"End Game" by Omid Scobie - 2023

[Erin9]

I have been very critical about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their behaviour over the past few years, and I agree they should have been aware of the Queen's obviously declining health in the months before her death.

But I keep thinking ... denial is a very powerful thing.Particularly when you don't want to believe what is in front of your eyes. I know from my own experience how easy it can be to not confront the hard truth that a close relative is entering their last days. And we know how deluded Harry and Meghan can be in so many ways. Is it beyond the bounds of possibility that they chose blindly to believe what they wanted to believe and did not fully comprehend that the summer of 2023 was their last chance to see the Queen?

This does not of course take away their responsibility for not taking the opportunity to see her one last time. But perhaps puts it into a less callous context.

Denial can be powerful- agreed. But- if their denial was so strong they couldn’t believe their eyes, then why would anything their family said change anything? Especially given the friction there.

They seem to be blaming the family for their lack of awareness. And- I think it’s clear no one thought TQ’s death was imminent. Otherwise- everyone on that plane would have already been at Balmoral.

And- we have no idea- and no need to know- what doctors were communicating to the family about TQ’s health, much less how the information was or was not being relayed. She was elderly and clearly slowing down. What they may have known was essentially what was pretty clear.

 

[Hallo girl]

That poor woman. I hope this will not be a stressful or legally expensive experience for her. I hope the publisher and any professional body she belongs to are standing behind her, 100% percent.

I can't imagine this will do anything for Scobie's reputation within the translating and publishing industries...

Scobie was interviewed on a morning show today, I think he is shaken, He denied any knowledge of how the names were published, in his words he hands over the manuscript to the publisher they then license it to other countries for translation then publishing. He insists the names were not in the manuscript he handed over. I think he is under pressure and a bit worried, he held his own when questioned but never challenged on the letter etc.

I think he might be a worried man,

 

[Hallo girl]

Denial can be powerful- agreed.

BUT- they seem to be blaming the family for their lack of awareness. That’s my biggest issue. And- I think it’s clear no one thought TQ’s death was imminent. Otherwise- everyone on that plane would have already been at Balmoral.

And- we have no idea- and no need to know- what doctors were communicating to the family about TQ’s health, much less how the information was or was not being relayed. She was elderly and clearly slowing down. What they may have known was essentially what was pretty clear.

I would agree, it was obvious to anybody watching the Queen that she was failing, she was becoming thinner and thinner. Less mobile etc.
The photograph with Liz Truss that was published that week told you all you needed to know but I still didn't think it would be two days later.

As you say if the family knew her death was imminent they would all have been at Balmoral, she had entertained house guests the previous weekend, when the end came it did appear to come quicker than anybody thought.

They possibly thought she would linger at the end, the family had all visited over the Summer, it just happened to be Anne who was there that week.

 

[Somebody]

Denial can be powerful- agreed. But- if their denial was so strong they couldn’t believe their eyes, then why would anything their family said change anything? Especially given the friction there.

They seem to be blaming the family for their lack of awareness. And- I think it’s clear no one thought TQ’s death was imminent. Otherwise- everyone on that plane would have already been at Balmoral.

And- we have no idea- and no need to know- what doctors were communicating to the family about TQ’s health, much less how the information was or was not being relayed. She was elderly and clearly slowing down. What they may have known was essentially what was pretty clear.

Living abroad, we made sure to visit my husband's aging grandmothers any time we were in the Netherlands, knowing that it could possibly our last opportunity... The grandmothers themselves also knew that they weren't getting any younger, so that each and every visit of us could potentially have been our last (as it might be many months to a year (up to 2,5 years during Covid) before the next opportunity).

You don't need to know that someone's health is actively declining (although it the case of the queen, it was very obvious that her health was declining in the last 1 1/2 years - after the duke died) to visit your grandmother who is in her mid-90s if you are in the vicinity.

 

[Somebody]

Scobie was interviewed on a morning show today, I think he is shaken, He denied any knowledge of how the names were published, in his words he hands over the manuscript to the publisher they then license it to other countries for translation then publishing. He insists the names were not in the manuscript he handed over. I think he is under pressure and a bit worried, he held his own when questioned but never challenged on the letter etc.

I think he might be a worried man,

Note that he claims that the names weren't in the version he submitted; he doesn't say that they were never in the manuscript he wrote.

