In many ways, the “naming of the racist royals” controversy was a convenient feint for the British media. While they claimed to be disgusted by Omid Scobie and Endgame, they certainly gave a lot of airtime to saying “racism” and blaming the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for all of it. All of that happened so that no one in the British media would have to do a deeper dive into what Endgame really contained: comprehensive, well-researched stories about Prince William, Christian Jones, Dan Wootton and how the Sussexes were screwed over repeatedly in service of William’s ego and reputation. Well, to hear the British media tell it, Omid knew exactly what he was doing when the Dutch edition of the book published King Charles and Kate’s names as the racists cited in Meghan’s letter to Charles. Omid said repeated that he had no idea how the names got in there, despite the fact that at some point, an early draft likely contained the names. Well, now Scobie is doing some clean-up – here’s the relevant section from his new essay in i news, “Omid Scobie: Endgame backlash shows how unwilling we are to confront race issues.”
But the one story which dominated headlines during its release week ended up being about a piece of information not even in the book — the names of any Royal Family members who allegedly had “concerns” about the darkness of the Sussexes’ first child’s skin. While the finished manuscript reveals fresh details about the written correspondence between King Charles and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex regarding potential unconscious bias in the family, the identities of those who took part in these conversations were to remain a mystery.
I was in the middle of TV interviews in New York on 28 November when a single name surfaced on social media, after it was published in the Dutch edition. My stomach flipped. The 403 pages that I had carefully written, edited, and signed off to the printers made it very clear that any names would not be revealed due to legal reasons.
Still confused about what had happened, and unable to keep an eye on the unfolding story during my back-to-back press appearances, I was at the very least relieved to see the Netherlands publisher swiftly announce that copies containing what they described as a “translation error” would be removed from stores. As a second name started circulating, questions were coming in thick and fast; I had many too, but details at this point were still being pieced together and I don’t have the full story.
To be clear, the only publisher I worked directly with was the one covering the US and UK. I spent almost two months with independent British barristers and in-house legal counsel to ensure that every detail in the finished book was legally watertight. Unbeknownst to me at the time, early and uncleared text was provided to the Dutch publisher in order for them to start work on the translation, with the understanding that their translation would be updated to reflect the final version of the book I officially submitted.
Other foreign-language publishers, including in France and Italy, were also doing the same thing, though their versions perfectly replicated the completed work. What I can be sure of is that I edited carefully, took independent legal advice, and the finished book that I submitted was not the version published in the Netherlands.
By the time I wrapped up media efforts in the US, coverage in Britain had reached new levels of hysteria. When I landed in London, reporters were already banging on the doors of my parents’ homes, my car was being followed, violent threats were piling up, and some of the papers were baying for blood. False reports suggested that this was all part of some elaborate PR campaign (an offensive and ridiculous claim, especially given that the book had already been on the front pages for several days before this news had broken).
And here lies the problem. Time and time again I encounter this aggressive resistance to allowing proper discourse about the current state and role of the British monarchy to take place. It’s not as if much of the public don’t want it. The day after Endgame hit shelves, support for the monarchy had fallen to just 52 per cent. Have we really reached the point where any criticism of this publicly funded establishment is considered an “attack”? Shouldn’t we live in a world where we can scrutinise the royals like we do our politicians? Is freedom of speech only reserved for those who cleave to an approved narrative?
I feel sorry for him and I believe that none of this was a stunt or in any way intentional. I think it was as he describes, all the translators began work on very early drafts, drafts which had not gone through full legal, and while the other translations were changed to reflect the drafts which had cleared legal, the Dutch translation did not. When Omid swore that he had never signed off on a book with the names in it, he wasn’t referring to the drafts he turned in of the book. Besides, I fundamentally believe that the names should be out there, and I don’t understand why anyone would be in a legal bind about it, especially given the fact that the names were already well-known by reporters and editors for years. So much of the pearl-clutching in recent weeks has been over-the-top performative.
Photos courtesy of BBC screencap and Scobie’s IG.
The press wanted the names out there, but they either wanted Harry and Meghan to do it so that they could castigate them while also being shady to the royals and blaming Harry and Meghan for it. Or someone linked to Harry and Meghan, preferably a minority so they can indulge in their time honored tradition of writing why the person pointing out the racism is bad not the actual racism itself. Unfortunately this issue gave them what they wanted.
Version control will get you in trouble every time. Been in PR and newspapers my whole career. It is beyond mortifying to find a previous version of anything out in the public. I do not envy Omid at all!
This seems to pretty much confirm that the names released are correct.
I’m still surprised William and Camilla weren’t mentioned but Charles and Kate tracks.
Charles name does Not make sense. Why would Meghan write a letter to Charles, about Charles, telling on Charles? Meghan was writing about other people.
Who said the letter was “telling on” the people. Even if it wasn’t KC, he likely already knew who it was since the rota admits that they knew. It was more likely discussing why it was offensive and how Meghan felt about it. That would also explain Charles wanting her to talk to Kate also.
It’s been said that the first letter was FROM Charles, so he probably referred to the comments himself in that letter and then Meghan responded.
This is my take away also. Disappointed in I thought it would be William.
William bullied harry about his plans to marry Meghan and called Meghan names. William was in effect named by harry by his intoletance and in that early edition of the lacey book
This doesn’t mean William is not racist.
When the palace never denied the names, I figured they were correct. Many in the press have stated the names and contents of the letters were widely known. If the names were wrong, the palaces and Rota would have been publishing denials left and right because they are desperate to discredit Omid.
We never heard a denial from the palace about those names, so I assumed they were correct.
Not too sure Becks, Piers Morgan agreed that the these names where known in Fleet Street but he was surprised by one of the names mentioned, that he heard it was someone else ?
@Kit
That’s because the correct answer is: it’s all of them.
When the Sussexes didn’t deny it, I figured the names were correct. They jumped very quickly to assure the public that it wasn’t the Queen or PP, like the day after the Oprah interview.
@Equality: Yes, it does! It also confirms that it wasn’t some nefarious conspiracy fomented by the Sussexes to bring down the monarchy. Had they wanted the names made public, they would have just named them to Oprah.
I’m confused though- wasn’t Meghan saying in the Oprah interview so much adjacent to this issue that, “Kate was a good person”, etc- or was that about the dress/tights situation? Maybe I’m misremembering the conversation between M & O. I mean, color me unsurprised, yes, but I’m still needing clarification.
If I remember correctly, the “Kate is a good person” was in the context of Kate making Megan cry and then apologizing.
Meghan was doing CYA. She couldn’t say “Kate is a racist” because the story was already out there that she had made Kate cry tender white tears. If she had said “Kate is a racist”, Kate would cry harder and Meghan would still be the bad guy for making her cry. So she said “Kate is a good person” instead.
