Prince Harry and Meghan buy rights to book with similarities to Princess Diana's death

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have purchased the rights to a book, which they'll reportedly turn into a feature film for Netflix, about a couple who find love in their 30s as one is dealing with the death of a parent in a car crash.

Prince Harry and Meghan bought the rights to to the romance novel, Meet Me At The Lake, by Canadian journalist and author Carley Fortune, according to reports.

They are said to be developing the hugely successful novel into a film for Netflix.

READ MORE: Harry and Meghan not 'snubbed' from Queen's death commemorations

"The themes of the book gripped the couple and it was chosen for their first adaptation with Netflix," a source told The Sun.

"This is their biggest and most significant as producers."

The novel centres on love story about a couple who meet in their 30s, one of whom lost a parent in a car crash and went on to struggle with alcohol and drug use.

READ MORE: The 30-year-old royal tradition that began with a disaster

It also covers the issues of mental health and post-natal depression and is set in Toronto, where Meghan lived while working as an actress on Suits when she and Prince Harry first started dating.

The themes have drawn comparisons to Prince Harry and Meghan's own lives, including their love story.

Prince Harry was 32 in 2016 when he met Meghan, who was then aged 35. They married in 2018, welcomed their first child, Prince Archie in 2019, and their second, Princess Lilibet in 2021.

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But some have suggested the book is a little too close to Prince Harry's own story, as one of the characters loses a parent in a car accident – drawing comparisons to the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997.

Senior therapist and relationship expert Sally Baker told The Mirror Prince Harry will need "immense courage and vulnerability to revisit such deep grief...for which I think he still holds unresolved trauma and sadness".

She believes the project may further deepen the rift with Prince William.

"It may also temporarily strain relations with his brother William who is bound to think Harry is still mining their family narrative for his own sensational content".

Prince William, she said, "may feel the coincidences in this project confront publicly deep wounds from their childhood".

The movie would mark a change in direction for Prince Harry and Meghan and their future Hollywood career, taking them from documentaries into fiction production.

It would be the first time that Archewell Productions has paid to turn a novel into a drama as part of their Netflix deal.

And it comes just weeks after Spotify ended its multi-million contract with the couple, after just one podcast series, Archetypes.

However, the movie might not be released for some time.

The production of Meet Me At The Lake has reportedly stalled due to Hollywood screenwriters being on strike for more than three months.

The novel is published by Penguin Random House, which also published Prince Harry's memoir, Spare.

Prince Harry's other project for Netflix, a documentary about the Invictus Games, is due for release later this year.

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