Royal author reacts as book is pulled from shelves in The Netherlands

Omid Scobie's new royal book has been pulled from the shelves in The Netherlands after the Dutch version reportedly named the royal said to have raised questions about the skin colour of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s son Archie before he was born.

Xander Uitgevers, which has published the Dutch translated version of the book Endgame, said on Tuesday that it was "temporarily withdrawing” it from bookshops in the country.

It added in a statement on its website: “An error occurred in the Dutch translation and is currently being rectified."

Mr Scobie told Dutch TV: “The book is available in a number of languages and unfortunately I can’t speak Dutch so I haven’t seen the copy for myself, but if there have been any translation errors I am sure the publisher has got it under control. For me, I edited and wrote the English version, there has never been a version that I’ve produced that has names in it.”

In the original version of Endgame, which was released on 28 November, Mr Scobie claims King Charles and the Duchess of Sussex exchanged letters in the wake of her interview with Oprah Winfrey.

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The alleged letters are said to reveal the identity of two people Meghan claimed, in the March 2021 TV interview, aired "concerns" about the colour of her then-unborn son's skin.

Prince Harry and Meghan both refrained from sharing the name of one family member during their interview with Oprah.

However, Mr Scobie has claimed in his latest book that these two identities were revealed in the private letters between Charles and Meghan.

The author does not name the royal family members in the original version of Endgame, stating: "Laws in the United Kingdom prevent me from reporting who they were."

HELLO! has reached out to the palace and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's representatives for comment.

In the explosive interview with Oprah, Meghan said that when she was pregnant with Archie, an unnamed member of the royal family raised “concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born”.

Pushed by Oprah on who had those conversations, Meghan refused to say, adding: “I think that would be very damaging to them.”

Harry refused to give further details, adding: “That conversation, I am never going to share. At the time it was awkward, I was a bit shocked.”

Since the Oprah interview, Harry has denied that the couple accused members of the royal family of being racist.

In an exchange during an interview with Tom Bradby on ITV in January to promote his memoir, Spare, the presenter said “in the Oprah interview you accused members of your family of racism”, Harry responded by saying “no I didn’t”, adding “the British press said that”.

After Bradby said the duchess claimed troubling comments were made about Archie’s skin colour, Harry said: “There was – there was concern about his skin colour.”

Asked if he would describe that as racist, the Duke said: “I wouldn’t, not having lived within that family.”

He continued: “The difference between racism and unconscious bias, the two things are different.”

“But once it’s been acknowledged, or pointed out to you as an individual, or as an institution, that you have unconscious bias, you therefore have an opportunity to learn and grow from that in order so that you are part of the solution rather than part of the problem.”

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