Endgame: Royal author lifts lid on reports Harry and Meghan’s marriage is on the rocks

The couple has been under intense scrutiny this year amid reports of trouble in paradise – and we’ve now got new insight into their relationship.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s marriage has certainly been under the microscope this year, with persistent speculation of trouble in paradise.

Over the last several months – and under the strain of the couple’s commercial operations faltering – reports have emerged suggesting they have been taking time apart, with claims Harry had even been staying at a hotel near to their Montecito estate.

Royal commentator Omid Scobie has now weighed in on their alleged marital troubles, addressing the rumours directly in a new interview with Stellar’s Something To Talk About podcast.

“I kind of love those stories, because they’re so obvious,” he told host Sarrah Le Marquand as part of the publicity blitz for his bombshell new royal book, Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy’s Fight for Survival.

“In terms of like the agenda behind them – I think the one thing that a lot of people wanted to see when Harry and Megan left the UK was that they would trip up and fail, and instead they’ve done a pretty good job.”

Scobie explained that contrary to reports that their marriage was on the rocks, he’d heard from all of his sources that they “continue to be happy and in a good place”.

“Trust me, if I’d heard otherwise, I would want to add something in the book, so I could be the journalist who was on top of the story. But I haven’t come across anything to suggest otherwise.”

Speculation has been rife this year that there is trouble in paradise. Picture: Instagram

But the royal author claimed they’re as “happy” as ever. Picture: Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Scobie also directly rubbished the report about Harry staying at a hotel nearby because, as the reports claimed, “he was so unhappy at home”, pointing out that “that wouldn’t be the case, because [he and Meghan] have a huge guesthouse at the end of their estate”.

“I’m sure he’d happily be able to stay in it if that really was the case, so as not to attract attention,” he said.

Scobie, who is known to be sympathetic toward the Sussexes, has become a high-profile and divisive figure in royal circles himself over recent years amid persistent allegations that he is “Meghan and Harry’s mouthpiece” and a longtime friend of the former Suits actress.

But Scobie insisted there’s no truth to it.

“When Meghan and Harry first got together, and the news was made public to the world … that was the first time I thought, ‘Oh yeah, I do remember meeting her briefly on a red carpet, like two years ago’,” he told Le Marquand, adding that “bizarre” rumour of his connection with the Sussexes soon “took on a life of its own online”.

“But prior to that, I hadn’t really given Meghan Markle the actress any thought … I still didn’t even know anything about her or that her show [Suits] was big.”

Scobie then suggested that constantly being tagged as “Meghan’s pal” and “mouthpiece” could be an attempt to “de-legitimise” what he was reporting, and make it appear as thought it was “straight from her mouth” and he was “completely biased”.

The explosive new royal book has been released today. Picture: Harper Collins

Omid Scobie. Picture: Supplied

During his interview with Something To Talk About, Scobie went on to provide new details about the dramatic fallout between Harry and his family following the release of his tell-all memoir, Spare.

Following the book’s publication in January – which detonated plenty of explosive new allegations at King Charles, Queen Camilla, and the Prince and Princess of Wales – Harry and Meghan were infamously evicted from their UK royal base, Frogmore Cottage, and largely cut off from his relatives.

According to Scobie, about three or four months later, the Duke of Sussex reached out to a “mutual friend in the UK” whom he hoped “might be able to facilitate” an icebreaking conversation between himself and William.

However, he was shut down, instead discovering that the “wall was still up between them”.

It’s widely understood that William has no intention of speaking to his brother for the foreseeable future, with members of his inner circle indicating there may be no way back for their relationship.

The Brothers no longer speak. Picture: Chris Jackson/Pool/AFP

Scobie also opened up about his own personal experience with William, describing how he’d noticed a huge shift in his demeanour over the years.

“William was always someone that brought kind of a ray of sunshine to royal engagements, he was happy, he was always willing to have a bit of banter with you, he was interested in the people around him,” the author recalled.

“And the man I see before me today is, of course, taking the job more seriously … But there’s a harder, almost more worn-down demeanour to William as well.

“[He’s] sort of, I guess, given into the realities of his circumstances and stepped into that company man role and had to adopt all the practices and procedures that come with that territory.

“You know, this was a man who once hated the press more than Harry, and as Harry said in Spare, they’d talk about how they’d never allow these games or briefings to get between them.”

Scobie went on: “Now, as I detail in the book, here he is in the background, aware of many of these ‘goings-on’ within his own household, patting the backs of aides of who are doing these things he wants frowned upon.”

Despite the criticism, the author admitted that he believes William will have a “very successful time” as the Prince of Wales and, eventually, as monarch.

“I think he has a great vision, he does have quite a modern focus,” Scobie told STTA.

William now has a more “hardened demeanour”, Scobie claimed. Picture: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images

Scobie’s Stellar podcast interview comes just weeks after an excerpt from Endgame was published by People magazine, causing a major stir before the biography was even released.

In the sneak peek, it was alleged that Harry was left “in the dark” and “completely by himself” as he scrambled to get to his grandmother’s bedside in Scotland in the hours before her death last year.

‘Upsetting to witness’

Scobie claimed that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had no idea that the Palace was already planning for the Queen’s final hours as they went about their engagements in the UK and Europe last September.

After picking up a call from an unknown number (“You should answer it”, Meghan allegedly told her husband), Harry was told by his father that he and Camilla were about to leave Dumfries House for Balmoral to be with the Queen.

Princess Anne was already there, and Harry was instructed to “make his way to Balmoral immediately”.

Scobie claimed that the duke was informed that William was making arrangements for the family’s travel via a chartered jet, but when he reached out to his brother about joining the group, he was ignored.

The Sussexes were reportedly then left to “operate in the dark” with no communication from his family, despite being told that William had secured a flight with his uncles, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward, along with Edward’s wife, Sophie.

“It was upsetting to witness,” Scobie quoted a source close to the Sussexes.

The two couples publicly reunited following the Queen’s death in September – but behind-the-scenes, the situation was reportedly very strained. Picture: Chris Jackson/Getty Images

‘Huge amount of anger’

In another section of the book, Scobie claimed that William has been telling everyone in his inner circle that Harry and Meghan “blindsided the family” with their public airing of their grievances, describing their “oh so California self-importance”.

According to the royal author, the Prince of Wales believes Harry has been “brainwashed by an army of therapists” and he “no longer recognises his own brother”.

Following the January release of the Duke of Sussex’s tell-all memoir Spare, Scobie claimed the Prince of Wales feels “a huge amount of anger”.

“He feels betrayed and sad about the situation. But he also doesn’t agree with the things his brother feels he has done,” a source close to William reportedly told Scobie.

“He feels he has lost Harry and doesn’t want to know this version of him.”

However, he added, an insider from the Spencer family’s side had a more supportive view of Harry.

“Harry being a man who has stepped outside of the institution and sees things in a different light,” the source said.

“They will never see eye-to-eye at this point. They’re on completely opposite sides … that won’t change.”

For weeks, Buckingham Palace has been bracing for more impact with damaging new allegations set to come to light about the Duke of Sussex’s rift with the royal family – and specifically, his brother William – in the new biography.

It follows Scobie’s explosive 2020 book, Finding Freedom, which covered previously-unheard claims about the couple’s dramatic departure from the royal family earlier that year.

The Stellar podcast Something To Talk About is available here. Omid Scobie’s new book, Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy’s Fight for Survival, published by HarperCollins, is now available as an ebook, with hard copies in Australian stores from tomorrow.