Meghan Markle is said to be "desperate" to speak out following the controversy surrounding Omid Scobie's explosive book Endgam...
Meghan Markle is said to be "desperate" to speak out following the controversy surrounding Omid Scobie's explosive book Endgame.
The royal author caused outrage with the release of Endgame as it reignited the royal race row after a Dutch translation named King Charles and the Princess of Wales as the two members of the royal household who allegedly raised "concerns" about the skin colour of Meghan and Harry's then-unborn son.
One expert has suggested the Duchess of Sussex has been left "bruised" by the backlash the book has received. Author Tom Bower suggested Meghan will want nothing more than to wipe the slate clean after Endgame released a "gratuitous attack" on Princess Kate.
He suggested Meghan could write her own memoir, following the release of Prince Harry's Spare, in which she speaks out about the royal race row. "As she feels more and more bruised as the year goes on, Meghan is going to want to have her say. Whereas Scobie was a disaster, she's going to want to correct the impressions [that she collaborated on the book]," Tom told Closer magazine.
There were rumours that Meghan had been in touch with Omid while he wrote Endgame. However, the author was forced to speak out to insist Meghan and Harry weren't the ones who told him personal details for the book. Speaking to The Standard, he said: "There's enough people around them and in their orbit who know the ins and outs of things."
Omid recently performed a U-turn and admitted he did name the alleged "royal racists" in an "early" version of his book. The writer said that "uncleared text" was provided to a Dutch publisher with plans that a translation "would be updated to reflect the final version of the book".
Dutch publisher Xander Uitgevers originally said an "error" had occurred which saw Charles and Kate named. Omid went on to repeatedly deny ever having named the royals. He told the BBC: "The book I wrote, the book I edited, the book I signed off on, did not have names in it." But writing for the i online, he said: "The only publisher I worked directly with was the one covering the US and UK.
"Unbeknownst to me at the time, early and uncleared text was provided to the Dutch publisher for them to start on translation, with the understanding their translation would be updated to reflect the final version of the book I officially submitted." He said versions in other countries "perfectly replicated" the finished work, adding: "The finished book I submitted was not the version published in the Netherlands."
The Royal Family were said to be "united in outrage" after the King and Princess of Wales were dragged into the royal race row. The Sussexes originally made the allegations during a chat with Oprah Winfrey in 2021 but chose not to name the people involved.
When the Sussexes made their explosive allegations on Oprah, in an interview broadcast around the world, they set in train a public debate about who in the royal family might harbour such racially charged views. In a multicultural modern Britain such allegations against the monarchy generated debate on a matter of such public importance with Scobie's new book claiming to add to that public debate.
