LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, have hit back at the author of a new book on Britain’s royal family, describing his writing as “deranged conspiracy and melodrama.”

In a strongly worded statement issued on Saturday, Harry and Meghan said author Tom Bower “has long crossed the line from criticism into fixation.”

In extracts of Bower’s book published in the Times of London on Friday, the author claimed that Queen Camilla once told a friend Meghan had “brainwashed” her husband. He also alleged that Prince William and his wife Catherine “evidently saw Meghan as a threat rather than an ally” as tensions soared ahead of the Sussexes’ decision to leave Britain for the United States and split from the royal family.

“This is someone who has publicly stated, ‘the monarchy in fact depends on actually obliterating the Sussexes from our state of life,’ language that speaks for itself,” Harry and Meghan’s statement said.

“He has made a career out of constructing ever more elaborate theories about people he does not know and has never met,” it continued. “Those interested in facts will look elsewhere; those seeking deranged conspiracy and melodrama know exactly where to find him.”

The extracts from Bower’s book included passages critical of the couple’s financial situation, their charity work and Harry’s Invictus Games, an annual sporting competition he founded for wounded, injured and sick military veterans.

Bower previously published “Revenge: Meghan, Harry, And the War Between the Windsors” in 2022.