IF Kate was a smart person, Kate (and her mother) would’ve laid off of attacking Meghan after the bridesmaid incident. But Kate (and her mother) are STUPID and kept attacking Meghan so Meghan dropped that nugget of information about people at the palace skin checking Archie. One thing about stupid people is they can play smart but their stupidity will eventually reveal itself. Kate sneered at Meghan in public at the Commonwealth ceremony, charged aggressively towards her at the Queen’s deat walkabout, seemed snippy at her at the funeral and was rolling her eyes in disgust at her at the Jubilee.
Kate did this to herself but she (and her mother) thought they could bully Meghan and get away with it and now she’s been exposed and William will not be helping her…unless it’s to help her move to her divorce cottage.
Omid Scobie is so right!
Quick question for everyone who has already read Endgame. I’m now at almost 55% and so far I don’t think the book is as revealing as I thought. Are the most exciting things yet to come? I was particularly disappointed with the part about Peg.
Still a very, very important book and I’m glad that I support Scobie and real journalism with it!!
He also sugar coats Camilla and Kate. But he still gets in some digs at them. Like Camilla cooperating with penny on the Diana bashing books. And Kate not denying the crying story and letting a lie about Meghan stay in the media. William does come across as a sneak. There are other parts of the book that talk about the image of the monarchy from earlier times to present
He seems like he’s soft on William but then reveals a lot of Williams shady reactions and how he’s undermined the Sussexes. There were times after reading parts where I literally said out loud F U William, because of what he and his staff did with their leaks.
I have finished the book (tho I mostly just skimmed the later chapters about the men in gray, cuz boring).
It’s mostly just a summary of gossip that’s already been out years. Which, imo, makes the false outrage all the more hilarious. Like Brits are offended at Charles being named a racist yet there’s a whole passage about various RF members using slurs.
Ex: “Prince Charles thought nothing of nicknaming a South Asian friend “Sooty” because he thought his dark skin supposedly looked like soot.” And yet we’re supposed to be surprised at the idea that Chuck would openly discuss “what color their unborn son Archie’s skin might be and “what that would mean or look like [for the Firm].””
It’s old news but fresh ammo to attack H&M and that’s all that really matters. Having a scapegoat for salty island to rally against.
In Scobie’s book a dozen years of Royal actions and inactions are set out, in context–a terrific accomplishment. But its the details, and Scobie’s pointed but accurate commentary, that make the book both valuable and a terrific read.
At the end of the book, two things are clear: there is toxic collusion between the royals and the press, and the modern royal family is, so far, incapable of doing anything right.
As Kaiser said on Twitter, the royal family takes a mauling.
I recommend the Audible version as Scobie’s narration is superb.
And @whatever, too bad you skipped the parts about the men in gray, as those are some of the most valuable.
I thought the chapter on the courtiers was very good as well.
I recommend the audiobook as well. Some of the content may seem dull in text, but Omid covered it in an interesting way when you hear it read aloud. The courtier chapter in particular I think benefited from being read aloud.
The fact of “toxic collusion between the royals and the press,” i.e. BRFCo & Assoc, has been obvious to ppl like me who never paid attention to them before Meghan married in. No book needed.
As for “modern royal family is, so far, incapable of doing anything right” goes, that’s obvious to anybody who’s undertaken the thought experiment of coming up with a job description and salary range for them. What professional diplomat would be caught dead calling someone “Sooty” because of their skin color? Britpublic knew about “Sooty” in 2009, i.e. before Endgame.
I have no ill will for Omid Scobie. However, I do think he’s been too precious by half proclaiming his ‘royal racist’ translation innocence, while misleading people at the same time. Per inews, Caolan Magee, 11/30/22: “Mr Scobie claims he “never submitted a book that had those names in it…” I’ve heard that same statement from Scobie on other sources as well.
@ArtHistorian, 65% through. I might quibble about some dates that are wrong, long story has a great more of truth than other “royal expert” stories. Omid has provided a lot of historical information and other things sewn in. LOL @ finding the ‘men in grey’ chapter/s boring’. Loved that stuff. The ‘men in grey’ and let’s pretend this didn’t happen(RR’s) while those with eyes could see what was happening. That Omid was asked to NOT report on H&M/M’s aides crying/shedding tears on their departure(March 2020).smh
There is a lot of historical information in Endgame. Loved the history/QE2’s stuff about the piper. Okay, one of the most funny/odd stories (not against Omid), was when Chuckles had to go to the hospital after an injury and Michael Fawcett held the urine sample cup. Dayum. what a pissy job. I cackled. The imagery alone. fyi, I would rather have a medical professional collect my urine sample than an employee. I’m still laughing. It must be because I’m an American, something, something.
The book isn’t necessarily a “reveal-all” salacious exposé of royal missteps, but more a deep look into how the palaces have individual relationships with the tabloids and rota and are often at cross-purposes. It also details the levels of cooperation between the courtiers, palace spokespeople and the press, ultimately headed by the rota who seem to control access to the royals very tightly. Rebecca English is the iron fist of the rota and has been for a long time, and Scobie shows the highly restrictive levels of access that she demands. What I got from it was it’s a crumbling situation as the rota ages out of its relevance and reveals the absurdity and uselessness of the BRF and its history with using the media for putting on nothing more than a pantomime of a “see we’re just like you” family.
Well said.
Ok so now we know what happened but it doesn’t change the fact that the Windsor’s are a very racist family. It never mattered the specific who because they are all racist. It will never change with them they will always play victim and never confront that they are a problem.
Yes the all are racist Windsors however England cannot have racist heirs too damaging for them and their family , William.will be Head of the Church of England and Commonwealth they where never goin to name Will and Keen as the two racists, can you image they would never live it down, did Charles take the rap.for William, l personally think he did , for all Charles faults l dont think he was the person named ? Maybe Piers Morgan was right, the person named wasnt what he had heard ?.
The royal family thinks they did nothing wrong particularly the four senior royal family members. They will never learn
The RF “listens and learns” about EVERYTHING, including the most basic of social concepts. That is the whole model. But on the issue of race, on equity, on what it means to a person of color in the UK, they just inherently get it?! They’ve got no notes, no questions?! “We’re not disgusted when they stand near us, or where there is a clear power and class delineation, it’s just when they try to marry in and mess with the bloodline that we get skeeved out” is not the flex they think it is.
Except they don’t really listen and learn. They just use that phrase so they never have to do any work because they’re always in the listen and learn phase of things. They don’t care about anyone or anything except preserving their status and wealth and protecting a very few people at the top of the pyramid.
You’re 100 percent right. Listen and Learn absolves them of doing anything beyond performing, for sure. Except for this particular societal issue, they can’t even muster up the performance!
The really sad part is we are seeing the MOST Cannot and WIllnot are ever going to do. This is them in their “we have to prove we work as hard as Harry and Meghan” phase. There would be no Arly Years or Earthshot (not that they are anything to brag about) if Harry and Meghan hadn’t been so effective, right out of the gate.
At a certain point, they are going to decide it’s pointless to try and compete, and then the true malaise will set in.
I am so tired of him.
5 mins ago he was swearing that names had never been included in any version of the book… semantics, it was a draft, but it looks bad.
This whole mess has created a massive backlash and questions his credibility.
