As I watched Netflix’s Harry & Meghan Volume 1, what I kept thinking was “wow, Finding Freedom got a lot right.” FF was written by Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand, and it was basically the only “royal book” in the past five years which was nice to and about the Duchess of Sussex. FF included a lot about Prince Harry and Meghan’s courtship and engagement, and yes, the book got a lot right. FF was also a huge success in the publishing world, staying on the bestseller lists for weeks/months.
We’ve known for months that Scobie was authoring a solo follow-up to FF. Back in August, he promised that the book would have the world talking and that he had deep sources within Windsor World. On Tuesday, he announced the book cover, book title and publication date. Omid chose violence with this!!! ENDGAME!!!!
ENDGAME: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy’s Fight for Survival TO BE PUBLISHED GLOBALLY ON AUGUST 1, 2023
“On September 8, 2022, the world stood still as news broke of Queen Elizabeth II’s passing. Her death dismantled the protective shield around the world’s most famous family and saw a long-simmering crisis of confidence in the British monarchy begin to resurface. Now, with unique insight, deep access and exclusive revelations, journalist Omid Scobie pulls back the curtain on an institution in turmoil—exposing the chaos, family dysfunction, distrust and draconian practices threatening its very future. This is the monarchy’s endgame. Do they have what it takes to save it?”
The endgame of the monarchy? Are we watching late-stage monarchy right now? I think we are. But let me tell you, the royal reporters are big mad. They feel like Scobie is announcing the end of their profession, like he’s stealing money from their bank accounts. What I wish everyone in the royal rota would realize is this: there’s still a lot of money to be made from covering the monarchy’s death rattle. All y’all have to do is start telling the truth about these people.
PREORDER DETAILS📚
NORTH AMERICA: https://t.co/2IvwunT3Uf
UK: https://t.co/dg5osSY6qu
COMMONWEALTH + TRANSLATIONS: Coming soon!#ENDGAMEBOOK— Omid Scobie (@scobie) December 13, 2022
Photos courtesy of Omid’s Instagram, Cover Images and Avalon Red, book cover courtesy of HarperCollins.
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- Omid Scobie, Royal well wishes mark what would have been the 60th birthday of Princess Diana. Prince William and Prince Harry unveiled a statue by Pip Morrison in honour of their late mother to commemorate the occasion. Kensington Palace, London. UK,Image: 619055995, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Michael Melia / Avalon
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- King Charles III and the Queen Consort at Westminster Hall, London, where both Houses of Parliament are meeting to express their condolences following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.,Image: 721928710, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Stefan Rousseau / Avalon
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- The Queen’s grandchildren, Prince William, Prince of Wales, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Zara Tindall, Peter Philips, Princess Beatrice, Princess Eugenie, Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn, arrive to hold a vigil beside the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II as it lies in state on the catafalque in Westminster Hall, at the Palace of Westminster, London.,Image: 723638878, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Ian Vogler / Avalon
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- Meghan Duchess of Sussex, Princess Charlotte, Prince George, Catherine Princess of Wales, Camilla Queen Consort and Sophie Countess of Wessex The State Funeral of Her Majesty The Queen, Service, Westminster Abbey, London, UK – 19 Sep 2022,Image: 724168474, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Tim Rooke/Shutterstock / Avalon
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- Meghan Duchess of Sussex and Camilla Queen Consort The State Funeral of Her Majesty The Queen, Service, Westminster Abbey, London, UK – 19 Sep 2022,Image: 724168860, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Tim Rooke/Shutterstock / Avalon
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- State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II held at Westminster Abbey in London. Featuring: Coffin of Queen Elizabeth II Where: London, England, United Kingdom When: 19 Sep 2022 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
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- State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II held at Westminster Abbey in London. Featuring: Prince William, Prince of Wales, Princess Anne, Princess Royal, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Prince Andrew Where: London, England, United Kingdom When: 19 Sep 2022 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
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- State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, held at Westminster Abbey, London. Featuring: Prince William, Prince George, Catherine Princess of Wales, and Princess Charlotte Where: London, England, United Kingdom When: 19 Sep 2022 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
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- State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II held at Westminster Abbey in London. Featuring: Coffin of Queen Elizabeth II Where: London, England, United Kingdom When: 19 Sep 2022 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
May the odds be ever in your favor….The title of this book sounds like Chapter IV of the Hunger Games.
Well, I am hooked and will read it. I think we are watching history in the making. And I agree that the Queen’s passing broke the protective shield. And that one pic where they females are at the funeral – they look like Godfather mobster wives.
And I do not think George will become King.
