Omid Scobie appears to admit early draft of book did name royals in race row

Author Omid Scobie appears to have admitted an early draft of his book did name the royals alleged to have raised “concerns” about the skin colour of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s son.

It comes after the Dutch version of his title Endgame was pulled from shops due to a “translation error” last month after it identified the King and Princess of Wales as the members of the Royal Family who allegedly made comments about the couple’s baby before he was born.

The royal biographer previously insisted that he never submitted a version of book that included the names.

However, Scobie has now suggested that an early draft of his work, which mentioned the King and princess, was submitted to the Dutch translators – but not by him and without his knowledge.

He said the only publisher he had worked with directly was the company in charge of the UK and US versions, and that responsibility for foreign language editions had been outsourced to others.

The writer made the admission in a column for the i newspaper, published on Friday, in which he addressed the “backlash” against his book.

Mr Scobie said he had been “confused” about the Dutch version and had been trying to “piece together” what happened.

He wrote: “Unbeknownst to me at the time, early and uncleared text was provided to the Dutch publisher in order for them to start work on the translation, with the understanding that their translation would be updated to reflect the final version of the book I officially submitted.

“Other foreign-language publishers, including in France and Italy, were also doing the same thing, though their versions perfectly replicated the completed work.”

Mr Scobie added: “What I can be sure of is that I edited carefully, took independent legal advice, and the finished book that I submitted was not the version published in the Netherlands.”

Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, claimed in a 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey that an unidentified member of the monarchy – but not Queen Elizabeth II or the Duke of Edinburgh – raised “concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born” while she was pregnant with son Archie.

Following the broadcast, the Queen said in a statement that the issues raised, “particularly that of race,” in the interview were “concerning” but that “some recollections may vary“.

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Meanwhile, Mr Scobie also hit out in his newspaper opinion column at “offensive” claims that the row was all a publicity stunt for his book.

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He further urged the Royal Family to “meaningfully explore” the institution’s historic links to slavery and have “serious conversations” about its treatment of Meghan.

Mr Scobie added: “Rather than properly address everything as part of a genuine attempt to modernise and better reflect the diverse country they serve, the Royal Family continue to sweep the issues, and more, under the rug.”

Buckingham Palace has not officially commented on the latest controversy surrounding Mr Scobie’s book.

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