Omid Scobie’s new book Endgame has had to be pulled from the shelves in the Netherlands after a mistranslation appeared to name the “racist royal”.
In the Dutch version, the book names which member of the Royal Family discussed what colour skin Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s unborn child would have – details of which the Duchess brought up in her infamous sitdown interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021.
Publishers of the Dutch version, Xander, confirmed to the Daily Mail that it had received a last-minute request from the US to stop selling Endgame and were “awaiting further instructions”.
In Mr Scobie’s original version of the book he does not name what royal posed the questions about Prince Archie’s skin colour, stating that UK libel laws prevent him from doing so.
He writes that Meghan and King Charles exchanged letters over the incident and said: “In the pages of these private letters, two identities were revealed. Laws in the United Kingdom prevent me from reporting who they were.”
But in the Dutch version of the book, sent to journalists ahead of the publication date, the copy appears to reveal who was behind the conversations.
In a similar excerpt detailing the letters between Meghan and Charles, it reads: “But in those private letters [the identity] was confirmed:…. [The Daily Express has redacted the name].”
It is not known if this was a mistranslation, intentionally included or was simply a major publishing error.
The Dutch publishers told the newspaper: “You are right but I can’t talk about the details. We have, however, received a request to put the title on hold and that is what we have done.” They said the decision was taken “just now” and they are awaiting further instructions.
Dutch royal journalist Rick Evers first detailed the error on X, formally known as Twitter, and revealed that the publishers had been told to pull the editon as “a number of passages have sparked debate, may not have been accurately presented”.
He added: “This seems to concern also the accusation against [name redacted] about Archie’s skin colour. This is – as far as I know – only regarding the Dutch version, not the English one. It seems as if only the Dutch version has published the person’s name who spoke about the skin colour of the unborn child.”
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