I’m not convinced even Wills will get a shot.
Wills can’t dismantle it without being confronted by the rats. And the rats have nothing to talk about without the royals. In a way H is trying to save W and the children. But he’s in too deep.
Word, ThatsNotOkay.
The royals lack the skills and self awareness to save themselves. The Windsors have driven a nearly 1,000 year reign into the ground.
To be fair, it’s stupid we (as a whole) have allowed the Windsors to be relevant, in the current era.
Omid Scobie has done a fantastic job of being the first to speak the truth, and I hope he just keeps going. At a certain point, as a society, we just have to shrug and say, “yeah, 1,000 years is enough to prop up ONE FAMILY, as better than the rest of us”.
We don’t even need to get into the minutiae of who made who cry, or what it means to be a spare. ONE FAMILY has believed they were chosen by God, to rule over the rest of us, for over a thousand years. Enough. It’s absurd this is still a conversation.
Also? On a completely different note, why does Omid Scobie look like he is 18 years old, and can that be the topic of his next book? He is 7 years younger than me, and my 12 year old looks older than he does. Witchcraft?
Oh the Royal rota is highly offended by the title. But they remain in the delusion that William is going to complete his reign and that George is going to be King. The deference for monarchy is diminishing and the press doesn’t realise that their attacks on Harry and Meghan have helped to decrease that deference.
I quite agree Amy Bee! It’s astonishing how the neither the royals or the British public have realized how much the British tabloids have tarnished the image of the royal family and the image of the British public as a whole, around the world. When the most read news publications of a specific country are known to spread lies, hack phones and are generally known to be untrustworthy, it makes one wonder about the intelligence and critical thinking facilities of that country.
It’s funny bc so many times a royal reporter will start talking about how the whole world stood still and grieved together at the queen’s death. And I’m like, my dude, they were literally singing Lizzie’s in a box. The whole world clearly does not have the same level of deference for the monarchy. Sure, a lot do, but the hyperbolic line that the whole world grieved is delusional. And the deference is definitely diminishing as you say, @amybee.
It is funny when you consider that it was a forced holiday in the UK. The rest of the world went about their business.
It wasn’t a statutory holiday in ontario and many other provinces. It was a holiday for federal workers, but that’s about it. If the death of the symbolic head of state can’t get you a day off work, it can’t be that important can it.
In Quebec, the provincial government voted to make it optional for siting members to have to swear an oath to the King when several members objected. It was a majority vote. This is going to slowly cross all of canada. No politician is going to take the position that elected members of Canadian government must swear an oath to the British king.
They better not write this off as just being Quebec because the majority of Canadians feel no connection to the British monarchy. It started. Well before charles, but it is not going to reverse.
For people becoming new Canadians, I’ve read that they now can negate the line about swearing (fidelity?) Tho the king and his heirs.
@Renae – and the irony is a lot of immigrants coming to Canada are from the very countries that were horribly exploited by the BRF. Good for Canada that they don’t have to swear allegiance to the crown.
Gawd I love it when Omid chooses violence and flames!!
*Snickering* YES. So often liberals/progressives play by the rules, “go high when they go low,” etc. — which may be ‘correct’ but also fails to cause the disruption we sometimes need. It’s also less entertaining… Burn it down, Scobie!!! I’ll pop the corn!
Burn the whole thing down!!
I would guess that there would be even MORE money flowing into the coffers of the tabloids and their reporters if they actually blew the whole damn thing up. Seriously. It’s fairly established fact that bad news and bad headlines sell more papers, right? Get more clicks? They seem to think they won’t have anything to cover without the monarchy.
Which makes one wonder whether the “invisible contract” includes more than just the BRF leaking distraction stories about lower-ranked royal family members, and perhaps includes suitcases of cash in exchange for burying damaging stories about top-tier royals…
I agree with you, and I can’t get over the fact that the British media and “royal reporters” don’t grasp that they can still cover the royals! It’s not like if they aren’t the head of state of wherever they will evaporate into thin air. They will still be really rich, and tragically dumb people. Like many celebrities, which they are, except for the fact that various governments around the world are terrified to get rid of this lazy family, for whatever reason.
This is not an invitation for another conversation about how many constitutions need to be completely overhauled if there isn’t a British monarchy anymore. Seriously, that is spitting in the wind, at this point.
“Tragically dumb” is perfect and hilarious. And apt, not just for the British royals, but for the whole human race, though the latter a story far from funny…
Will be buying
Just put in my pre-order for the e-book! Letssss Gooo!
💯 Kaiser is on point. There’s money to be made in covering the monarchy’s death rattle. Am really excited to read this book.