"I never submitted a book that had those names in it"

 

[tommy100]

Note that he claims that the names weren't in the version he submitted; he doesn't say that they were never in the manuscript he wrote.

Yes , all along its been clear to me this is Omid's doing because I don't believe for one second the two Dutch translators who worked on the book (and have since said they translated only what was given exactly to them) just happened to pick the correct two names out of the air and plonk them into the book. Sorry, I don't believe in coincidences that much - one name maybe just about plausible but both. No way! Clearly for that to happen those two names were in the text given to them. If not Omid would and could have come out by now saying the names were wrong - he isn't. He had just learn tricks from Meghan and Harry and thinks so long as he denies it then it isn't true - just like when little children close their eyes and think you can't see them.

 

[Alison H]

The names must have been there. A translator can misunderstand the meaning of a word or phrase. They can't "mistranslate" a name which isn't there.

 

[tommy100]

For those who want to watch Omid's interview on This Morning today, quite uncomfortable at times.

 

[Moran]

That poor woman. I hope this will not be a stressful or legally expensive experience for her. I hope the publisher and any professional body she belongs to are standing behind her, 100% percent.

I can't imagine this will do anything for Scobie's reputation within the translating and publishing industries...

I hope the results are shouted from the roofs, loud and clear. For us, it's more than legal expenses. It doesn't matter if we win or lose. Well, it does, but not in the long run. In the long run, only one thing matters:did we do such a fundamental mistake, or not? In the opinion of the industry. Not the court. No one can make anyone hire us for a project again if unofficially, we're considered untrustworthy. No one. It's our livelihood on the line. Literally. The publishing house I mentioned never hired me again because they realized I wouldn't bare my back to cover theirs. That's how self-preservation works.

Scobie hit the lowest of the low.

 

[Katymcwaity]

The names must have been there. A translator can misunderstand the meaning of a word or phrase. They can't "mistranslate" a name which isn't there.

This is a translator explaining the process

https://twitter.com/x/status/1730301275906974189

I wonder what the result of the publisher’s investigation will be?

 

[duchessrachel]

The most puzzling thing to me is claiming to be concerned about mental health and to be compassionate/empathetic while at the same time writing a book to tease or even ridicule someone for her alleged anxiety to speak in public, which is a mental health affliction that affects many ordinary people all over the world. To make matters worse, Kate's anxiety is contrasted in the book with Meghan being, in Scobie's opinion, a natural and gifted public speaker, as if being anxious made someone a "lesser person" or something like that.


By the way, if it is true that William checked on Catherine to see if she was OK before she had to appear in public, praise to him for being a caring husband who was concerned about his wife's mental health. Unlike by the way his brother who admitted that he didn't know what to do when his wife was allegedly suffering from depression and suicidal thoughts.

I agree. That is what a caring husband does. H&M preach kindness, and they are anything but.

 

[duchessrachel]

Chapter 3- "Oh God, I Hate This"- King Charles' Premiere

Many mountains were made out of many molehills. Pages were devoted to how Charles getting frustrated with leaky pens is a window into everything wrong with him as a leader. This chapter also posits that Charles dislikes being King and misses the freedom of being the Prince of Wales, which was quite jarring to read right after a chapter about how William can't wait to stop being Prince of Wales and become the King.

At first it seemed very silly that so much focus was on small incidents demonstrating that Charles can be temperamental and impatient, but gradually the point emerged: his temperament made him unfit in how he reacted to Prince Harry. Scobie says "Staying mum about Harry's accusations and remaining publicly unconcerned for his son’s well-being while ending his family’s lease on a safe U.K. residence was not a decisive action by a resolute King; it was a cheap shot from a wounded father bound by an institutional system that is often intolerant of human emotion." It also says that the King's silence on their allegations benefited the institution but not him. I came away from this chapter absolutely convinced that the Sussex camp BADLY wants to force a public reaction from the King and the rest of the royal family and have been extremely frustrated and angered by the official policy of silence.

I think it is important to include how Scobie views Meghan and Harry's work during this time. He calls the Meghan and Harry series a "media juggernaut that commandeered international attention and dominated the news cycle for weeks" and says "The couple’s revelations in the first episodes enthralled millions (Netflix’s highest-viewed documentary ever)."He accused everyone in the family of leaking and briefing the media with their reactions- which is not the first time that any response at all to Meghan and Harry by any royal source is treated as insidious "briefing" of private information about them rather than a response to private information being disclosed BY them. He also highlights any moment Harry tries to reach out to his father, often ignoring that it is happening as Harry and Meghan release more private information about the family to the public, and blames Charles for not talking to or meeting with Harry for anything more than light small talk.

