Omid Scobie’s Endgame book: New twist in race row amid author’s major claim

Omid Scobie revealed his role in the naming of two ‘racist’ royals in the Dutch edition of his bombshell book, as their identities lit up social media.

Omid Scobie has denied writing any version of Endgame that allegedly named the two royals who asked about the skin colour of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s son, Archie.

The new claim sows further confusion into the dramatic withdrawal of the Dutch version of the book from store shelves this week, with the publisher blaming a “translation error” and vowing to have a corrected version of “Eindstrijd” in bookstores on December 8.

In an interview with Dutch chat show RTL Boulevard, Scobie said he played no role in how the names of two royals made it into the version published in the Netherlands.

“The book is in several languages, and unfortunately I do not speak Dutch. But if there are translation errors, I’m sure the publishers will have it under control,” he said.

“I wrote and edited the English version. There’s never been any version that I’ve produced that has names in it.”

In a follow-up statement to People, Scobie said he only wrote and edited the English version and that he was “happy to hear that the error in the translation of the Dutch edition is being fixed”.

The mystery deepened after Dutch royal reporter Rick Evers posted social media photos and a video of Endgame published in the Netherlands that directly named one royal and implied another.

Evers defended his decision to reveal the identities, which have not been published in UK media for legal reasons, after he was accused of “faking” the existence in the Dutch version.

“The remarkable thing is that it contains subjects or things that are not in the English version. Not just words that were mistranslated. Complete paragraphs are missing,” he said in a video.

“On page 128, it says in those private letters an identity was confirmed,” he read from the book, adding the name.

“I’m going to show it to you. It is just here. So that’s as clear as anything. I cannot imagine that that’s a matter of translation.”

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

In an interview with GB News, Evers revealed he was asked to remove his reporting, adding that there were two full paragraphs in the Dutch version that were missing from the English version.

“I published it at midnight directly when the release was of the book. And then I got a call an hour later from the publisher to ask me to get it offline because there are some issues with the names they’ve mentioned,” he said.

He added that the Dutch media, however, would continue to report the two names.

“Of course, it’s black and white in the book. So why wouldn’t we quote Mr Scobie, what he’s writing in his book?”

In its latest statement confirming Endgame would return to stores on December 8, the Netherlands publisher maintained that there was an error in the Dutch language version but no longer used the term “translation”.

“Xander Uitgevers temporarily removed the book from sale, due to an error that occurred in the Dutch edition,” the latest statement said.

Previously, the publisher said the book was on hold temporarily after “an error occurred in the Dutch translation”.

In an interview with the American ABC’s Nightline program, Scobie said that the identities of the two royals are “names that I have to keep to myself for now”.

“But I do wonder if that might change over the future. It does seem that Harry and Meghan have decided to put that to rest,” he said.

In another interview with Vanity Fair, Scobie said he reignited the issue they’d put to rest because he was curious why the accusation was completely dropped from public view after the incendiary Oprah interview.

“When it comes to the conversations about Archie, for example, I was genuinely interested and confused as to why we didn’t hear Harry and Meghan talk about it,” he said.

“Again, this huge allegation made on the Oprah interview and then suddenly doesn’t come up in the Netflix special even though there was a whole section on race. It doesn’t come up in Spare.”

ENDGAME COPIES PULLED

Copies of Endgame are being pulled from shelves in the Netherlands after the Dutch translation named two members of the royal family it implied were racist.

The first royal apparently accidentally named in the controversial book by Omid Scobie was not the person Meghan Markle referred to in a bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, reported The Sun.

In that interview, Meghan and Prince Harry alleged an unnamed member of the royal family spoke about their son’s skin colour.

In Endgame, Scobie reveals that Meghan named two royals as taking part in the “conversations” in private letters she wrote to King Charles.

The author said UK laws prevented him from naming names in the English versions but, in a passage in a translated version in the Netherlands, the legal excuse was missing and a royal was named.

Now, it can be revealed a second person is named elsewhere in the book, which is apparently being pulled from shelves.

