Opinion: Omid Scobie's Endgame is just another Harry and Meghan pity party
The royal family feud that has been cracking under pressure over the past four years has had another major blow. A new bombshell book on...The royal family feud that has been cracking under pressure over the past four years has had another major blow. A new bombshell book on The Firm and the tensions growing across both sides of the Atlantic promised to lay bare a different perspective on the goings-on in the palace. But after reading the book, it failed to come through on its expectations. Instead, Omid Scobie’s Endgame is simply a Meghan Markle and Prince Harry pity party. It takes aim at the royals who are still representing the monarchy.
Omid Scobie, author of Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy’s Fight For Survival – what a mouthful – has been hyped up for months. The royal author, who penned Finding Freedom, is no stranger to fighting the Sussexes’ corner. Omid Scobie’s previous publication before Endgame was a tale of woe, focusing on Prince Harry and Meghan before, during and after they left the palace. The pair quit their roles as senior working members of Buckingham Palace and flew off into the Californian sunset.
It appears Finding Freedom was a teaser from Omid Scobie who has gone further in his new book Endgame. But it comes across as a Harry and Meghan Markle PR move – and a big one at that.
Omid Scobie’s Endgame is regurgitating the narrative Harry and Meghan have been telling for years
Aside from the first 100 pages of the hardback being an anti-King Charles story, there’s not that much new information in the ‘bombshell new book’ that hit the shelves.
The author, who boasts he’s been covering the British monarchy since 2010, doesn’t appear to have many fresh topics to visit in most of the 369 pages. Scobie gossips about past events that have been widely covered in the media. From viral TikTok videos of awkward moments to almost royal scandals.
He uses the late Queen’s passing at the beginning of the book as an attempt to drive up sympathy and his own reliability as a royal journalist.
After Finding Freedom was released – an unofficial biography on the couple – Meghan and Harry denied they had any involvement in the book. However, when Meghan took Associated Newspapers (The Mail Online) to court, over a letter she wrote to her father Thomas Markle, another story came out. It was revealed through evidence of emails between the Sussexes and their former aide that they did know about the book. The Duke gave detailed instructions to his staff on what to tell the authors, so their story could be told. But, Harry and Meghan didn’t meet with the authors themselves, so denied knowing what went into the final edit.
The embarrassment did lead to the former Suits star apologizing to the court.
However, it doesn’t offer a positive start for Omid Scobie’s new book, Endgame. Experts now suspect Harry and Meghan have spilled the tea once again. The royals have not responded to claims they had involvement with Endgame. It remains that it’s only Scobie and his royal sources at the moment.
Old news in an attempt to make headlines
He speaks at length about the Lady Hussey controversy. The lady-in-waiting to the former Queen Elizabeth II came under fire for her questions to a charity boss at a reception held by Queen Consort Camilla. The conversation, from December 2022, had shocked fans across the world. The palace and Prince William responded to the drama as well. Lady Hussey, who isn’t a member of the royal family, takes up so much presence in the book it’s clear Omid Scobie’s Endgame tactic was to create a false background to accompany Harry and Meghan’s allegation in their Oprah Winfrey interview.
More than 18 months earlier, the couple sat down with celebrity pal Oprah to talk about leaving the palace. In the tell-all chat, they alleged a member of the royal household had made comments on Archie‘s skin color before he was born. Meghan, who wasn’t present during the alleged conversation, spoke at length to the TV star. Harry, who was actually in the room at the time, refused to say who it was.
After headlines hit the newsstands, the palace released a statement declaring they would deal with the issues as a family, privately. But next in line to the throne William told reporters the following morning The Firm were ‘definitely not racist’.
Why is Omid Scobie drugging up events, about a non-royal, in his book? It’s not new information. But it’s clear he’s attempting to set up a narrative and didn’t have any real evidence to back it up. Not only that, but after the laborious chapter, he jumps back to it later on.
Okay, we get it.
King Charles is the real target
The first third of the entire book, more than 100 pages, is clearly targeting King Charles. Scobie glances back at his decades as a prince and his ascension to the throne.