What a wasted opportunity.
The royal
Machine has never given him any credibility so not sure why you are sick of him for another person’s mistake
Because he’s been all over the news contradicting himself, it’s given ammunitions to people saying he’s presenting a biased view of the RF.
He’s always said the same thing, that there were no names in any version that he signed off on. Some people on here last week said that his agency would have been the ones to handle the contract with the foreign translations. So they either deliberately screwed him over by sending the unapproved copy to the Dutch translator or someone’s head at that agency should roll for not confirming that was the right version. Like Omid said, other foreign translations had the approved version.
Scobie said he never produced a version with the names. That was an obvious lie since the Dutch translation was clearly of an earlier version.
Omid never said this. From the outset he said he never signed off on a version with the names. And that he never submitted a version with the names.
So Omid hasn’t lied about this. And people accusing him of this are dancing close to a defamation claim themselves.
I don’t see how it’s a credibility issue for him. The real issue is the racism and bigotry expressed by these royals and their lack of concern or acknowledgement to their actions. No one is denying the names or that they said something racist which apparently was a journalistic open secret, but we’re supposed to think less of Omid in this situation??? This is the reaction they want you to have, the person exposing racism is the villain.
Well said. Piers being the one to put out both names gets overlooked in the whole thing also.
I agree it is a credibility issue for him. Once you backtrack it leaves a opening for people to say you are being biased and dishonest. He should have said what happened as soon as he found out not try to wiggle out of what happened by changing the story. He knew as soon as this book was coming out that they would be gunning for him. Every T crossed and every I dotted. He left room for people to call him a liar. Sure the issue is bigotry and racism regarding the Royal family however all of that is being sidelined by him not being upfront in the beginning. Blaming it on the translators won’t due. The buck stooped with him and he dropped the ball. If he originally put the names in the manuscript but couldn’t use them because of legal reasons he should have destroyed all copies before print.
So Omid is supposed to accomplish what no flesh-and-blood human has ever accomplished and be perfect because other people are stumping for the racists? He was also supposed to foresee that others would try to get him by sending a true version that wasn’t the final approved version to another country? YOU are allowing yourself to be sidelined by the noise and not the truth. How was he supposed to destroy anything that was in someone else’s hands for editing?
He always said he never signed off on a version with the names. Using the term signed off is pretty explicit in saying other versions had names, it just wasn’t the approved version.
I am not tired of Omid Scobie, yet, but I am deeply disappointed by him and a bit angry at him. He lied. Preciously proclaiming that he never had a version (his words) nor book (semantics) with those names while he did write a draft containing them? And now he’s still sort of lying, because no one from the Dutch side said that there was saying that the mistake was due to translating. Due to how OS has defended himself, the Dutch translators and publishing industry have taken a massive hit and the specific translators have been relentlessly pursued by the BM. He could have said this much earlier.
Next, it is 100% normal to give foreign publishers earlier versions. I do not believe that he is being truthful here when he says that he was completely unaware of this.
Omid is much less biased about H&M, but he got this situation entirely wrong and tried to save himself at the cost of several people who earn their money translating and publishing English language books into Dutch. I agree with Angie that that is a problem for him.
Except Lurker25 has said repeatedly that it is NOT 100% normal to give foreign publishers early drafts; so even if it happened here, it makes sense that Omid might not have realized that.
And if they were working off an earlier draft, that someone at both ends should have made sure they had the final draft – other countries had the exact final version, so something broke down at some point along the way here – either from the team that sent the draft never following up with the final version, or the Dutch publisher not making sure the final version was the final translated version.
Becks1, After Eindstrijd (ie, Endgame) was pulled and Omid blamed the translators/ publisher, people all over Dutch publishing came out of the woodwork here and said that it’s normal if both the original language and Dutch version come out at the same time, then the Dutch publishing houses usually do get an earlier draft to work with. This appears to be the norm here.
I suspect, given that it seems like this also is the case in other countries that Omid might have known that this is how it works. On Dutch TV he had denied ever having written those names. He’s now backtracking on that. In the English press, he’s been quoted as saying that no book he wrote (which I find semantics) had those names. If this is the norm (now?), I find it difficult to believe that Omid had no idea how this worked, especially since Finding Freedom was published the same way.
Clearly there was a HUGE mistake. The Dutch publisher, unusually, has pulled the original copies and reprinted them, but has never taken responsibility for making this mistake. I suspect that they might actually not be at fault, but they are catching almost all of the blame and it’s having an effect on people’s jobs.
Last word on this. He made a huge error by not being truthful in the beginning. Even though his book is a NYT bestseller these errors have put a huge dent in how people view this book. When this book came out it was all over the daytime TV shows in the US now not a peep from him or this book. Typically a book like this would have the writer on all the talk shows in the US but now everything has died down in the US. Maybe people are hesitant to have him on now after this names in the book kerfuffle. Oh well, if you want the accurate hard hitting news minus the gossip I would suggest the Bylines news newspaper. It has basically told what really happened between Harry and Meghan and the “we are not racist royal family.”
ML – Very much agree with your take on the whole story and Omid Scobie. Wonder if he’s apologized to the female translator who was tracked down and hassled by britmedia. He did say “no submission” he ever made contained the names. So harassment of his parents at their home is on him, since at least one submission did name names and he knows how britmedia behaves. He’s basically undercut his own purpose, if his goal was to advance britpublic’s awareness of racism and uncritical acceptance of their regressive holier-than-thou institution.
I’m confused at this. Bc omid was not the first person to say it was a mistranslation issue. That was being said by others in the media on the day of the book’s release and members of the rota were at first reporting that it was a mistranslation. Omid said in the James O’Brien interview that he literally learned about the names being revealed through the media while he was doing press junkets for the book, and the media was calling it a mistranslation on that day. He was not the first one to say that. So why should omid apologize? Should not the other media members who at first called it a mistranslation not apologize?
ML, it appears pretty strait forward at this point that the Dutch publisher screwed the pooch. If the other countries which were translating to another language from English were able to start with a draft and finish with the final copy, why couldn’t the Dutch version? That’s the question that should be asked. That you want to make this about Omid Scobie is disingenuous at best. The buck stops at the Dutch publisher’s feet. They should have looked at the final TRANSLATED version to make sure it matched the final SIGNED OFF book that would go to print. Let’s not assign responsibility to someone who has no control over that at all.
I feel really sorry for the Dutch publisher. It sounds like they didn’t check the final translation to make certain it was correct before they sent it to print. I think it was probably a mistake. People are not perfect.
@HandforthParish, there is a saying, “A draft is not a book, a sketch is not a painting, a blueprint is not a building.”. What you’re obfuscating is the difference between semantics and terminology. Semantics deals with language as a system. Terminology deals with communication in a system. The signed off, approved draft by the author is the final draft? (Lurker25 knows more and I appreciate the corrections) Let’s throw nomenclature in there for fun. I’m pretty confident saying that Omid’s Endgame(which I was initially side eyeing, went through more legal alleys than Tom Bowel’s & Scamantha’s self published books).
