Omid Scobie has revealed an “early and uncleared” draft of his book was sent to the Dutch publishers who printed the names of the royals at the centre of an alleged race row.
Writing in i, the journalist and author said an early “text” of his book Endgame was provided to the publisher for them to start work on the translation, with the understanding that it would be updated to reflect the final version of the book.
Copies were hurriedly withdrawn from shelves in the Netherlands after it emerged that the Dutch version named the King and Catherine, Princess of Wales, as the two royals who had made alleged remarks expressing “concerns” about the skin tone of the then unborn son of Harry and Meghan, Archie.
TalkTV host Piers Morgan subsequently named the two senior royals on his show. When asked whether it was considering legal action after the names were made public, the Palace said last week that it was “exploring all options”
Mr Scobie said “false reports” suggesting the names had been published in the Dutch edition as a publicity stunt were “offensive and ridiculous”.
He said the Dutch publishers were given an early text of the book without his knowledge. Mr Scobie added that this was also sent to other foreign-language publishers, including in France and Italy, and that their versions “perfectly replicated the completed work”.
He added: “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.”
The Dutch edition was withdrawn from sale, with publisher Xander Uitgevers blaming a translation error.
The royal biographer previously told i he feared being sued for libel if his new book identified the royals at the centre of the race row, which began with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Senior royals have in the past defended themselves against allegations made by the Sussexes relating to race.
Following the claims aired about Archie’s skin colour in the Oprah interview, Prince William responded to a question from a journalist about whether the Windsors were a racist family by saying: “We are very much not a racist family.”
Queen Elizabeth II had said in a statement that the issue would be dealt with privately, adding that when it came to the alleged remarks, “recollections may vary”.