King Charles and Meghan Markle. Photo / Getty Images
Despite claims Omid Scobie did not include the names of the alleged “racist royals” in his book, a new report has challenged that.
The Times reported this week that the 42-year-old author’s agent allegedly sent a draft manuscript of Endgame to a translator and it included the names of two royals he claims were involved in the race row.
In Scobie’s book, Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy’s Fight for Survival, he writes that in 2021 Meghan Markle had correspondence with King Charles in regards to two people who allegedly made comments about the skin colour her and Prince Harry’s son, Prince Archie, would have.
The claims were originally made by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in a 2021 Oprah Winfrey interview. At the time they refused to name the alleged royals as it could be damaging to them and later denied accusing the family of racism choosing to instead imply they have “unconscious bias”.
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.However, the Dutch translation of Scobie’s book – which was pulled from shelves hours after its release – named the King and, in a separate chapter, the Princess of Wales.
Representatives of the Sussexes have not yet responded to calls for further clarity but have insisted the Duchess had no wish for the identities to be publicly revealed.
Scobie has maintained he “never submitted a book that had those names in it” despite the Dutch translator Saskia Peeters, claiming the draft they were sent did in fact include the names.
She told the Mail Online: “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.”
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.Scobie has spoken out multiple times on the matter appearing on ITV’s This Morning to defend himself, “It’s not for me to apologise because I still want to know what’s happened,” he said during the appearance.
“The buck doesn’t stop with me because there are irresponsible people in this country who’ve broken the law and repeated names that should never have been repeated, should never have been named. The book I edited and signed off on did not have names in it.”
It comes after the Daily Mail spoke to a source who told them the royal family are understood to be “considering all options” including legal action.