All we know is that the final draft that Omid signed off on did not contain names of the royal racists. They were not named in all the other published versions. To my knowledge, Omid has never said that any of his drafts did not include names (though I personally believe William’s name was changed out). Could be wrong? Listened to his interviews and didn’t hear him saying none of his drafts contained names. A draft and book are not interchangeable in my opinion. Unless, signed off on. All we know, at this time, is the US, UK and other versions outside of the Dutch version, did not name names. So, what the eff happened? The UnFab Four are all racist.imo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g5Hz17C4is
My feelings from all of this. Omid is not the one sending things to Dutch publishers. We have potentially unscrupulous people from his talent agency making major mistakes or someone from HC/Dutch publisher being an epic fail.
This is what I’m hearing from the lot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g5Hz17C4is
I’ll say it straight out. Lots of people can be bought. I will forever respect Simon Rex for refusing to be bought for for $70k plus to lie about having whatever with Meghan. He would not lie for $$$$$$$. I cannot say the same for others.
There was an attempt to pass the blame on the translators by not clarifying the situation. I felt awful for the translators who were hunted down thanks to Omid not being candid that the names were included in the draft and they were suppose to be omitted. Thanks to him people’s job credibility got put at stake and they were put on the spot. I was going to read the book but I will pass.
Others in the media were calling it a translation issue a day before omid ever did. He said the book he signed off on didn’t contain names. Someone made a mistake and he is not responsible for other peoples’ job credibility if he didn’t make that mistake. Please.
The Royal Family is not going to sue so Omid doesn’t have to worry about that. As I’ve been saying, it doesn’t matter who the racists are, the fact is the whole family is racist. Racism is learned and I have no doubt that Harry learned his racism from his family. There’s no way he is an isolated case. The Royal Family had ample opportunities to repudiate racism and to acknowledge their failings as an institution when it comes to race relations and to also commit to do better but they refuse to do so.
I’m clutching my pearls that text that wasn’t legally vetted was sent international publishers. Shocked really. It’s not standard practice for a book like this.
Furthermore, did the Dutch editors never get the final copy? Because if they DID, that means they didn’t cross check it with the translators finished manuscript, the typesetters final version, or the printers test/galley copy. It means that no one in the Dutch publishing house bothered to read through ANY of these for this to slip through.
I was out here swearibg that this couldn’t be a mistake. He also said the names weren’t in any drafts right? Anyway why is he out there speaking to this when it should be the publisher or its PR? What a mess
I believe, admittedly with no evidence, the Dutch editor made a call to leave the names there. I don’t know with what purpose, but that’s the only part where there was a “mistake”, which would create the most headlines. Like Omid said, he can’t speak Dutch, so that was not on him. The other person besides the author who decides what stays and what is excluded from the final product is the editor.
I don’t think he ever said no version had names. He said no version he signed off on had no names.
Plus he was responding to this while doing book promotion so he wouldn’t have known what the Dutch publishers did.
The publishers screwed up here, and whoever sent the early unapproved version.
I mean, maybe this wasn’t a mistake. You said “no one in the dutch publishing house bothered to read through ANY of these for this to slip through” – do we really think that’s what happened? that there was a book like this and no one in the dutch publishing house double checked at any point along the way to make sure they had the final version?
it sounds to me like either they were never given the final approved version (which is a mistake on both ends, bc the Dutch publisher should have known that they had an early version and not the final approved version) or they were and they just never bothered to double check the translated manuscript against that final version at any point in the process – which seems lazy and unprofessional, to such an extent that it must have been deliberate.
BUT WHY??
(and I know I just said below that the “how” doesnt interest me that much anymore but then I read a post like this and I’m sucked back in lol.)
Agree that the how isn’t as important as the issue of racism. But nevertheless, it’s intriguing.
What I think is curious, is that details about letters that no one publicly knew existed were leaked earlier this year. And now this.
As for why, lots of reasons we’ve already seen – blame the Sussexes, attack Omid’s credibility, feed the media beast. I’ll go with distraction. Charles & co. knew Omid was writing a book; they know he’s not a RF stenographer, and worried what he’d say. Their collective guilty conscience no doubt runs deeper than we know. Naming people – information already widely known BTS – wasn’t as bad as information like Jones, Wooten, William, their part in the Sussex’s departure, pulling H&M’s money and security, which no one is talking about now. There was already a juicy label out there, “royal racists”, set to grab the public’s attention.
I find it interesting too this only occurred in the Dutch version. A small market, European, where so much of the population is also fluent in English. To me the “how” is interesting and important. That KC and the entire royal family are racist isn’t a revelation; we saw it the moment what’s her name of Kent put on her brooch for a family event, and in how Meghan was treated in her time there. The RF isn’t putting up a strong protest to all this, that I can see, which suggests it’s not what they’re most concerned about.
Meanwhile, I’ll continue to look out for the comments of people like Lurker25 above, with background and experience in publishing. This was either a bad mistake, or a deliberate act, which either way would be a major problem, and I suspect we may never know what really went on.
Lurker25, Thank you for your comment. According to the Dutch publishing industry, this is actually standard practice when both the English language and Dutch translation come out at the same time.
It’s entirely unclear if Xander received the final version or not. As stated under previous articles on this topic, they were acquired during the time that Omid’s book was being published and the top man left in May/ June of 2023 (and possibly others did, too). Possibly the final book was sent to someone who no longer worked for Xander, or the final copy was never sent? The Dutch publisher said that a mistake was made (not by whom and not due to translating) and pulled it. I actually get the feeling that the mistake was made by Harper Collins from how everyone over here in the NLs reacted, but no one has said what went wrong.
Omid Scobie said that NO version of his contained the names. And he’s stated that no book of his had them. That was clearly untrue. I dislike how he threw the Dutch publisher and (still) the translators in front of the bus.
The reason I get the feeling that this mistake came from the Harper Collins, by the way, is because no one is saying what happened. It’s far more normal for the Dutch to say what exactly went wrong and no one is being transparent. Xander also never said that the names were mentioned in an earlier draft (though scores of people in publishing came out and said how things usually work) when Omid Scobie came on Dutch TV and swore that he had never written those names in any version. Never. It would be normal for the publisher to have said that they had made the mistake and up to now, they haven’t taken any responsibility for it.
@ML
“According to the Dutch publishing industry, this is actually standard practice when both the English language and Dutch translation come out at the same time.”
We keep having this back and forth so i just want to clarify and point out that i said “for a book like this” – meaning a book that would need to be legally vetted, which is embargoed, which is tightly guarded against press leaks, and (presumably since omid said QE2 dying necessitated changing things a lot) one that was “crashed” ie, rushed to printer.
It’s bad faith for Dutch publishers to say it’s standard practice to get early drafts when the conditions above are NOT standard practice. No one cares whether an early draft of another Churchill biography gets released bc who is around to sue? BUT this is like the Britney Spears memoir – LOTS of people would love to leak its contents before publication and others would definitely sue for defamation/libel unless legal is given time to vet thoroughly that the author has the receipts to prove the claims as fact.
