Published after days of leaks, Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy’s Fight for Survival, is a scathing attack on an out-of-touch institution, riven by rivalry between senior members.
Sourced from interviews with “Palace aides and courtiers and occasionally royal family members themselves”, Royal author Omid Scobie makes a series of claims.
Kensington Palace declined to comment on any of the claims.
1. Harry believes a change of government is best chance of press reform
The Prince wants a “more ethical and reliable press” which can only come from a “substantial overhaul” at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport after the next election. Labour has not committed to any substantial new press regulation under Sir Keir Starmer.
2. Charles and William have ‘clashing approaches and opinions’
Scobie alleges the Prince of Wales is getting increasingly frustrated with his father and sees him as a mere “transitional monarch”. William is impatient to modernise the institution and wanted Charles to take a tougher line over Prince Andrew, it is claimed. The King has told the Waleses to talk to the Sussexes over their claims of unconscious racial bias but Kate is unwilling to open a dialogue, Scobie also writes.
3. Meghan does not want to return to UK
The Duchess of Sussex is moving on from the “royal soap opera” and sees no reason to return the UK. She is focusing on new Netflix productions which will be free of revelations about the Windsors and is working on a lifestyle brand based on “curation and hosting”, Scobie claims. Harry will continue his work promoting the Invictus games. Ice baths and hikes are said to be part of his daily Montecito regime.
4. William believes his brother has been ‘brainwashed by army of therapists’
The Duke of Cambridge has criticised the Sussexes’ “oh so California” self-importance, Scobie reports. Harry just wants an honest conversation about “accountability” with his brother but William has rebuffed his approaches, he claims. Harry believes such a conversation may now never happen. Kate is said to “jokingly shiver” when Meghan’s name comes up, the book alleges.
5. ‘Snubs for Harry’ at Queen’s death
Harry was distraught the Palace could not delay the announcement of Queen Elizabeth II’s death until his charter plane from Luton to Aberdeen had landed. William was not keen for Harry and Meghan to join himself and Kate for the Windsor Long Walk joint appearance meeting the public after the death, it is claimed. Charles said the public needed to see an act of unity. When the walk was well received, Kensington Palace sources claimed it was William’s idea, Scobie says.
6. Charles warned by the ‘establishment’ over political meddling
When it was reported that Charles had privately expressed concerns over the Government’s Rwanda policy for asylum seekers, damaging stories were leaked about the then heir’s financial affairs and his closest aide Michael Fawcett. Scobie connects the two, suggesting the leaks might have come from “a party deep inside the establishment.”
7. Meghan’s ‘star power’ attracted jealousy
Meghan was “not sufficiently reverential of the institution” when she arrived and refused to be “in awe of her surroundings”. Her “star power” is said to have provoked envy within the Palace. Scobie believes unconscious racial bias was at the root of the inability to embrace Meghan as a breath of fresh air in a “staid” institution.
8. King Charles’s fury at Netflix series
Charles was so angry with Harry after the Prince and Meghan’s Netflix docuseries that he was heard calling his son “that fool”, Scobie alleges. Relations between the King and the Sussexes have since thawed with Archie and Lilibet recording a “happy birthday” video for their grandfather for his 75th birthday.
Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy’s Fight for Survival by Omid Scobie, is published by HQ, HarperCollins today