Omid Scobie has responded to Piers Morgan describing his new book Endgame as a “spiteful, lie-filled book” after the broadcaster sensationally named the allegedly “racist royals” identified in its Dutch version.
Scobie, 42, said he has been “operating within a bubble of no emotion” since the release of Endgame, which became embroiled in controversy after the foreign language translation inadvertently named two senior members of the royal family in connection with a racism row that rocked the monarchy in 2021.
The book was pulled from shelves in Netherlands after it was revealed that Scobie’s book identified two royals who allegedly inquired about the skin colour of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s firstborn baby, Prince Archie.
Dutch journalist Rick Evers, who has read the translated book, revealed on Wednesday that the name of the first royal is “very specific” while the second one was “a little bit vague”.
While the British press has chosen not to name the royals, Morgan, 58, controversially confirmed their identities during an eight-and-a-half-minute takedown of Endgame and its author.
“If Dutch people wandering into a bookshop can see these names, then you, the British people who actually pay for the royal family are entitled to know, too,” Morgan justified his decision to announce the names.
He also demanded that Scobie or the “Sussexes finally come forward with the evidence for their allegations” of racism against the royals, while calling the Endgame author out for allegedly lying.
“The man who said I have regular phone calls with Queen Camilla. Regular phone calls!” Morgan said. “Never had one phone call with Queen Camilla”.
Morgan was referring to one passage in Scobie’s book, where he claimed that Queen Camilla thanked the broadcaster for “quietly defending the Firm” in the aftermath of Harry and Meghan’s estrangement from the royal family.
He described Scobie as Harry and Meghan’s “client journalist” during the scathing segment, accusing him of “pouring fuels on the flames” of the racism controversy that first broke out after Meghan told Oprah Winfrey that there were “concerns and conversations” about how dark Prince Archie might be “and what that would look like” during a bombshell interview in 2021.
Scobie shrugged off Morgan’s comments during Thursday’s episode of ITV’s This Morning and told hosts Craig Doyle and Alison Hammond that he doesn’t think they were “particularly credible”.
“I don’t know what he says, I only go by the reporting I have,” he said, referring to Morgan’s comments. “He’s spoken a lot about his friendship with Camilla [so] I don’t know what to make of that.
“I don’t think that’s particularly credible,” Scobie added.
Piers Morgan has named the two ‘royal racists’ accidentally named by Omid Scobie in the Dutch version of his new book ‘Endgame'— (Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock & PA)
Elsewhere during his appearance on This Morning, Scobie said he always knew the response to Endgame would be “heated and controversial” because it addresses themes such as “xenophobia, misogyny, and prejudice” in Britain which some people might feel uncomfortable having.
What was unsettling, he continued, was the severe backlash against him and his family after the book’s release.
“A lot of it has been simply about me. [There’s been] unnecessary information, an assassination of my character, tabloid journalists harassing my father, trying to purport all sort of nonsense,” Scobie said.
He admitted he was “obviously frustrated” that the “racist royals” were named in the Dutch version of his book, with thousands of copies expected to be pulped and reprinted in the coming days.
“I have never submitted a book that had their names in it, so I can only talk about my version,” he told Doyle and Hammong. “I am obviously frustrated. I wouldn’t say I am upset about it because I have been operating in a bubble of no emotion.”
Scobie has previously denied including the names of the royal family members in the book’s English manuscript, adding that a “translation error” led to them appearing in the Dutch translation.
Appearing on Dutch chat show RTL Boulevard, he said: “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,” he added. “There’s never been no version that I’ve produced that has names in it.
