'Royals will find it hard to take action for defamation over Endgame race row'

02 December 2023 , 21:36

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Omid Scobie has come under fire for his latest book about the Royal Family (Image: ITV)

I think it will be difficult for the Royal Family to take action for defamation. If they do, it is likely to be against author Omid Scobie and his Dutch publishers for defamation and misuse of personal data.

Royal lawyers would have to ascertain if Scobie published the names in his book in Holland intentionally or not, or whether the Dutch publisher put something in there which was not written by him. The royals would have to prove they had suffered personal harm.

I don’t think they’d have too much difficulty doing that because of the alleged association between Scobie and Meghan and Harry. Piers Morgan on TalkTV was very careful to make it clear he didn’t believe a word of it when he mentioned the names. So TalkTV are in the clear. Newspapers have reported what is already out there.

Omid Scobie's book Endgame

There’s a clear distinction between a publisher reporting what is out there and putting it in context, and a publisher repeating the libel. There’s also a big difference between someone on social media repeating a false statement and a newspaper reporting both sides of the coin.

The royals may complain the media have given further publicity to what was published in Holland but that is not going to give them a basis to take defamatory action.

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