Dutch version of controversial royal book pulled over race row 'error'
The Dutch edition of Omid Scobie's controversial book "Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy’s Fight for Survival" has been withdrawn from sale, with its publishers blaming a translation error.
The publishers Xander Uitgevers said it was "temporarily withdrawing the book", entitled "Eindstrijd" in the Dutch version.
"An error occurred in the Dutch translation and is currently being rectified," the publishers added.
The "error" seems to be the description of the racism row that followed Prince Harry and Meghan's interview with Oprah Winfrey, where the couple talked of facing questions about the skin colour of their baby.
The claim was met by a rare response from the royals, with Prince William saying: "We are very much not a racist family."
"Eindstrijd" appeared to include the name of a Royal Family member alleged to have asked skin colour questions, whereas in the English edition of the book, Scobie claimed that there had been two people involved but said that for legal reasons he wouldn't disclose their names.
"The book is in several languages, and unfortunately I do not speak Dutch. But if there are translation errors, the publisher will correct them," he told RTL Boulevard. "I wrote the English version. There was no version from me in which names were mentioned."
The book, published yesterday, has been very critical of the Royal Family.
"Endgame" criticises King Charles III and his son, William, who is described as a "power-hungry heir to the throne", and depicts the king as head of an institution "plagued by incidents involving antiquated ideas around race, class and money", with younger people increasingly unsympathetic to the monarchy.
The main revelations depict a rather pathetic soap opera, in which, amongst other things, William is painted as an ambitious prince, determined to lead the royal family into the future, with Scobie claiming that he wants to “rip up” the rulebook and do things “the Cambridge way”.
Read more about the revelations made in “Endgame” here.