Omid Scobie in Royal racists U-turn as he admits 'early' manuscript was sent

08 December 2023 , 15:19

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Omid Scobie in Royal racists U-turn as he admits 'early' manuscript was sent

Omid Scobie has performed a humiliating U-turn and admitted he did name the “royal racists” in an “early” version of his book.

The writer said yesterday 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”.

Endgame was pulled from shelves in the Netherlands last week.

It was found to have named King Charles and the Princess of Wales as those alleged to have questioned the skin tone of Harry and Meghan’s son Prince Archie before he was born.

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The Dutch translation of Endgame named the two royals (NEIL HALL/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

Dutch publisher Xander Uitgevers initi­­ally said a translation error had occurred, before later changing that to just an “error”.

Scobie 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.”

And he said last week: “There has never been a version I’ve produced that has names in it.” But writing for the i online yesterday, he said: “The only publisher I worked directly with was the one covering the US and UK.

Omid claimed at first he didn't know how the names ended up in the translation (Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

“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.”

In the i, the US-based journalist also took a further swipe at the Royal Family, saying that “support had fallen to just 52 per cent” and that they continue to “sweep the issues [of race], and more, under the rug”.

Prince Harry, 39, and Meghan, 42, first claimed in an Oprah Winfrey interview in 2021 that a royal had queried their son’s colour.

Tatiana Krisztina