How Meghan Markle tried to 'break the ice' with Kate Middleton

Meghan Markle gave Kate Middleton a Smythson notebook when they first met to "break the ice", a new biography has revealed.

Finding Freedom, set to be released next week, reveals that the Duchess of Cambridge loved the gift from her future sister-in-law she received in January 2017, according to the Daily Mail.

"Meghan bought a present for the duchess, who had celebrated her birthday just a day earlier.

"The soft leather Smythson notebook helped to break the ice, as did Meghan's cooing over then 20-month-old Charlotte."

Kate is currently living at Amner Hall in Norfolk with William and the couple's children George, Charlotte, and Louis, while Meghan is living in LA with Prince Harry and their one-year-old son Archie.

Kate was spotted carrying speech notes in a monogrammed Smythson of Bond Street folder on her way to the Back to Nature festival at RHS Wisley last year, but it's not known whether this was the notebook she was given by Meghan.

Meghan gifted Kate with a personalised notebook to break the ice, it's been revealed. Photo / Getty Images

Smythson notebooks are a go-to gift for Meghan - in August last year she sent personalised ones to British Vogue contributors who worked on the issue she guest edited.

She sent the writers black leather notebooks engraved with "Forces for Change".

It seems the upmarket British stationery brand has become a popular choice with the royals and celebrities.

Madonna, Samantha Cameron and Dame Helen Mirren have all been seen with its diaries, travel wallets and notecards.

The brand has three royal warrants, recognised for supplying goods to the Queen's household for at least five years.

Grace Kelly and Katharine Hepburn also had Smythson diaries. Hepburn's was embossed with "London, New York, California" in gold letters.