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After a Dutch translation of his book Endgame named Kate Middleton and King Charles as the alleged “royal racists” who questioned Prince Harry about his children’s likely skin color, Omid Scobie Thursday night ducked responsibility for making the claim in a BBC interview, instead blaming “irresponsible people” in the U.K. for repeating the names.
Although he did not mention Piers Morgan by name, it was Morgan who last night said the royals’ names on his Talk TV show in the U.K., leading to a firestorm of follow-up media coverage.
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Speaking to the BBC’s Newsnight show, Scobie, who did not make the claims in the English language version of the book citing legal reasons, suggested the names appearing in the Netherlands was the result of administrative confusion.
He said he was “frustrated” that the names had appeared in the Dutch version, saying: “The book was heavily vetted—legaled, i’s dotted, t’s crossed—and a book that I was extremely proud of [has now been] completely overshadowed…we have a full investigation going on into the series of events that happened.”
He said he first heard on social media, while coming out of “back to back” interviews, about the naming of the individuals, whom the BBC did not name, despite the fact that all the major British newspapers have now done so. He added that the Dutch publisher “told us there was a translation error.”
Newsnight presenter Victoria Derbyshire had previously pointed out that one of the translators earlier Thursday told the Daily Mail: “As a translator, I translate what is in front of me. The names of the royals were there in black and white. I did not add them. I just did what I was paid to do and that was translate the book from English into Dutch.”
Scobie added, “The English version of the book, the only one I know, the version that I signed off on; that is the book that is out there today. That is the book that has no names in it.”
He appeared to suggest he had not included the names because he would not be able to produce evidence for the claim, saying: “Ultimately, to write the names is a show and tell situation. There is no ability to show, so there was never any attempt to name.”
Derbyshire said: “But in some version you must have written the names in,” and asked Scobie if it was all a “publicity stunt.”
He said it was not, adding, “I feel hurt by some of the things I have seen, suggesting all sorts—the conspiracy that this is a publicity stunt, that I am in cahoots with ‘my pals.’”
Asked if he wanted to apologize to the royals he said, “It’s not for me to apologize because I still want to know what’s happened.”
Derbyshire said: “The buck stops with you, surely?”
Scobie replied, in what seemed to be a shot at one of his most famous detractors, Piers Morgan, who was the first British broadcaster to name Charles and Kate on air: “It doesn’t stop with me because there are irresponsible people in this country that have broken the law and repeated names that should never have been repeated. The book I wrote, the book I edited, the book I signed off on, did not have the names in it.”
The sensational sections of the Dutch version of Endgame identifying Charles and Kate as the individuals responsible for the remarks have put an end to a high-stakes game of Clue that has been ongoing since Meghan first disclosed in a 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey that “concerns and conversations about how dark his [Archie’s] skin might be when he’s born” had been raised with Harry.
She and Harry both implied it was just one person who made the remarks and vowed never to identify the person.
However, Scobie said that letters had been sent between Charles and Meghan which identified two people who had made the remarks, and that he knew who they were.
The Sun reported palace insiders as saying they thought Meghan had leaked the information to Scobie.
Britain's King Charles speaks with Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates, during the launch of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) in Dubai, November 30, 2023.
Hamad Al Kaabi/UAE Presidential Court/Handout via ReutersA royal insider told the The Sun: “That letter is under lock and key and no one from within the king’s circle would’ve briefed anyone about its contents.
“In all likelihood, it must have been the Sussex camp which leaked the names. It’s a nasty and deliberate attack.”
Asked about his perceived bias in favor of Harry and Meghan and why he didn’t write critical things or “cutting comments” about them, when he did write such things about William and Kate, he said it was because the Sussexes were no longer working royals and suggested they should not therefore be subject to the same level of scrutiny.
“It’s a different time now,” he said.
The royals, meanwhile, ploughed on with business as usual: Prince William and Kate were at Royal Variety show in London while Charles was on a state visit to the COP 28 summit in Dubai.
All studiously avoided answering any questions on the affair, and, in what might be seen by some as a defiant show of keeping calm and carrying on—and by others as evidence of how hopelessly they are out of touch— Buckingham Palace said they were “considering all options,” but were not going to comment on the matter any further.