“Death battle” – LMAO
They can cover the end of the BRF, but they can also just cover…..other stuff. The American media somehow makes due without a royal family to breathlessly report on.
YES Omid!!! Choose violence, LOL. Is this the end of the monarchy? I don’t think so. But I think we’re at a big “adapt or die” moment for the Windsors and it will be interesting to see if they are able to adapt yet again.
I think that the RRs are so rattled and ticked off at the documentary for two reasons that go together – they dont want these people telling their own story, the RRs are the ones who get to do that, and obviously they are rattled that H&M are coming out and saying “the stories the RRs told for years were FALSE so don’t read them.”
They ARE worried about their supposed credibility (especially for some here in the US) and they ARE worried about their paychecks, but like Kaiser said…..covering the monarchy’s death rattle can still get them big money.
this is why i think the truth about William will eventually come out. Someone is going to decide that the money to be made from that is worth more than protecting him.
Adapt. React. Redapt. Apt.
Yeah, the death knell of the monarchy is ringing louder and louder. And it’s a sweet, sweet tune. Hereditary power is insidious and breeds corruption. And those adjacent to power get power drunk as well, trying to uphold oppressive institutions and regimes because they (wrongly) feel they’re protected and part of la famiglia. *Spolier alert: They are not.
Yep — I think the death rattle is nigh. As we’ve seen for years on this blog, the whole lot of them — the family, their staff, the media, the rota, etc., are all SO bad at everything. Every move they make highlights the fact that the monarchy is just a house of cards. One nudge and it’ll come down. It seems we’re at a fever pitch of coverage right now and all it will take is one person to blow the lid off. It’s inevitable. Maybe it’ll be Scobie?
I think the Monarchy will survive – the courtiers will see it before even if the family stick their head in the sand. I agree that the press will turn on William and kHate – esp now as Harry is exposing them and they have been admitting in droves that KP were briefing them on negative stories about Meghan. The will burn them to save face.
The can’t scapegoat Harry any more, same goes for the others in the family – there is only the Cambridges left now to tear down. And it WILL be an epic fall. TBH I have long felt that the courtiers will turn on William at some point – they will protect themselves and their agenda before him.
But without Will what will the courtiers have left to protect? George is very young.
When they see how much money Omid makes from a book criticizing the monarchy and questioning its future, the RR are definitely going to want a taste, and they will want their fair share.
What do KP and CH have to offer them as a deterrent? Not much – only each other.
Endgame indeed!
But, what about the Christmas Carol concert?? The festive smiles? The loving hand on the back? 😝
Yeah, the monarchy is in trouble and the royals know it. Sounds like Scobie didn’t come to play.
I couldn’t be happier about any of this.
One of the problems In Charles’s “streamlining” of the monarchy is that he sits at the top of a system that includes not just the brothers, nieces, nephews, and cousins that he loathes, but the entire titled aristocracy and all those Lord High Mayor this and Gaurdian of the Royal Swans thats.
He really seems to think that only he, William and George matter. And he hates William. But if he burns the rest to the ground, there’s nothing holding him up. That’s a huge part of the Tory base as well.
There will be a grand awakening on Brexit at some point in the future. When that happens, I suspect it will usher in a Republican era. Also, it will be very interesting to see what happens to London when Putin falls. (Dictators always fall. They are mortal.) Will it wipe out the dirty money, or will an even nastier bunch of thugs emerge. Charles isn’t smart enough to play they long game.
ETA Realizing I don’t want to have to wait until August for this.
I will buy and read this in a heartbeat!
I hope he’s right about the monarchy, but I’m not holding my breath. I guess I don’t really understand or feel what’s happening on the ground in Britain right now. On the one hand, Brexit and Racism and a reactionary streak. On the other hand, a new generation rising, people of color (including Scobie) making their voices heard, monarchies modernizing and diminishing across Europe. But that family always seems to hang on for dear life.
Already pre-ordered!
I will absolutely be reading this even though I never read Finding Freedom. This kind of analysis of the monarchy and it’s place in the world – or lack thereof – is something that definitely interests me.
Seconded!
He always chooses violence. 😀
I’m looking fwd to this.
Funny: last week I put his most recent ig in the group chat and asked my friends how old they thought he was. None of them know who he is for any reference. They all thought he was a teenager and were mind blown when I told them he is 41. They were seriously shocked.
funny! fillers always equal 40s to me regardless of a person’s real age
I was also shocked to learn he’s 41, I thought it was just a Doogie Howser situation. The work is evident but he’s still eerily twinky
I’m 46 and people still think I’m in my 20s. And I’m as pale pink as it gets, have never had any kind of cosmetic surgery, and don’t wear makeup. Genetics, drinking a lot of water, eating enough food, no smoking, and drinking alcohol only very rarely. This sounds like some sort of “clean living” lecture, but I’ll undo that by adding: Great sex also helps.