Again, another old controversy – from 2021 – appears. It’s from a time more than a year before the Queen died, and only a couple of months after Harry and Meghan left the UK – something tells me Omid Scobie was keeping notes for Endgame because there was nothing else to include.
He talks about the Prince’s Foundation, a charity set up by Charles before he became king, and it’s fundraising practices. Doubt had been cast on where the money came from for the charity. But an independent investigation found no offenses had been committed. No further action was taken after the lengthy case.
Charles had no involvement in the large donations, the charity has many layers of staff that work there. But for Scobie, this was enough.
Omid Scobie appears to have a terrible memory
He then talks about the Sovereign Grant and how much the monarchy spends on official trips and plane rides. But Omid Scobie’s Endgame appears to glance over the private jets Harry and Meghan have embarked on for countless trips in recent months. The Sussexes flew to a summit in New York on October 1, then jet-setted from New Jersey to Canouan for a vacation the following day. All aboard a private aircraft. Then they flew just four hours to a hotspot in Atlanta, Georgia. The couple then tailed along to Las Vegas – which they could have driven from their Montecito mansion, to attend Katy Perry’s concert.
But apparently, that’s not needed for context. It makes no appearance in Endgame.
Now, if you’re asking that’s because it happened before the book was sealed and printed, it’s not the first time. Harry and Meghan announced in 2019 that they care about eco footprints and the Earth. But in the summer, he flew to Google Camp in a private jet and helicopter to speak about climate change. The next month, over 11 days, the couple booked in four more private jet flights. This included Ibiza and the south of France for vacations.
But Scobie chooses to highlight official trips and duties of the royals to frame a different story. When H and M (as they call each other) were on vacations.
Considering Omid Scobie is casting his eyes back in the past for Endgame, he needs to get his eyesight checked for missing that out.
Prince Harry’s memoir 2.0
Harry makes appearances in the book, including him finding out his grandmother had passed away by a news alert. The Duke of Sussex already made this claim in his book Spare, so that’s not exactly a bombshell revelation.
The 38-year-old explained he had tried to get hold of his brother to find out his plans to travel to Balmoral to see the ill monarch. He also alleged he rang his father about travelling up there. But he was supposedly told Meghan wasn’t welcome – with Charles explaining Kate Middleton and the other wives were not attending.
Harry managed to secure a flight to Scotland, but would arrive hours later at 7pm. When he turned his phone back on, he received a BBC news alert of the Queen’s death. This pained the Duke who was upset he couldn’t get there sooner. He claimed William wasn’t answering his texts. But the Prince was travelling and like him, his phone could have been turned off much the same.
But Scobie chooses to go over this detail with a fine-toothed comb – for what reason is not clear. The younger brother had already spoke at length about his grandmother’s death, so it seems like Scobie was running out of things to say.
Harry painted as the fallen Prince but Charles the ‘angry’ father
In another extract, Omid Scobie chooses to focus on the apparent struggling relationship Harry and Meghan have with Charles. He says the new King Charles didn’t read his son’s memoir. But then claims he was ‘cold’ in a phone conversation they had shortly after. Scobie alleges Charles didn’t respond publicly to the airing of the royal family’s dirty laundry, and chose a different approach. The author says the couple being evicted from Frogmore Cottage, leaving Harry with nowhere else to go when he travels to the UK, was a reaction from the palace.
Although Scobie fails to mention how the parents of Lilibet and Archie denounced their roles in The Firm three years earlier. Do the Prince and Princess of Montecito expect the royal household to leave it vacant for them? Especially as Meghan Markle’s absence appears to be growing each and every time Harry visits the UK.
The author mentions “awkward” conversations between Harry and Charles more than once. But most of the information is regurgitated from Harry’s memoir Spare and what was in the public eye.
At least Scobie had the energy to ‘speak to royal sources’ to break the news that Taylor Swift refused an offer to perform at King Charles’ coronation due to scheduling conflicts.
But is that new piece of information worth the price tag of the book? Absolutely not.
But if you’re like Omid Scobie, and on team Harry and Meghan, then Endgame will be the literary version of a re-run on Comedy Central.
Just without the enjoyment, like old episodes of Friends, has on offer.
Omid Scobie’s book Endgame is available now at major publishers and Amazon.
