Omid Scobie says he is as 'frustrated as everyone else' after royals in racism storm named in Dutch version of Endgame
30 November 2023, 10:44 | Updated: 30 November 2023, 10:52
Omid Scobie has denied being ‘Meghan’s mouthpiece’ as he defended his new book Endgame on British TV, saying he didn’t include the names of royals in the centre of the racism storm over Prince Archie.
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Mr Scobie denied the names being included in the Dutch edition of his book was anything to do with him, or a ‘stunt.' He also did not apologise for the names emerging.
He told ITV's This Morning: “I knew this book would be controversial, whether it's about race or the Palace's relationship with the press. I never expected it to be presented fairly'.
“I'm not their friend. I've never sat down with Meghan or shared information with her.
“I wrote and edited the English version of the book with one publisher. That then gets licensed to other publishers.
"I’m as frustrated as everyone else."
Dutch publishers pulped copies of Scobie's new book Endgame after it was pointed out that it identified two individuals - one by name - said to have questioned Prince Archie’s skin tone before he was born.
Yesterday, the author insisted he had only written and edited the English version of the book, so was 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."
It came after a new statement was also issued this afternoon by the Dutch publisher Xander Uitgevers, which said: "The rectified edition of Eindstrijd by Omid Scobie will be in bookstores on Friday 8 December. Xander Uitgevers temporarily removed the book from sale, due to an error that occurred in the Dutch edition."
Native Dutch speakers have claimed there is no way that a Royal Family member could have been named as the ‘royal racist’ in Omid Scobie’s new book by way of a mistranslation.
Dutch royal journalist Rick Evers said: “It seems as if only the Dutch version has published the person's name who spoke about the skin color of the unborn child.
“Publisher Xander Uitgevers doesn't want to confirm about this specific theme.”He also told Good Morning Britain the first name was “very specific” and the second name was “a little bit vague.”
He said: “Names of two senior royals are mentioned during the book. The first one is very clear and the official way was that it was a translation issue. There are some debates about how these passages were stated in the book. I would say how could you translate a name wrong?
“I got through the book with a colleague of you and we saw some passages were missing in the English version. Like a sentence, five sentences between the first and the third part that was in the Dutch version.
“So something has been erased during the work that has been done for the book.”
Mr Scobie denied responsibility for the error on Dutch TV, telling 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."
