Omid Scobie’s Endgame book: Author claims Charles ‘prefers a life as Camilla’s tampon’

The late Queen Elizabeth II caught a glimpse of the King her son Charles would become, and she didn’t like what she saw, claims Omid Scobie’s new book Endgame.

A philanderer. A political meddler. A flawed father. And a petulant and profligate monarch whose own aides compare him to Louis XIV, the infamous “sun king” of pre-revolution France.

When it comes to criticisms, Endgame gives King Charles III both barrels, and then picks up a howitzer to make sure the job is done.

Omid Scobie has painted a devastating portrait of the King, amplifying claims and criticisms that were aired in his previous book Finding Freedom, as well as Prince Harry’s memoir Spare and the Harry and Meghan Netflix docu-series.

King Charles gets a bad rap in Endgame. Picture: Hugo Burnand/Buckingham Palace via Getty Images

While some of the allegations about the King’s suspect dealings with Middle East business figures and his pestering of government figures has been well-reported over the years, Endgame serves up some astonishing new claims about Charles’s pettiness.

Scobie writes of a King so entitled he insists his thousand-thread linen sheets are always pressed, along with his pyjamas, and even his shoelaces, while a member of his entourage is tasked with squeezing “exactly one inch of toothpaste onto his toothbrush … from a crested silver dispenser”.

“Those who know him, serve him and write about him often compare him to Louis XIV … (who ran) one of the most extravagant palaces in the world,” Scobie writes.

King Charles III even wants his shoelaces pressed, according to Endgame. Picture: AFP

Even Queen Elizabeth “repeatedly complained about Charles’s extravagantly luxurious lifestyle,” he alleges.

It’s not the only claim the book makes about the beloved former monarch.

In 2001, when Queen Elizabeth described her then new Lord Chamberlain Andrew Parker as “my new CEO,” it was a pointed reference to Charles, Scobie writes.

“There was a slight lack of faith in her son … She needed someone who could be trusted to be her eyes and ears,” a source is quoted as saying.

While Scobie writes favourably about the King’s first official overseas tour, to Germany – where Charles impressed by speaking fluent German in the Bundestag, and grasped pertinent local issues – he’s critical of his performance at home.

King Charles prefers having a life “as Queen Camilla’s tampon”, Omid Scobie offers in Endgame. Picture: AFP

Prior to the Queen’s death, when Charles acted for her during the opening of parliament, “chaos reigned during the planning stages,” while after her passing, the new King is reported to be less enamoured of the administrative side of the role than his mother and predecessor famously was.

Regarding the “red boxes,” carrying official documents that needed signing or sighting, Scobie writes that “right out of the gate, Charles was a little bit overwhelmed by it all, easily irked and perhaps even a bit wistful for his former job as heir apparent”.

Capturing a sense of his irritability, Charles reportedly detests phrases like “the Queen would have done it this way,” while his ascension to the throne means he can no longer campaign on the issues close to heart, only “highlight them”.

Scobie is dismissive of Charles’s reign, predicting a “potentially uneventful era” headed by a sovereign who “will never reach the national treasure status that his mother achieved”.

In one of the most damning judgments of Endgame, Scobie writes that The Firm is “riding out the Charles and Camilla years” in the hope William, Kate or perhaps even Prince George “have what it takes to make the royals great again”.

And of the monarch himself, Scobie offers a blistering critique: “Everyone already knows that King Charles might have preferred a life as Queen Camilla’s tampon.”

Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy’s Fight for Survival by Omid Scobie, published by HQ, is on sale November 29. Available at Booktopia