If this book was crashed and so last minute that translators did receive a draft that pre-dated legal (shocking), it’s still the publishers responsibility to make damn sure that it matches the final draft before the final dutch print run is shipped to Dutch bookstores.
And IF the Dutch publisher did not get a final version (impossible for so many reasons), it’s still not Harper Collins responsibility, it’s UTA’s since the agency handled subsidiary rights.
I’m sorry but this didn’t happen with any of the other translations and the other foreign language publishers. Whether it was a mistake or on purpose, the Dutch publishers are not blameless.
If someone at UTA wanted to cause mischief and make the Dutch the scapegoats, it’s STILL dereliction for the Dutch publisher to not make sure they were publishing the final version. If they asked UTA and were assured that they received it, there should be an email record that can easily be produced. Given the time difference (and standard practice!) no one is doing this over the phone.
@Lurker25 Everything you said, and then some. There should have been an editor, a copy editor, a managing editor, every kind of editor poring through the approved manuscript and the translation with a fine-toothed comb, going over every, single word and accent, making sure the translation matched the text. Seriously. They look back and forth between the translation and the English language version. So much so, they’d get kinks in their necks! Unless they just took it on blind faith that the translation was accurate and there were no checks that the translation/translator was accurate?! But let’s be honest here: some things cannot be translated exactly, so translators have a teensy tiny amount of latitude and liberty in conveying a phrase or idea most accurately. Translations are not literal—they cannot be or they’d make no sense. All the more reason for someone to be triple-checking the work, given the high secrecy and visibility of this work.
Someone didn’t pass on the final manuscript for translation, or someone didn’t use it in their final translation, or someone didn’t triple check that the translation matched the final manuscript. Really amateurish or sabotagish!
“It would be normal for the publisher to have said that they had made the mistake and up to now, they haven’t taken any responsibility for it.”
When you say “it would be normal” – what are you basing this on? Has this publisher admitted fault previously for other things?
Because there is one massive reason no one from the publishing world is saying anything – liability.
Right now, at Harper Collins, UTA, and the Dutch publisher (for sure the first two and i can only hope the latter), tech security combing through every device for who/where/when the leak is mistake happened. But ALSO, the legal teams at each place is combing through the contracts for indemnifying clauses and legal exposure.
Depending who is at fault:
The Dutch publisher can sue to recover the cost of pulling, pulping, difference reprinting the entire dutch print run. This is EXPENSIVE. If they are fault, they not only eat this cost, they are in the hook for being sued by Omid personally, UTA via the sub rights contract, and maybe HC (doubtful), and the long term reputational consequence of losing other business massively.
If UTA is at fault it can be sued by omid and the Dutch publisher.
If HC at fault (i don’t see how, since other countries received final English versions and that was all that HC was supposed to do) it could be sued by other other players.
All could be sued by the RF which is why Omid was so careful in his he worded things both in the book and in the early interviews. But Piers Morgan muddied liability since he’s the one who said the names publicly.
My main point is that there is a big fat reason why no one is claiming responsibility and also very carefully not pointing fingers directly at each other. The truth might be discovered internally and buried. Or someone might sue it and comes out in discovery. Or there’s a quiet settlement. It’s simply too early.
I do think it’s bad form for UTA to send Omid out there by himself. He needs more than his literary agent and they should be pulling their in house media strings, should be doing more to protect him with either better media talking points, PR statements, something. The fact that they are not doing more makes me wonder if there’s a chance someone there screwed up. But maybe they are and we just can’t see. Agents do work in the shadows. We will just have to wait till see.
@ML, can you share a link to what Omid said on Dutch tv. I most often agree and appreciate your posts. I’ve listened to his James O’Brien podcast appearance and the This Morning thingamajig where the male interviewer was a bit of a d*ck.
As said before, I appreciate Lurker25 takes on things. I feel educated in the publishing industry. Not an expert, I do have a strong experience in contract law for different reasons. Omid signed off on a final draft. That’s it. It doesn’t make a difference what may have been included in previous drafts. This shite is not on him and is a deflection from William scheming against his brother and a smear campaign against Meghan, who outshown all of them whilst being a POC quelle horreur! imo and the christian jones/wootton sh*t.
First off, A Great Reckoning, I can’t locate the TV show clip itself, but here is the untranslated Dutch from RTL’s website: “ De Britse auteur Scobie zelf zei tegen RTL Boulevard dat hij in zijn boek geen naam heeft genoemd. “Het boek is in meerdere talen en helaas spreek ik geen Nederlands. Maar als er vertaalfouten inzitten, dan zal de uitgever dat wel ondervangen. Ik heb de Engelse versie geschreven. Er is geen versie geweest uit mijn handen waarin namen zijn genoemd.” “
Next, there’s a bit of a tiff between Rick Evers (the royal correspondent who noticed the names) and RTL because RTL is letting their royal guy, Jeroen Snel, deliver all of the subsequent gossip on this and they aren’t name checking Rick Evers. He’s upset.
Then The Times, like Harper Collins, owned by Murdoch, has said that Xander did receive a corrected copy—it’s on them. Here, apologies to Lurker25 and the rest of you if this is true. My experience with the Dutch with huge f-ups is that up to now they mostly apologize. This mistake obviously carries more liability. I did connect Harper Collins to the The Betrayal of Anne Frank book kerfuffle (different Dutch publisher), where HC was asked to correct certain mistakes and has not. The people still bearing the brunt of this mistake are the translators.
According to Jeroen Snel, the Dutch version is a bit sharper and the English version softer. For instance, in the Dutch version, Harry is said to have called William denying him space on the plane after QE2’s death “heartless,” whereas that’s been changed to him being “upset” in the final version. Side by side, most of the changes are in the adjectives chosen to describe what was going on.
Thank @ML for replying. I do not speak Dutch (and only mildly understand some German), so went to google translate and this is what came up.
“The British author Scobie himself told RTL Boulevard that he did not mention a name in his book. “The book is in several languages and unfortunately I do not speak Dutch. But if there are translation errors, the publisher will correct them. I wrote the English version. There has been no version from me in which names have been mentioned.” .
I can see where Omid’s words are confusing. He did not explicitly say that no draft contained the names, only no version from him contained the names. This is where the understanding of terminology is important. Lurker25 could explain it better and my interpretation might be wrong. Omid signed off on a final draft/manuscript that didn’t contain names. Which, is his agreed upon/legal version of Endgame. It goes back to something I’ve referenced earlier. A draft is not a book. I’ll add, a book is not a book until it’s published. The Dutch publisher, published something that didn’t clear legal like US/UK publishers. Omid brought up the legal implications in ENDGAME. This story involves multiple levels.e
I know nothing about the law, does this protect Omid from future litigation? He ultimately decided to leave the names out after legal counsel. But the only reason they were in any draft in the first place is because he added them. Is it just on the Danish publisher who didn’t update their version or is everyone involved responsible?
This is on the publisher. They never checked that they were translating the final version of the book.
