Royal author Omid Scobie has again insisted he is not responsible for an error that's seen two Royal Family members named for allegedly raising "concerns" about the skin colour of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's son in a new book.
The Dutch version of controversial book Endgame by Mr Scobie was pulled from shelves on Tuesday, the day of publication, after early reviewers spotted it mentioned an individual who was said to have questioned Prince Archie’s skin tone before he was born. Today, the name of a second member of the monarchy, alleged to have made the same comment, has been found in the pages of the Dutch edition, titled Final Battle.
In a new statement today, the author insisted he had only written and edited the English version of the book, so is unable to comment on the Dutch manuscript. 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 is being fixed.
Endgame was released yesterday and caused shockwaves as it revealed two royals made derogatory remarks about the colour of Harry unborn son, Archie. And in a paragraph not included in the English version, a Dutch preview edition seemed to name both Royals at the centre of a race storm sparked in 2021 when the Duke and Duchess of Sussex accused an unnamed senior royal of expressing "concern" about their child's complexion during a chat with Oprah Winfrey.
Xander, the publishers of the Dutch translation, have put sales of the book on hold "temporarily" over what it calls an "error". They said in a statement: "[We are] temporarily withdrawing the book by Omid Scobie from sale. An error occurred in the Dutch translation and is currently being rectified."
Last night, Mr Scobie himself denied responsibility for the error, telling Dutch chat show RTL Boulevard: "The book is in several languages, and unfortunately I do not speak Dutch. But if there are translation errors, I'm sure the publishers will have it under control. I wrote and edited the English version. There's never been no version I've produced which has names in it."
In their interview with Oprah in 2021, Harry and Meghan alleged an unidentified member of the monarchy – but not Queen Elizabeth II or her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh – had raised "concerns and conversations about how dark his [Archie] skin might be when he's born".
The claim in 2021 led to a difficult period for the Royal Family, with the Prince of Wales, Prince William, having to defend the monarchy against accusations of racism, saying: "We're very much not a racist family."