Bully for you.
I really thought he was in his 20s!
The British royal fmaily is ripe for destruction, and their own behavior is hastening their demise. Post WW1, it was kleptomaniac Queen Consort Mary who saw the fall of the Romanovs in Russia and Hohenzollerns in Germany and said, whoa, we have do do this royal thing differently. We have to be seen by the public. We have to visit hospitals and village festivals and factorys and let the public know we exist and that we care about them. She created the model diligently followed by George 6 and Elizabeth, and that took the royals through the 20th century.
But her longevity, paradoxically, created a bigger problem: two petty heirs who have spent, or will spend, most of their lives waiting for the big job, both nurturing huge entitlement issues in the meantime. And there’s no Queen Mary to say, “hey folks, we need to course-correct or we’ll lose our position.” Both Chuck Turd and Wails are only thinking about what they DESERVE: how the monarchy serves them instead of how they serve the monarchy. It’s a personal fiefdom for them to exercise petty grievances. William in particular has shown no interest adapting the monarchy to 21st century realities. The only people who could have led that process are the Sussexes.
Harry and Meghan could have helped buy the royals another century. Their absense will likely hasten the royals diminishment, if not their fall. The royals have lost their best ambassadors, which blows the whole idea that “It’s the Crown that matters” out of the water. If the Crown was the idea the royals served, then the royals would all be working toward the benefit of the Crown. But as we see, the idea of the Crown has been diminished to the whims of 2 individuals. There’s no Crown being served. It’s just Charles and his feckless, incompetent son.
@lanne, I agree with your astute analysis. And I think the H & M Netflix series is bringing light to how utterly ridiculous the monarchy is in today’s world.
British/European History was my minor in college, and I still spend free time reading history, particularly of the Plantagenet period. Back then, the idea of monarchy didn’t seem so ridiculous, but the Brits were often ready to slap their monarchs down a couple of pegs (heh) when they got too absolutist (see King John and the Magna Carta, Richard II and the Peasants Revolt, the uprisings in Kent during the first reign of Henry VI, among many examples).
Harry & Meghan could have bought them more time, but I think the Windsors saw that in a more twisted way than what outsiders recognized. They didn’t want to modernize, become more diverse or have difficult conversations about colonialism. After the turmoil of the early 1990s, the royal family capitalized on on Diana’s tragic death. I have this creepy feeling that when they were abusing a pregnant Meghan, when they knew she had become suicidal, they saw another opportunity to gain sympathy if she died. Harry knows better than anyone that they’d have been happy to make him walk behind another coffin to shield the family for a bit longer.
I think you can make a case for Charles having been a very productive POW. Yes, there were shenanigans behind the scenes (e.g., re: finances) but he objectively did quite a lot; the Prince’s Trust is the most notable but he has had a variety of projects (the development of Dumfries House is very interesting). Thing is, once media/public interest shifted to the “young royals” and their family, whatever Charles was doing shifted to the background. I believe some of his extreme pettiness at this point is also resentment that what he was doing wasn’t appreciated as he thought it should have been. And because the Cambridge/Wales were all the media was focusing on, I believe – at least for thinking people paying attention – they became the symbol for the “work” done by the RF. The absolute laziness and lack of skills and accomplishments of the Cambridges/Wales have cast a shadow over anything of value done by other working members. Will (and Kate) brought all of them down, when in fact, they’ve been the exception rather than the rule
I’ve always thought Harry is the true successor to both his father and his mother, and I think he’ll likely talk about the pros, and cons of what he learned about work from Charles in his book. Imagine where the monarchy might be if Will was the one who followed in his mother’s/father’s footsteps. Part of Harry’s charisma is because he’s interested in, and cares deeply, about many issues. Part of Will’s lack of charisma, is because he doesn’t appear to give a sh*t about anything. (For that matter, where would things be, if Charles was smart enough to have realized what Diana had to offer, and tried to make that work, instead of tying himself to the dull and unsympathetic Camilla, and foisting his mistress on the country as QC.)
There’s no way to course correct at this point. Harry is gone, Will is useless, and Charles is still fumbling the ball. The die is cast. Really looking forward to what Omid has to say.