There is a clause in the author-publisher contract that’s called the indemnification clause. It outlines whether the author will be covered by the publisher in case someone sues and/or where the lines of liability reside. Usually it’s there to protect the publisher. The language is “indemnify and hold harmless” which means make whole (repay, make up financial loss) and blameless.
For example Mark Meadows is being sued for breach of contract by his publisher bc he said Trump won the 2020 election and didn’t have COVID in his book. Meadows is now on record saying the opposite when deposed by Jack Smith. So the publisher is now pulping the book and suing for the advance (i don’t think it sold enough to earn back the advance and start paying out royalties), cost incurred by printing and pulping.
Sometimes the clause protects the author at well, like if someone sues JK Rowling saying they wrote HP on their geocities site in 1995 and JK stole the whole thing. I haven’t seen that contract but pretty sure they’d go to bat to protect that investment.
It really depends on the language. But the boilerplate (standard) version idemnifies the publisher.
In this case though, it’s a subsidiary rights contract between the agent and the foreign publisher. The foreign publisher CANNOT make unapproved changes.
Thank so much for taking the time to explain this. I really appreciate it.
I think we need to pivot from “how did these names leak?” To, “why are we more concerned with how names leaked than we are with the fact that a sitting King and future Queen had concerns about how dark a baby’s skin would be and what that would look like?” Meghan didn’t mention the names because she thought that would be “damaging to them.” This shouldn’t be more damaging for Omid Scobie than it is to these racists! Time to change the narrative!
Exactly this!!
Right. The noise is overshadowing the truth. The royals don’t have to comment; they just have to slag off on OS (But not PM) for the truth being revealed.
Agree, slippers4life. All of this is just playing into the BM’s hands.
So someone at the publisher messed up big time, if we go by what Lurker25 was saying last week about the process. And it seems someone knows exactly who messed up and when.
Anyway, while the whole “HOW” did this happen is interesting, it’s also just a distraction from the bigger issue of Charles and Kate making racist comments about Archie.
This is exactly why the British media is focusing on this because it helps them ignore who made the comments.
The “how” is important due to the impact it’s had on the Dutch publisher. Their reputation, the reputation of the translators, and people’s jobs have taken a hit.
Much as I dislike saying so, Omid gave the BM ammunition by not coming out with the truth. On RTL (in the Netherlands) he denied ever having written those names. Clearly he did.
I do absolutely agree that the RF is getting more of a pass than they should due to the focus on the Dutch publisher and Omid. The point that the RF is racist is falling a bit by the wayside, while they should be explaining and making changes.
@ML but see all of Lurker25’s comments above. It’s entirely possible that the Dutch publisher messed up and the mistake is on their end. I know you live in the Netherlands and you’ve been going to bat for the Dutch publishing industry over the past two weeks, but it is just as likely that the mistake was on their end as it is likely that it was on Harper Collins’ US/UK end.
in the end, the Dutch publishing house published a version of the book that wasn’t the final version. If they knew they had an earlier version and that’s what they were working with to make sure it was published on time, then why didn’t they check back to make sure they also had the final version? If it was because of a change in ownership or whatever, and this slipped through the cracks, then that might make some sense but it also still means the Dutch publishing house is at fault.
Omid said he never signed off on a version with the names so there are any others in the chain who didn’t do their due diligence in confirming that the version to translate was not the final approved version. Outside of the translators, who would correctly assume it is the correct version. Many people dropped the ball, which could be Harper Collins down to the Dutch publisher.
Omid was being attacked while trying to promote this book and he could only state his direct involvement.
I mean, if William wants to be King faster than the event of death for Charles and if William wants to remarry someone else, and have public support to dump Kate, this is a great way to make both of those things happen. Just sayin’.
I agree. The person who most benefits from the release of those particular names — Charles and Kate — is Willard.
So Omid did put the names in, hoping it would get past legal. I don’t blame him for trying, because the book needed some blockbuster tea for sales. I need to hear from the Dutch publisher why they failed to update the version when every other publishing company got it right.
“Is freedom of speech only reserved for those who cleave to an approved narrative?” Of course! I think Scobie is asking a strictly rhetorical question here. Any discussion of race with regard to the Windsors sends the entire institution and their media lackeys into a frenzy of distraction and deflection.
I don’t care how it happened that the names leaked. I want to know what these racists actually said.
@Rapunzel Ditto! Bc it had to be pretty awful for the Meghan to say it would be damaging to them. Maybe that’s why Willy Nilly has given up on the Commonwealth bc once those comments are revealed, how many countries will continue to be part of the CW?
I was recently published & the book is in several different languages. I have but one publisher. Omid’s comment about “I only worked with the publisher for the US & UK versions” is disingenuous at best. A book has but one publisher. They may use different presses for foreign language editions but it is all under one publisher from one final finished manuscript. He wanted the names out & he got them out. He believes the RF won’t sue & he is probably right but all the excuses just make him & whoever leaked the names look foolish.
I don’t understand why you assume Omid is lying here. How can he check other languages when he’s not speaking their language? All he is saying, he worked closely with UK & USA publishers and gave approval to the final version of the book for them. He said, he gave license to the publishers in other countries, not heavily involved in their process. You would assume as an author, they would check the final version of the book for the translation even though they started the translation with the earlier drafts, so they would come out at the same time as the English version. Also, this issue is only with Dutch translation. Why would Omid put himself in this position where his family and himself are getting death threats from royal cult? His book would sell either way more than other royal books as always.
So are you implying that Omid colluded with Piers Morgan, the same Piers Morgan who he said emigrated phone hacking at the Sun? Because Piers is the one who bought this story to the forefront and Piers is the one who said the names. I’m beginning to see a Piers and Murdoch connection in all of this.
Sorry that should be “encouraged” not “emigrated”, lol. I had to log into my work compter!
Omid testified in one of Harry’s trials. He specifically testified against Piers Morgan, saying that he did tell journalists how to hack phones. Very few journalists in the UK have actually gone on record and said that even though you know so many more were instructed by Piers Morgan on how to hack phones.
This is your experience and not always the norm. Several authors have different publishers with different rights in different countries. For example, Harry Potter is published by Bloomsbury (which is an independent publisher in the UK and part of macmillan in the US)) and the US version is published by scholastic. Scholastic is not financially connected to Bloomsbury in any way. Lots of authors negotiate foreign rights with different publishers.
And HP has at least one more English language publisher.
Often rights are signed by language and geographic location. One publisher signed the rights for the UK English language edition, assuming the US publisher signed the North American English rights.
The US publisher assumed the UK publisher had signed the English language rights for the UK and Canada.
Turns out nobody had signed the Canadian English language rights. A small Canadian publisher swept in and signed them. The edition matches the UK editions but is published with an extra note from Rowling thanking them for publishing on recycled paper.
His actual quote in the article is, “To be clear, the only publisher I directly worked with was the ONE covering the US & UK.”.
