'Endgame' pulled from Dutch shelves after royal accused of speaking about Archie's skin colour named

The book, Endgame, by royal biographer Omid Scobie makes various claims about what led to the exit of the Sussexes as working royals

A translated version of a new book about the royal family and the rift with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex has been pulled from shelves in the Netherlands.

The book contained the name of a member of the family who the author claims was accused of racism after asking about the skin colour of Harry and Meghan’s baby Archie, before he was born.

The book, Endgame, by royal biographer Omid Scobie makes various claims about the way in which relations broke down and led to the exit of the Sussexes as working royals. 

Harry and Meghan made the accusation about an unnamed member of the royal family when they gave their first television interview to Oprah Winfrey in 2021.

Meghan spoke about the way in which someone from his family has asked about the likely colour of Archie’s skin.

Meghan’s mother is Black and her father is white.

The couple declined to say who had allegedly said those words. The Sussexes’ office did brief journalists that it was not the late Queen, nor Prince Philip. 

At the time, it was explosive and prompted headlines around the world about “racism” within the royal family and royal household – claims Buckingham Palace always strongly denied.

The late Queen Elizabeth famously said after her grandson’s Oprah interview that “recollections may vary”. 

However, in an interview with ITV News at the time of the publication of his own book, Spare, at the beginning of this year, Prince Harry denied he and Meghan had ever claimed his family had been racist. 

Harry blamed the press for creating that narrative – although neither he nor Meghan, nor anyone from their office, ever corrected it – despite the widespread coverage.

It remains unclear how a translation into Dutch has inserted the name of a senior royal family member – when that name did not appear in the original English version of Omid Scobie’s book.

Speaking on Dutch TV, Mr Scobie said "translation errors" were to blame for the appearance of the name.

Mr Scobie does however claim, in the English version, that there were two people who were said to have asked about the colour of his unborn child’s skin.

Archie was born in the UK in May 2019 but he moved with his parents to Canada and the California when they left the royal family.

Harry and Meghan have a second child, Lilibet, who was named after Harry’s grandmother - but Lilibet has never met King Charles as she was born in the US.

Harry spoke to his father for his 75th birthday earlier this month in a sign of thawing tensions between the two men.

But Prince William and his brother Harry are still not on speaking terms.

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