Two royals named in Omid Scobie’s book as raising ‘concerns’ over Prince Archie’s skin colour were identified on UK television last night.
They were revealed by Piers Morgan on his Talk TV show and he followed the claim up by posting it to his 8.7million social media followers.
On Tuesday it emerged that a Dutch translation of Scobie’s book containing the names had gone on sale in the Netherlands. Its publisher was forced to withdraw and pulp copies amid much-mocked claims that it was an error in translation.
The two senior royals had not been publicly named here until Morgan’s move last night.
The presenter tried to justify his decision by arguing he was reacting to the witch-hunt caused by Harry and Meghan’s decision to air the race issue without giving any context or allowing a right to reply. The Royal Family later said the allegations were concerning but that ‘recollections may vary’.
On his TalkTV show tonight, Piers Morgan named the two senior royals who Omid Scobie claims were the ones ‘with concerns’ over Prince Archie’s skin colour
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle with their baby son Archie in South Africa in September 2019
Prince Archie is pictured with his parents at his christening in this official photograph taken in July 2019
The Dutch translation of Mr Scobie’s book Endgame appeared to reveal the name of the person alleged to have made the comment. Pictured: Omid Scobie
The row has been reignited this week by Omid Scobie’s ‘poisonous’ royal book on the monarchy in which he said there was not one, but two senior royals, identified by the Duchess of Sussex in letters she subsequently wrote to King Charles on the issue the following year.
Morgan argued that it would enable people in the UK to have a ‘more open debate about this whole farrago’, saying: ‘Because I don’t believe any racist comments were ever made by any of the Royal Family, and until there is actual evidence of those comments being made, I will never believe it.
‘But now we can start the process of finding out if they ever got uttered, what the context was, and whether there was any racial intent at all – like I say, I don’t believe there was. The royals who are named in this book are …’
The Mail has chosen at this stage not to name the individuals involved and has redacted his quotes.
Morgan’s decision is likely to spark anger and disappointment at Buckingham Palace which had refused to be drawn on the row sparked by Scobie’s book and had likely been hoping that gossip on the subject would be restricted to internet and social media chatter.
Copies of the book Endgame by British journalist and writer Omid Scobie are sold at a bookstore in London. The Dutch edition of book on the British royal family has been temporarily removed from the shelves in the Netherlands over an error
The original claim was made by Meghan Markle in the Sussexes’ infamous 2021 Oprah Winfrey interview (pictured) when she revealed there were ‘several conversations’ between herself, Harry and Royal Family members about ‘how dark’ Archie would be
Scobie claimed in the English version of his book Endgame that although he knew the names of the two individuals involved – and had hinted even more clues heavily on US media in recently days – he could not name them because of strict libel laws in the UK.
Meanwhile pressure was mounting on Scobie last night to explain how a second member of the Royal Family was named in a Dutch translation of his book.
Neither Meghan nor Prince Harry have named the individual involved since talking about it in their bombshell 2021 Oprah Winfrey interview, prompting fevered speculation over the identity of the ‘royal racist’.
Scobie and his Netherlands-based publishers were forced to pull the book from the shelves and put its launch on hold but dismissed it as a ‘translation error’. Scobie then insisted on Dutch television that ‘there was no version from me in which names were mentioned’.
Yesterday, however, it emerged that a second name had also been published in the Dutch version – 200 pages later – alongside a repeat of the first. And this time it was not just a word, but a sentence.
It read: ‘Even after Meghan and Charles by letter discussed about possible unconscious bias within the family, after it was revealed that…[redacted] and… [redacted] had participated in these kinds of discussions about Archie,.. [redacted] avoided discussing the subject with… [redacted].’ Moreover, while the English version and other translations have Scobie writing that he can’t name those he believes were involved due to legal curbs, there is no such statement in the Dutch edition.
Publishing experts yesterday questioned how such a monumental blunder could have occurred.
Some speculated that Dutch publisher Xander Uitgevers could have been sent an early draft in which the two royals were intentionally named, before legal advice was given and the identities removed.
Sources in the Netherlands pointed out it was a small firm, unlike literary giant Harper Collins which is bringing out Endgame in the US and Britain. ‘Perhaps someone didn’t see a memo which instructed them to remove certain paragraphs due to legal issues, or someone from America just forgot to send the revised manuscript to this tiny little country in Europe?’ they asked. ‘There doesn’t seem to be any other explanation than it was in there in the first place.’
Dutch royal journalist, Rick Evers, who first spotted the discrepancy, added: ‘If you compare the English and Dutch versions, it is very clear there are significant discrepancies between the two.
‘The Dutch version has extra paragraphs containing names that the English language version does not have. So this cannot be a ‘translation’ error. It suggests they were in the version that was sent to the Dutch publishers in the first place. It is impossible otherwise.’
Scobie, who has received many negative reviews for his critical tome, admitted an ‘error’ had occurred but did not repeat his claim that he had ‘never’ written a version including the names.
He said: ‘Having only written and edited the English version of Endgame, I can only comment on that manuscript – which does not name the two individuals who took part in the conversation.
‘I’m happy to hear that the error in the translation of the Dutch edition book is being fixed.’ Xander confirmed an ‘error’ had occurred and said the ‘rectified’ edition will be on sale from December 8.
Buckingham Palace declined to comment, with PR expert Mark Borkowski saying: ‘These spats and tittle tattle will just run out. If [Harry’s memoir] Spare didn’t do anything to dislodge the royal brand, some journalist whose credibility is under question is not going to do anything.’
International media lawyer Mark Stephens suggested the royals could sue Scobie on the grounds of privacy, adding: ‘It’s difficult to see a name which is unknown to a translator become a name. That’s an unusual translation error.’