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By Stewart Carr and Maria Chiorando and Rory Tingle Home Affairs Correspondent
21:56 28 Jun 2023, updated 22:06 28 Jun 2023
- Omid Scobie will publish his own tell-all book on the monarchy on November 21
- Scobie has acted as a cheerleader-in-chief for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle
Royal aides may be watching nervously after a three-month delay was announced for the release of a new book by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s cheerleader Omid Scobie.
Earlier today, Scobie tweeted his new book titled ‘Endgame’ – a ‘penetrating investigation’ about the Royal Family’s ‘fight for survival’ – would be published on November 21, three months after its original August date.
He promised the book will be full of ‘unique insight, deep access and exclusive revelations’.
It is thought the publishing date could have been moved to give the author a chance to include inside material through and beyond the King’s coronation.
Prince Harry notably was sat in the third row of the ceremony at Westminster Abbey and played no formal role in the proceedings, jetting off after less than 24 hours in the UK.
With no sign of any reconciliation between the duke and his father and brother, a change of publication date leads to concerns Scobie could wring every drop out of the row between the family.
Commenting on Scobie’s announcement today, royal biographer Richard Fitzwilliams said: ‘He’s writing about the royal family and he’s also Harry and Meghan’s unofficial spokesperson, some sensational details are bound to follow. However, how well sourced are they?
‘No reputable royal source would talk to Omid Scobie.’
The author’s previous title, Finding Freedom, covered the Duke and Duchess of Sussexes’ decision to step down as senior royals.
Mr Fitzwilliams went on: ‘His book, co-written with Carolyn Durand, Finding Freedom, which the Sussexes were discovered to have cooperated with despite their denials, was badly written and pathetically inadequate.
‘His new book is entitled Endgame. Some might think the title refers to the current state of the Sussexes’ affairs. It is worth remembering that they reportedly had a four-book deal with Random House.
‘Spare, Harry’s memoir, contained some highly Ill-judged passages including the number of Taliban he killed on his second tour of duty of Afghanistan.’
Following the leak of Spare in January, ex-Army chief Colonel Richard Kemp called Harry’s comments ‘ill-judged’ and said soldiers are not trained to regard their targets as ‘subhuman’ – while former National Security Adviser Lord Darroch said he would have cautioned the Duke from disclosing his kill count.
Mr Fitzwilliams added: ‘Much of Endgame is not likely to be taken seriously. It is likely to be a sensational attempt to cash in on the Sussexes’ rift with the royal family. I suspect it will be trusted as much as anything from the Sussexes’ corner should be.
‘It will be assumed to have been written with their approval as Finding Freedom provably was. What is really worrying is, what comes next. Ironically it seems to be the Sussexes who, to quote Endgame’s blurb “fight for survival” not the royal family.’
Scobie announced his second book last year, in which he said Endgame would ‘pull back the curtain on an institution in turmoil—exposing the chaos, family dysfunction, distrust and draconian practices threatening its very future’.
According to a statement released by the publisher: ‘On September 8, 2022, the world stood still as news broke of Queen Elizabeth II’s passing.
‘Her death dismantled the protective shield around the world’s most famous family, and saw a long-simmering crisis of confidence in the British monarchy begin to resurface.
‘Now, with unique insight, deep access and exclusive revelations, journalist Omid Scobie pulls back the curtain on an institution in turmoil—exposing the chaos, family dysfunction, distrust and draconian practices threatening its very future.
‘This is the monarchy’s endgame. Do they have what it takes to save it?’
Mr Scobie, who is the royal editor of US website Harper’s Bazaar, has been a firm cheerleader for Harry and Meghan over recent years, having co-authored a highly sympathetic biography of the couple in 2020.
He is one of the closest journalists to Harry and Meghan since their move to America.
It comes at a difficult time for Harry and Meghan, with Spotify announcing earlier this month that it was dropping the Duchess’s podcast, Archetypes.
Meanwhile, Netflix is reportedly planning to can their deal with the couple when it expires in 2025 – after rejecting several of their ideas for shows.
In a bid to revive their flagging fortunes, Harry and Meghan are developing a Netflix show called ‘Bad Manners’, based on a feminist version of Miss Havisham from Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations – according to the Wall Street Journal.
Meanwhile, a YouTube star has threatened legal action against the couple after accusing them of ‘defaming’ and ‘slandering’ her in their bombshell Netflix documentary.
Shallon Lester, from California, came out guns blazing against the Sussexes in a new video posted to her account on Tuesday, in which she railed against Harry, 38, and Meghan, 41, for allegedly ‘mischaracterizing’ her in the six-part Netflix series.
Back in December, Lester branded Harry & Megan ‘a festival of bulls**t’ after a clip from her YouTube account was shown in their documentary, implying that she was part of a coordinated trolling campaign against the couple.
The outspoken influencer has now hinted that she may pursue legal action against them – noting in her video that her ‘lawyer is going to be mad’ at her for mentioning it – and is vowing to ‘nail their a** to the wall’ over the allegations.
‘Believe me when I say I’m pursuing every opportunity to nail their a** to the wall for this,’ she raged in the video. ‘It’s defamation, it’s slander, it’s mischaracterization. And you know what else it is? Misinformation.’
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