Eight changes made to Omid Scobie's royal book - William jibe and Meghan tweak

11 December 2023 , 15:38

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Eight changes made to Omid Scobie's royal book - William jibe and Meghan tweak

The Dutch version of a controversial royal book has finally gone back on sale in the Netherlands with many major changes, according to a journalist.

Early copies of Omid Scobie's book Endgame had to be pulled from shelves on the day it was released after it appeared to name the royals who allegedly raised "concerns" and had "conversations" about the colour of Prince Archie's skin. It reignited the royal race row, which was first sparked when Prince Harry and Meghan Markle made the allegations in their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey back in 2021.

A new Dutch version of the book is now available to buy in Holland, but according to the journalist who first uncovered the names of the royals in the early edition, the new version also has 'hundreds' of other changes.

William and Kate along with Harry and Meghan

Taking to X, formerly Twitter, Rick Evers admits some of them are considered as "small" with Queen Camilla changed to "Camilla, Queen Consort". He also claims that in the original version, Mr Scobie wrote "I" with this now changed to say "ABC News" as the citation.

However, bigger tweaks are said to have included language used about King Charles. Mr Evers claims the first version said he made "questionable deals" and had "suspicious links and … poor judgment", while the new edition of the book states that the King has "questionable choices".

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When it comes to Prince William, it is alleged the reference referring to him as "lazy Wills" now says he has a "workshy image". Meanwhile, in the part where Mr Scobie recalls seeing the Prince of Wales outside of Kensington Palace, Mr Evers says it no longer says William did it "maybe on purpose" but instead he claims he looked "a bit surprised".

Controversial royal book Endgame (AFP via Getty Images)

In another passage, Meghan is described as having a "tough time" in the Royal Family, rather than having mental health struggles, while other changes include tweaks to some of the source quotes in the book. It comes after Mr Scobie performed a U-turn and appeared to admit he did name the royals, who allegedly made comments about Archie's skin. 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”.

Xander Uitgevers, the publisher of the Dutch version, said in a statement that a translation error had occurred. In the versions of Endgame being sold in English-speaking countries, Scobie states: "Laws in the United Kingdom prevent me from reporting who they were."

Endgame author Omid Scobie (ITV)

When the controversy surrounding the Dutch version of the book first emerged, Scobie had denied ever naming the royals alleged to have made the comments. He told RTL Boulevard last week: "For me, I edited and wrote the English version; there has never been a version that I’ve produced that has names in it."

However, writing an opinion piece for the i, published online on last Friday, Scobie said: "To be clear, the only publisher I worked directly with was the one covering the US and UK. I spent almost two months with independent British barristers and in-house legal counsel to ensure that every detail in the finished book was legally watertight.

"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."

Mr Scobie said publishers in other countries, including France and Italy, adopted the same practice and produced versions of the book that "perfectly replicated the completed work". The journalist 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."

Jennifer Newton