix cookery programme With Love Meghan.
Meanwhile, in February, the mayoress of Porres in Majorca complained the logo for the Duchess’ lifestyle brand, As Ever, resembled her town’s historic coat of arms.
However, it was eventually axed less than a year later and Meghan quickly binned any mention of it from her production company Archewell’s website.
Writer and illustrator Mel Elliott, from Hastings, claims she sent a legal letter alleging possible infringement of copyright in relation to her own character Pearl Power.
The letter, sent soon after the announcement of the series, said the two works’ similarities “appear to be too many and too striking to be mere coincidence”.
It added “there is a risk” that the project “may infringe intellectual property rights”.
The 51-year-old also sent two personal letters in October 2021 and February 2022 asking for updates.
By the time Pearl was announced, Ms Elliott had already penned and published three Pearl Power books, starting in 2014.
Ms Elliott told the Daily Mail: “Meghan is a feminist who sticks up for other women, so I was disappointed and confused to see how similar Netflix’s proposed show ‘Pearl’ was to my own Pearl Power who had been created seven years earlier.
“Of course, I can’t know if anyone on her team had seen it and been inspired by it, but the similarities were too great for me to ignore.
“The world of arts and media are very competitive and I’m afraid it’s quite common for powerful to people to rip off the work of less well-known creatives – although I’m not saying that’s what happened here.”
She added that what “saddened” her the most was having brought the possible issue to the attention of Netflix and Archewell “my objection was never acknowledged”.
The third entry into the Pearl Power series, released in 2016 became a major success and was translated into multiple languages.
The Sun has approached Meghan’s reps and Netflix for comment.
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