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London: The author of a controversial new tell-all book about the royal family has denied naming an alleged “royal racist” after an “error” in the translated Dutch version was pulled from the shelves.
Omid Scobie, a British royal reporter and author widely viewed to be sympathetic to Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex said a “translation error” had led to the name of a senior royal featuring in the book.
Omid Scobie’s royal book Endgame on sale in a Dutch bookshop on Wednesday despite the publisher withdrawing it from sale in the Netherlands.
The book, Endgame, describes how the duchess sent a letter to her father-in-law, then Prince Charles, in which she expressed her concerns about unconscious bias in the royal family.
The letter was sent after the Sussexes’ March 2021 Oprah Winfrey interview in which Meghan alleged that a member of the royal family had speculated about the colour of her unborn son’s skin.
The UK version of the book reveals that the duchess complained about two people who had upset her by making comments about Archie’s skin tone, but it stops short of naming them, citing “laws in the United Kingdom”.
The book on sale in the Netherlands on Wednesday.
However, this masthead was able to secure a copy from a bookstore in the Netherlands after the publisher had withdrawn it from sale.
In the Dutch-language version is the claim that two people, named in private letters between Charles and Meghan, raised questions about Archie’s skin colour.
The copy reads: “But in those private letters [the identity] was confirmed” before naming the person.
Appearing on Dutch chat show RTL Boulevard, Scobie said: “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.
“I wrote and edited the English version,” he added. “There’s never been a version that I’ve produced that has names in it.”
Xander, the publisher of the Dutch version of Endgame, said that sales of the book were on hold “temporarily” over what it called an “error”.
“[We are] temporarily withdrawing the book by Omid Scobie from sale,” the publisher’s statement read. “An error occurred in the Dutch translation and is currently being rectified.”
Scobie’s latest book returns to many of the same royal disagreements and behind-the-scenes back-biting he covered in Finding Freedom, the bombshell biography that sealed his reputation as the unofficial spokesperson for the Sussexes.
An English-language edition.Credit:
The 42-year-old journalist has since tried to distance himself from the couple, insisting they are not sources for his latest book.
In addition to its claims about two members of the royal family making offensive remarks about the skin colour of Prince Archie, Endgame also alleges that King Charles is “inept”, Prince William is “petulant and grudging” and is particularly critical of the Princess of Wales, who, it claims, is terrified of doing anything beyond grinning photo opportunities.
The book reveals that both Charles and Meghan acknowledged that the alleged remark about Archie’s skin colour was not made with malice. Meghan thanked the King for his letter and clarified that she was not accusing the royal family of racism, but rather raising concerns about an unconscious bias.
In an interview with ITV News presenter Tom Bradby earlier this year, Prince Harry denied that he and Meghan ever accused the royal family of racism, arguing that there is a “difference between racism and unconscious bias”.
“Once it’s been acknowledged or pointed out to you as an individual, otherwise an institution, that you have unconscious bias, you therefore have an opportunity to learn and grow from that… otherwise, unconscious bias then moves into the category of racism,” he said.
In the days before its publication, Scobie has acknowledged inconsistencies between the original manuscript and “poorly translated” extracts.
He told BBC News: “It has been hugely frustrating watching news sites run stories based on contextless and poorly translated snippets from a French serialisation of Endgame.”
He claimed that some extracts were inaccurately reported in other countries, leaving readers “to believe that this is how the material, much of which is almost unrecognisable from the original English manuscript, appears in the book”.
Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace declined to comment.
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