That publisher is HarperCollins. They are headquartered in the US, have a HC UK team and Dey Street Books has the same ownership as HC. News Corp. If you look at Dey Street’s site it states HarpersCollinsPublishers at the bottom.
https://www.harpercollins.com/pages/deystreetbooks
He’s not being disingenuous at best.
So Omid did submit at some point an early draft with the names in them to his publisher. He previously said he hadn’t which caused me a lot of confusion. And I also felt bad for the Dutch translator because she clearly did not invent anything, she translated what was given to her and she was being thrown under the bus for something that wasn’t her fault. I get he was in the flurry of media appearances promoting his book and he may not have remembered on the spot doing that but he clearly did. There’s no other way the Dutch publisher could have gotten a draft of Endgame with the names otherwise. The rest is the Dutch publisher’s fault. Have they put out a statement clearing their translator of any wrongdoing? That poor woman.
When did Omid say that no version had names? Because the first interview I recall on this was during the Uk morning show he said no version he signed off on had names. That’s not the same as no version.
I even recall a post here last week where some were saying no version had names but I don’t think we ever pinpointed if he said that.
I went back in the Celebitchy archives because everything is documented very well here and copied and pasted this excerpt from the Daily Beast:
“In an interview with British breakfast show This Morning, Scobie said: “I never submitted a book that had those names in it.”
He added that he was “frustrated” but not “upset” by the development. Asked about online rumors that the inclusion of the names in a Dutch translation was a stunt to sell books, he replied: “I wish it was the case.”
He added that he “never submitted a book that had their names in it.”
Also this following excerpt from an article in The Guardian:
“The book is in several languages, and unfortunately I do not speak Dutch. But if there are translation errors, the publisher will correct them. I wrote the English version. There was no version from me in which names were mentioned.”
So he flat out said he did not include the names in any version he submitted when that wasn’t the case. He was maybe referring to the final draft version but… he wasn’t clear about that if that was the case.
And based on what he says here, he never submitted the earlier version to the Dutch translators. Someone else did, and that’s how this all started.
VilleRose, “Scobie said: “I never submitted a book that had those names in it.” I think that’s what you have to look at. He stated he never “‘submitted” a book that had those names in it. I think he’s not considering drafts as submitting something. I also thought he hadn’t had any drafts with names, but I was wrong about that.
Are publishers so confused that they would believe “draft” would be the final manuscript? I would find it astonishing if ANY draft of a book was given to a publisher for translation to begin that wasn’t very, very well labelled as a draft. I keep going back to the Dutch publisher. I can’t believe that they would be sent a draft without anyone identifying it as such. The emails will prove what happened, I think.
I don’t know why anyone is trying to lay the blame on Omid Scobie. He doesn’t published books. He writes them. Why don’t we talk about what Piers Morgan did? Why don’t we talk about the racists in the brf? Why don’t we talk about the racists in the bm? Who is benefitting by all of this talk about Omid? Oh, it’s the brf and bm.
Now that the names are out there, I want to know more about what was said and how this all went down. Did Charles and Kate corner him Harry with this, or did they say this to him on separate occasions?
‘Spare’ made it clear he rarely saw either of them, which makes it even more infuriating that this is what they’d discuss with him when he did.
Omid has always said the names were in an early draft, but not the one he proof read (after solicitors had seen it) and signed off on.
People can scream, clutch their pearls and suffer an attack of the vapours all they want, but it was MORGAN who first outed the names on national television, and has not been seen since! But Omid also said its been Widely known in fleet street for years! And NO ONE, not the Palace or the press or media in ANY of its forms has denied that. So that means the truth is not allowed in the UK anymore, without this sort of sht stirring outcry.
And to everyone saying Megan wouldn’t have written to Charles if he was one of the racist, remember Megan didn’t call anyone racist(I would have) she used the words “, unconscious bias”. So I think the letter would have gone something like “I dont think you are a racist, but unconscious bias is, when you used the words that you were” concerned about the colour of Archie’s skin, that sounded racist, in your eyes it “might” just have been your way of talking, but that IS unconscious bias, try looking at what you said and change it to I hope Harry and Megan’s child will have the best of both of them in his makeup. And if your not racist, you will see the difference between a genuine question and a racist slur.
Yes! The media are succeeding in making this about “how awful that the racists were revealed”, and not “how awful that they were racist”. Even some commenters on here are buying into OS being awful.
Exactly, @Equality. That the conversation of racism among the royal family is now being turned into an outsized indictment of Scobie really takes the cake (as served up by Marie Antoinette).
The only way Omid’s credibility is tarnished if you already felt that way or were looking for a reason to feel that way. The point is the named racists, not the dithering about Omid’s semantics. Here’s what I believe. Omid sure as hell doesn’t want to get sued about anything in the book and would have done everything to protect himself. I don’t believe he will be sued, so I don’t think he was playing in subterfuge. What I’m disappointed in is how many people, even here, look past the good because it’s imperfect. He was always imperfect, even in other stories some facts were wrong. Did you think it was bad faith reporting or relying on the info given?
Turns out I was right about what happened. Omid made it very clear that the names never appeared in a book that he gave to the publishers. I presumed from that that the names may have appeared in prior drafts and not the final book or manuscript that he submitted to the publisher. Scobie really should have been more straightforward in the beginning and stated that. He did not. Accordingly, this gives room for the British tabloids to call him a liar. He should have been more straightforward whether he was afraid of being sued or not. Any mistake on the part of the publisher or his agent is not his fault, and the British press will look for ANY reason to blast Scobie whether reasonable or not.
I don’t know how Omid could be any clearer in saying he never signed off on a version with the names.
He didn’t screw up here anyway. It’s someone in the publishing chain on the way to the Netherlands.
So I’m more interested in why the letters were leaked in the first place, presumably by CH.
I’m curious about that too, as I said above. Wasn’t there was some idea floating around – on here? out there? – that it was supposed to explain why Meghan didn’t come to the coronation with Harry (which was in any event on Archie’s birthday)? That didn’t make sense to me at the time, to revive that whole discussion from two+ years prior, that didn’t portray the RF in the best light anyway.
The letters were leaked by MM.
Valentine Low actually admitted that the leak was not from the Sussexes.
No the letters were not leaked by Meghan. Neither she nor Harry wanted that information in the public domain UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. There were likely several people in the leaking chain who made sure the press were made aware. Don’t forget that the palaces brief against each other constantly, and if someone in Charles’ camp wanted to pass along a highly charged tidbit of information like this they can easily do so by whispering in the right ears, especially if financial remuneration is involved, and we know the tabloids have deep pockets.
@overtired, no she did not, if Megan wanted those letters out there she has had over 3 years to do it. Those letters were leaked by a member of the shitty royal family, knowing people like you, would try and pin it on Megan
What is with all the trolls? No one serious believes the Sussexes are leaking to British media at this point.
Omid’s book really triggered something.
Overtired, you haven’t been paying attention. The Sussexes communications person put out a statement. It was VERY clear that Meghan had nothing to do with letter written two years ago about discussions which happened four years ago. Valentine Low apologized because he had named her. Obviously, he didn’t want to be sued.
