New book pulled from Dutch shelves after publishing error reveals 'racist royal'

By Victoria Ward and Joan Clements

The Dutch version of a new book has been pulled from the shelves after naming the senior royal at the heart of a racism scandal involving the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

Endgame by Omid Scobie, 42, describes how the Duchess sent a letter to her father-in-law, then Prince Charles, in which she expressed her concerns about unconscious bias in the royal family.

As first revealed by the Telegraph, the letter was sent in the wake of the Sussexes' March 2021 Oprah Winfrey interview, in which Meghan alleged that a member of the Royal family had speculated about the colour of her unborn son's skin.

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In the UK version of his book, Scobie reveals that the Duchess complained about two people who had upset her by making comments about Prince Archie's skin tone but stops short of naming them, citing "laws in the UK".

However, the Dutch translation includes a critical detail that does not feature in any other edition.

"In those private letters an identity was revealed and confirmed," it says, before naming one of the alleged culprits.

The person responsible meant "no ill will or bias", according to Scobie in the Dutch translation.

The book quotes a royal insider who claims that person wanted to clarify that point, which was considered "very important."

Endgame, called Eindstrijd in the Netherlands, was published on Tuesday.

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Fabian Paagman, 47, whose Paagman bookstore has five outlets across the Netherlands, told the Telegraph: "We had just put the book on the shelves when we were contacted by the publisher, Xander, and told to remove it immediately. We were not given a reason why."

The letter sent by the Duchess was sent in reply to one from the King, it is understood.

He is believed to be the only senior member of the family to have made contact with her following the Oprah interview.

The King is understood to have expressed sadness over the chasm that had emerged between the two sides of the Royal family and expressed disappointment that the Duke and Duchess felt the need to make such high-profile and damaging allegations.

In the interview, the Duchess told Winfrey that there had been "concerns and conversations about how dark his [Archie's] skin might be when he's born".

The Duke has since insisted that they had never accused the Royal family of racism.

In an ITV interview broadcast in January, anchor Tom Bradby said "in the Oprah interview you accused members of your family of racism".

Harry responded: "No I didn't", adding "the British press said that".

Asked if he would not consider that "essentially racist", he replied: "I wouldn't, not having lived within that family."

The comment was considered a potential olive branch from Harry to his family and an apparent about-turn after Buckingham Palace was engulfed in a race crisis in the wake of his claims.

The issue was not addressed in the Sussexes' Netflix documentary series, released last December, or in the Duke's memoir, Spare, amid claims that he agreed not to raise it publicly again.

The Sussexes' disclosure about the alleged incident caused shockwaves around the world and proved incredibly damaging to the monarchy, prompting the late Queen to issue her now infamous line that "recollections may vary."

The damaging allegation prompted an angry Prince William to publicly state: "We are not a racist family."

Harry told Good Morning America on US network ABC: "It's not racism, but unconscious bias if not confronted, if not acknowledged, if not learned and grown from, that can then move into racism."

"And the way that I understand it is that we all want to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem."

Dutch publisher Xander Uitgevers said in a statement: "Xander Uitgevers is temporarily withdrawing the book Eindstrijd by Omid Scobie from sale.

"An error occurred in the Dutch translation and is currently being rectified."

Speaking to Dutch chat show RTL Boulevard on Tuesday, Scobie insisted he was not to blame for the error.

"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," he said.

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"I wrote and edited the English version. There's never been no version that I've produced that has names in it."

Buckingham Palace declined to comment.

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