I really like this line – “Part of Harry’s charisma is because he’s interested in, and cares deeply, about many issues. Part of Will’s lack of charisma, is because he doesn’t appear to give a sh*t about anything.”
Harry is just plain charismatic and warm and appealing on different levels, but you are absolutely right that part of the charisma is that he cares about the issues with which he gets involved. He cares about sick children, he cares about grieving children who have lost parents, he cares about people who don’t have enough to eat, he cares about veterans and the military, etc.
William doesn’t seem to care about anything besides football/soccer and even then its as a fan, not as someone who wants to do anything with it (like support youth soccer programs or something.)
Remember on the Dax podcast, how Dax said at the end that he wasn’t a royal fan at all, but after the interview he was a big Harry fan. That’s Harry’s appeal and its something william completely lacks.
You’re right that the die is cast at this point. Now we just have to see how this all plays out.
The whole thing seems to have fallen apart when William was allowed to get away with not taking on his father’s work in the Prince’s Trust. And the press let him get away with it! This slow moving car wreck that probably means the end of the monarchy happened while the people who cover the royals just kept up the cycle of sycophantry and meaningless scandals that keeps the drama going while changing nothing.
There are two fascinating episodes of the Tides of History podcast on The War of the Roses. They talk about that there is just a base level of competence that a king has to have or else the whole thing doesn’t work. Makes for an interesting insight into what is happening now.
@Concern Fae – that’s one thing for which I don’t fault either William or Harry – not wanting to take over the Prince’s Trust. Charles did a lot of work around education and training; there’s quite a few programs he set up in addition to the Trust. Neither of his two sons had any interest in this, or other areas of Charles’s focus as POW – architecture/urban planning, horticulture/organic farming, etc., and I think that’s okay, and normal.
There’s other things, though, Charles should have insisted Will be part of. If his own interest was the air ambulance service, require him to put in the same hours and meet the same standards as everyone else, bear the consequences if he didn’t, and also consequences for the shenanigan he pulled with the helicopter, instead of letting all of it slide and be covered up. Will should definitely have been significantly involved with the workings of the duchy. That was his future, where his money would come from. Required to finish the training program set up for him. Heck, required to learn some Welsh. Standards for his work life should have been set up long ago, and enforced. Instead, they let him get away with doing nothing, covered for him, and here we are today.
Not so sure about the end of the monarchy, but I can really see the succession taking a swerve where William is concerned. I don’t think he is as completely bought into his future as they want him to be. He is a wild card and impulsive and I can see him bolting. Also, question: Has he been seen in public since the Earthshot flop and the trailer drop?
I think he did some investitures at Windsor Castle at some point over the last two weeks.
He was at the diplomatic reception, but that was before the “lied to protect my brother” trailer. He’s had a bad week–302 viewers for Earthflop trauma, Netflix trauma, World Cup loss trauma, then one of his friends and his son were killed in a plane crash. I just wonder if he’s managed to show his face in the past few days.
according to their social media, 5 days ago he had video calls with the winners of Earthflop, but that’s it. and that was obviously not in public. So he’s definitely laying low.
(to be fair, he would probably lay low anyway, he did the video calls, and the investiture, and the diplomatic reception, that’s like a month’s worth of work right there.)
🔥
I think I might love him.
I have been saying this since they chased Meghan and Harry away. They are at the end.
Most people don’t understand why they are paying for a RF that does F all most of the time and then wants people to salute their asses like they did something. Harry was trying to get them to modernize and they hated it.
I still say William will be the last King of England.
The only life-saver for the monarchy as it stands is attempting to woo the Sussexes back into part-time royal work, something I highly doubt they would be interested in. Charles knows #1 son is a useless, tempermental waste of space as is his spendthrift stick of a wife. They can’t seem to handle the simplest of tasks and their comms team is like the keystone cops. Unless and until the Wails find their footing, the monarchy will continue to reveal themselves as a Tory-friendly, bloated, anachronistic spending machine while the tax-payers continue to fund their lavish lifestyles. And for what? What does the tax-payer actually get in return? A crumbling economy, a recession, and Brexit.
Nothing says modernity like the photo above of two old white people sitting on gilded thrones, in front of a row of soldiers wearing ridiculous hats and wielding bayonets.
The only way I see the monarchy surviving, and even then in restricted form, is if Will and George both abdicate. Queens are exponentially more popular than kings. I doubt that will happen though, so long live the republic!
They obviously despise each other. Why should we like them?
I’m very much looking forward to reading Mr. Scobie’s book.
I’m new to royal watching, Mr. Scobie is the only sane ‘royal expert’ I have come across so far.
The rest of them are off the chain weirdos, IMO.