Why are you working so hard to make this the Sussexes or Omid Scobie’s responsibility. WHO BENEFITS? The brf and the bm. That’s who you should be looking at. The racists.
super baffled people are blaming omid and screaming he lied. He didn’t. He didn’t submit for FINAL publication those names. And something tells me that the Dutch publishing house didn’t go back and make sure things were lined up. I am now wondering if other things were off in that version based on the English version that went out. Everyone just focused on the racists that got named and whether other things were out of sync.
So Omid was correct, it’s not on him, and I bet he’s ticked that all of his interviews have been about this and people blaming Meghan.
Hard agree. This is just another opportunity to deflect from the real and disgusting fact that everyone in the BRF and the Firm were discussing Archie’s skin colour. That’s the horrible truth, they couldn’t comprehend that their royal bloodlines were *tainted*, which led to the Sussexes being chased out of the UK like a lynching mob was after them.
The only reason omid would need to lie was if he had purposely orchestrated all of this just to get the names out. And I don’t think he did that. Please. So why does he need to apologize?
I think he’s being made out to be a liar by omission. As I indicated above it would have been better if Scobie had been more straightforward about his editing process. I understood from what he said that there were probably prior drafts with the names included. However, Scobie had flat out denied that there were any versions of the “book” that had the names therein. By not mentioning that prior drafts contained the names people are looking at it as a lie by omission. But you are right, Scobie is not at fault for any of this I just think it was a mistake on his part to not be more straightforward in the beginning. He should have just said, yes prior drafts had some names in, not confirming the accuracy of the names in the Dutch book, and said that he didn’t know how they got in the Dutch book and left it at that.
ML, and how does ANYONE know what someone else will decide is an omission? He tried to be clear. We now have a pretty good idea that the Dutch publisher screwed the pooch. The fact that you keep saying that Omid Scobie said this without giving any quotes is becoming tedious. Either quote it where he DIRECTLY said it or admit to yourself that you’ve become a victim of the bm and are simply repeating what they said. How can you blame someone who made DAMNED sure that he went through legal (I believe it was his interview with James O’Brien that he said this) and it was reviewed by THREE attorneys. That’s the copy that was edited and submitted for publication.
When all’s said and done I think Omid is aiming for Bob Woodward and he’s ending up as Graham Smith (of Republic, another truth teller unfairly painted as a crank but fixated on one small subject) through no fault of his own.
It’s a shame, Omid is a talented journalist and a good writer. IMO it has more to do with how apathetic average Brits appear to be about royal shenanigans and the horrid UK tabloids than any fault of his. But he needs to find a less niche subject than the BRF and show his work.
Success and acclaim may only come late in life, if ever….
Lady Esther, his book will not disappear. I think when time passes (he’ll be alive IMO), it will be given the interest that it deserves. He’ll be proven right.
All of this tumult and upset is a deliberate distraction from the meat of the matter: someone in the royal family – maybe all of them – had concerns about how “dark” Archie’s skin colour would be. The implication being that too dark might make for problematic optics among the royals. Yet somehow they manage to pretend that this isn’t a problem — but the book is.
Interesting how the actual racism isn’t a bad thing…but the reveal of the names is considered the real offense.
Yes. This is the crux of the matter. The Royal Family – doesn’t really matter who-though I think Kate is-IMO, she is not important enough to be an issue outside of being a future Queen. Though, I fully believe she was present for the conversations and can totally say, in a dumb@ss attempt to something, that Harry should be concerned how things looked on the balcony. Girllllll was discombalobulated because Meghan drew more attention than her. lolI’
Yes. Being racist isn’t bad. Being outed as a racist is something else. I hate the BRF in England. I’m happy my forefathers were good people. not rich or wealthy. Just decent by all accounts. Irish farmers (mostly) who just worked and did their own thing. Not too different from today.
I still don’t get why Meghan would call Cruella de Cambridge a “good person” in the Oprah interview if Kate was one of the racists who was “concerned” re Archie’s skin tone.
The only thing I can figure is that Meghan is one of those people, and to a degree I am one of them as well, that either pushes bad things that people have done out of their mind to cope or avoids mentioning the bad for a variety of reasons, for example embarrassment. I liken it to her treatment of Thomas Markle in her blog. She only brought up the good while clearly when she was younger she had a problematic relationship with him. I think by her glossing over the bad and only mentioning the good people feel like she has been disingenuous. When in reality, perhaps she was just trying to focus on the good and in doing so overstated any good in Kate’s nature.
There’s a discussion about this upthread, comment 3.
Lady Gurnavere, this has been discussed to death. I believe the correct answer from all of those given is very straight forward. She said this in regards the written note apologizing and the flower KHate gave Meghan after she made her cry. That alone would temp anyone to say she is a good person. The one thing that has been made clear (and I fully believe) is that she also needed to do this because she is black and KHate is white. Unfortunately, the white dominated world we live in doesn’t make it easy for people of color and for black women especially. That was really the only thing she could say and, unfortunately, needed to say for her own sake.
I really can’t believe that he was naive enough to think that he would get away with putting the names in the book and that it would be published that way. Why include them at all? So disingenuous. Also, blaming everything on the royal family never being held accountable like politicians is only an attempt to deflect. And it’s not like he wrote it for the good of society – he’s making money off it!
Sherry, there appears to be a lot of people who are determined to make this about Omid Scobie, when it’s about (IMO) the Dutch publisher. Perhaps instead of using your energy to attack someone who doesn’t deserve it, you would care to talk about racism in the brf and the bm. That’s something that’s real and deserves to be discussed.
So how come piers gets no criticism for actually naming people
Probably because he was directed to do so by either Cowmilla, Dog-shit Dad or Incandescent (or a combination thereof) in pursuit of their own twisted machinations). It had to have been approved by someone at the highest level or it would not have happened.
Omid wrote a book and worked with legal experts to try and make this book as legally sound as possible. In the process of writing this book, which took quite a long time and effort, he might have mentioned the names of the two racists, revealed the relationships of various royal family members, their staff and friendships. In the process of all of that, the legal team then verifies what can or cannot be said, revealed or described in his 400 page book. The publishers then take the FINAL DRAFT of the book which has been verified and okayed to be published without any legal ramifications. Yet the Dutch publishing company, unfortunately didn’t publish the FINAL DRAFT that went through all of the legal verifications to make it legally safe, and revealed the two royal racists. At the end of the day, the names were revealed through unintended consequences. To bash Omid or even the publisher, seems to be an attempt to redirect the focus on what really needs to be addressed. The two royal racists who spoke with Harry have been confirmed. It’s not to say that other royals like William and Camilla weren’t also racists, but the two who spoke to Harry were revealed and the palaces silence and the media’s previous knowledge and refusal to dispute it, means that the focus should be on the two people who devalue children before they are born because of the possible color of their skin. Two people, one who is now king and the other a future queen consort of commonwealth countries where the majority of people would have skin tone that they see as concerning. That is what we are ignoring.