Omid Scobie’s Endgame not the end for the British royals, say experts

A bombshell new book dishes up dirt on the British royal family throwing into question the future of the institution. See what the experts have to say.

Endgame author Omid Scobie appears on This Morning in Britain. Picture: ITV

Beset by scandal, declining popularity, rising republican sentiment and a couple of relatives in Harry and Meghan who show no signs of stopping airing their grievances, could we really be seeing the beginning of the end for the British royal family?

Omid Scobie’s new book Endgame, released this week, adds new accusations and revelations to an increasingly bonkers palace soap opera – but plenty of royal take-downs have been published in the past, and the institution has bounced back stronger than ever.

Books by Andrew Morton and Kitty Kelley dished up dirt but dealt no lasting damage; anti-royal songs by the Sex Pistols and The Smiths topped the charts but didn’t topple the monarch.

So is Endgame really the end, or just part of another annus horribilis for the once merry house of Windsor?

King Charles III and Queen Camilla wave from the Buckingham Palace balcony after their coronation. Picture: AFP

Scobie seems to think a profound shift in public sentiment is brewing.

He quoted British historian and professor of history at the University of London, Anna Whitelock, who said by 2030 “there will be definite louder clamours for the eradication of the monarchy”.

“The monarchy – its purpose, what it’s about, will be questioned and challenged in a way that it hasn’t seen before,” Scobie quoted Whitelock as saying.

The Royals, 2023 style. The Princess and Prince of Wales (at rear), with (front, l-r), Prince George, Prince Louis, Princess Charlotte, King Charles and Queen Camilla during Trooping the Colour on June 17, 2023. Picture: Getty Images

According to YouGov polling conducted in September, a significant majority of Brits (62 per cent) favour the monarchy, 26 per cent say there should be an elected head of state, and 11 per cent are undecided.

But young Brits think a bit differently. Of the 18-24 year olds who spoke to YouGov, 47 per cent say the Royals are bad value for money, 40 per cent want an elected head of state, and one in three say they’re “actively embarrassed” by them.

Endgame author Omid Scobie on the publicity trail this week. Picture: ITV

Professor Anna Whitelock specialises in the history of the monarchy. Picture: Supplied

Republican sentiment is likely to be a live issue during King Charles’s reign, as it was for Queen Elizabeth. After Barbados became a republic in 2021, Jamaica (one of the 15 remaining realms) will vote on its future head of state in 2024, while polling suggests the rumblings over Scottish independence are set to continue.

Australia might continue to rumble with anti-royal sentiment too. Former Victorian Premier Dan Andrews’s decision to ditch the 2024 Commonwealth Games, the RBA’s plan to take the monarch off the $5 note, and the fact the coronation was not celebrated on the sails of the Sydney Opera House have all been interpreted – rightly or wrongly – as little shifts Australia has taken away from the British monarchy.

But most commentators seem to think the prospect of another republican referendum in Australia is slim, given the convincing defeat of the Voice in October.

The sails of the Sydney Opera House were illuminated in honour of Queen Elizabeth after her death – but there was no projection for the coronation of King Charles. Picture: Toby Zerna

A government that pursued a republican agenda now would be “a government with a death wish,” Australians for Constitutional Monarchy spokesman and former senator Eric Abetz said.

“Australians don’t like politicians fiddling with the constitution, especially if it means it gives greater power to politicians or to bureaucracies,” he said.

Australia’s system of constitutional monarchy “works exceptionally well,” and any proposal for change would need to show how it would improve day-to-day life, or the standard of our democracy, Mr Abetz said – otherwise “most people will come to the conclusion ‘If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.’”

Assistant Minister for the Republic, Matt Thistlethwaite. Picture: Sierra Haigh

Australians for Constitutional Monarchy spokesman Eric Abetz. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Asked whether the Albanese government would commit to a referendum in a second term, the Assistant Minister for the Republic Matt Thistlethwaite said the Labor Party “maintains a long-term vision for Australia as a mature, independent nation” and that it’s “within our platform to engage in discussions with the Australian people about having one of our own as our head of state at a future point in time”.

But the government’s “primary focus remains on assisting Australians who are facing significant challenges due to increased living costs, higher interest rates, and inflation,” Mr Thistlethwaite said.

ANU law Professor Sally Wheeler, an expert on the legalities of monarchy, said it was now “virtually impossible” for a republic referendum to get up in Australia.

“It’s a very high bar,” she said. “Australia is a pretty conservative (with a small ‘c’) country, and constitutional change is something that people anywhere don’t do lightly,” she said.

Prince William and Princess Catherine visit Kingston, Jamaica during their tour of the Caribbean in March 2022. The royal couple copped some criticism for appearing to ignore concerns about Britain’s colonial past and its role in the slave trade – and the images of them shaking hands with locals behind wire fences didn’t help matters. Picture: WireImage

She also doubted whether the size of the realm (of which Australia is a member, along with Canada and New Zealand) made much difference to the position of the monarchy within Britain.

“If you asked your average Brit in the high street what the realms are, or what any of those territories are, most people probably wouldn’t know,” she said.

Prof Wheeler said the monarchy was “incredibly resilient because it’s constantly evolving as an institution,” and King Charles had moved it in quite deliberate but canny ways since he ascended the throne.

Australian National University deputy vice-chancellor and professor of law, Sally Wheeler. Picture: ANU

Endgame – Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival by Omid Scobie.

“If you look at what King Charles has done, he has brought in his own particular way of doing things,” she said. “He’s slimmed down the monarchy completely to the core group. His choice of Kenya [as the first Commonwealth country he visited as King] also shows he’s well aware of history.”

But pitfalls for his reign remain. The Prince Andrew underage sex scandal could reignite; the accusation about racism in the royal family could prove damaging; and Meghan and Harry might have yet more to say – especially if the Duchess of Sussex writes her own memoir.

Another danger Scobie writes about in Endgame is not about too much drama – but too little.

The Wales and the Sussexes – aka Kate, William, Harry and Meghan – put on a united front after the death of the Queen in September, but it was clear the ‘Fab Four’ were not getting back together. Picture: Getty Images

With no jubilees, royal weddings or romances on the horizon, Scobie noted: “We are entering a potentially uneventful era, like the one that endured after Diana’s death until the wedding of the Cambridges 14 years later.”

“Another long winter is coming for the royal family, and it couldn’t be at a worse time,” he wrote.

But others contend the Royals have one last ace up their sleeve, in the form of the Prince and Princess of Wales, and their three children, George (10), Charlotte (8), and Louis (5).

“Charles is lucky enough that there is a lot of interest in the UK in the Prince of Wales’s three children. Hopefully that will get them through,” Prof Wheeler said.

“The Wales seem pretty scandal-proof, and I think as long as that carries on, the monarchy will be fine.”