According to the sun, Scobie claims no version of the book had the names in it.

The new book also claims the royal palaces are full of racist artefacts and imagery including a painting of a black man with an offensive title in William and Kate’s drawing room.

And, despite Prince William saying, “we are very much not a racist family” in the aftermath of his brother and Meghan’s now-infamous Winfrey interview, one staff member says the “casual racism is as bad as you think it is”, Scobie reports in Endgame.

In one incident, the royal correspondent describes how he was asked by palace aides not to write about how the offensive title of Aelbert’s Cuyp’s painting hanging in Kensington Palace was covered up by a hastily placed plant pot and lamp, when the Obamas visited in 2016.

Other media did report it.

Barack and Michelle Obama meeting with Prince William, Catherine and Prince Harry in the Drawing Room of Apartment 1A Kensington Palace in 2016 in London, England. Picture: Getty Images

Scobie says he did what was asked for fear he would be banned from covering other royal events if he didn’t.

Art historians say the black man in the Dutch painting is a highly skilled groom and not a decorative “blackamoor”, a controversial type of art showing lavishly adorned black African men, often in subservient positions.

Princess Michael of Kent sparked outrage from many – although Scobie claims her friends comforted her after the negative press – when she wore a blackamoor brooch pinned to her coat to meet Meghan Markle for the first time.

“Blinded by unconscious bias or just callously indifferent, it’s hard to say, but she certainly failed to recognise the cultural insensitivity of wearing a brooch featuring a highly exoticised bust of a Black man in servant regalia, much less how others might react to such a thoughtless choice,” Scobie says of Princess Michael.

Queen Camilla and King Charles III. Picture: Getty Images

He also claims that until the last few years Queen Camilla had a four-foot blackamoor statue in the entrance hall of her Wiltshire home, while eagle-eyed viewers spotted blackamoor sconces hanging on the walls at Clarence House, King Charles’ residence, which when highlighted. were quickly taken down.

Campaigners have also called for a redesign of a medal bestowed by King Charles to ambassadors and diplomats for distinguished service which shows St Michael, a blue eyed white angel, standing on the neck of Satan, a chained Black man, which critics say are reminiscent of the killing of George Floyd by white police officers in the US that led to worldwide protests.

“There are just too many blackamoor pieces and tainted historical artefacts that can neither be retained nor explained,’ Scobie writes.

In one chapter of his new book ‘Race and the Royals’ he gives a history lesson on how the monarchy got rich on the back of slavery.

An Italian 'Blackamoor'. Picture: Bianca De Marchi

Queen Camilla had a four-foot blackamoor statue in the entrance hall of her Wiltshire home, Omid Scobie points out in Endgame. Picture: Getty Images

The royal writer then lists racist comments made by senior royals over the years including many by Prince Philip. He once made comments about “slitty-eyed” Chinese people.

A younger King Charles nicknamed a friend ‘Sooty’ because of the colour of his skin, Prince Andrew using the n-word while talking to a political aide, and even Prince Harry was caught on video calling a fellow military cadet a “raghead” and “Paki”.

He has since apologised for his racist slurs and his unconscious bias.

Scobie says in this environment, both present and historical, it was impossible for Meghan “to flourish in the royal system”, which did not stand up for her when the press attacked her and she received racist threats online.

In particular, Prince Harry and Meghan were fearful for their son Archie.

Scobie writes “the fact that Archie faced more security threats than other royal children did not translate to additional safety measures”.

Author Omid Scobie. Picture: Supplied

He adds, the “British royals’ silence – which followed almost four years of racially charged coverage of their only bi-racial family member – was hard to ignore”.

He says the Firm’s response to the claims of racism in the Oprah Winfrey interview helped sew doubt into Meghan’s claims.

Meghan’s “role in the royal story symbolised a crack in a glass ceiling that many thought was impossible to touch. But instead of helping her when she needed it most, the Palace discounted her trauma, claiming in a calibrated, well-timed statement that when it comes to Meghan’s experiences, well, “recollections may vary”,” Scobie wrote.

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