There's more to come, but I left this section firmly believing that Sussex talking points about reconciliation, not looking back, or moving on is hollow because the claims that began with the Oprah video, escalated with Meghan's The Cut Interview and the Netflix series, then escalated again in Spare and now this book from a friendly reporter all have the exact same themes- but the tone continues to get worse and accusations are getting more direct. More to come on that.

I agree. I hope the Royal Family continue to stay silent. A show of indifference is the worst thing you can do to people like Harry, Meghan, and Scobie. As much as I think Piers Morgan revealing the names of the two royals who Meghan and Harry labeled as having "unconscious bias" was not wise, it also takes the last arrow out of the quiver for H & M. They have held that over the head of the Royal Family for the past 2.5 years and now they don't have that anymore. I think they have run out of steam. I am sure they will continue to come up with more imagined slights, but people are tired of it.

 

[Somebody]

Piers Morgan didn't reveal the names, did he? He might have been the first on UK national television but it was revealed through the Dutch translation of the book and reported by Dutch royal journalists...

 

[Clematis]

I think he might be a worried man,

I really hope he is.
I have no sympathy or pity for someone so eager to make money that he reaches the point to attack people and an institution he knows almost nothing about, not to mention the trouble he's getting into the poor translator.

What a deplorable individual.

I have no sympathy at all for H&M too - after infamous interviews, books, tv series etc. one thought they couldn't get any lower, but they always manage to surprise the world.
I just hope they will distance themselves from what is happening. But the damage is done and everyone knows - or believes - they are behind all this.

 

[tommy100]

Yes, as much as its not nice, this is what H&M were holding over the RF all this time. Now its been said (and widely dismissed - Charles has too much of a track record and Catherine is only even mentioned as being present for conversations after its clear Meghan dislikes Catherine it looks like its just another attempt to hurt) people can make their own mind u and move on. Any other bombshells from H&M will now just get people wonder "why is this only being mentioned now, it can't have been that bad".

 

[Kaye1850]

Totally agree, thank you HRHHermione! What a load of rubbish!

These two sentences together struck me as very unique!

 

[Kaye1850]

He is at the back of it.

Unless he’s being a ‘useful idiot’ for someone higher up in the publishing chain of command. There is much money to be made from a project like this, and I think it’s been established that Mr. Scobie may not be the brightest bulb/sharpest knife, whatever.
This ‘Dutch maneuver’ took some cunning.

 

[duchessrachel]

Piers Morgan didn't reveal the names, did he? He might have been the first on UK national television but it was revealed through the Dutch translation of the book and reported by Dutch royal journalists...

It was on his show that he revealed the names, after they appeared in the Dutch version of the book.

 

[duchessrachel]

I think he might be a worried man,

I really hope he is.
I have no sympathy or pity for someone so eager to make money that he reaches the point to attack people and an institution he knows almost nothing about, not to mention the trouble he's getting into the poor translator.

What a deplorable individual.

I have no sympathy at all for H&M too - after infamous interviews, books, tv series etc. one thought they couldn't get any lower, but they always manage to surprise the world.
I just hope they will distance themselves from what is happening. But the damage is done and everyone knows - or believes - they are behind all this.

At this point, I think it is too late. If they had nothing to do with this book, then they should have vehemently defended the royal family against the allegations in this book. If they distance themselves at this point, it will only seem like it is because it has blown up in their face.

 

[Mbruno]

The Telegraph is reporting that the Palace is considering taking legal action , but I am not sure that would be wise, especially if legal action means Meghan or Harry being called on to testify at some point, which I find inevitable.

 

[Saragli]

Well at least the cat is out of the bag now and can't be dangled over the royals heads threateningly any more. Plus, out of all the royals, King Charles III is the least to be a racist or have any "unconscious bias". His life, history, and track record is a good testament to that.

Wondering how a child of mixed heritage might look is normal amongst mixed families. Wondering how a child might look between people of the same heritage is normal enough as well. Now this could easily be racist if one is concerned because they don't want their family members to be too dark but I cannot believe for one second that is what happened here.

 

[Hallo girl]

The Telegraph is reporting that the Palace is considering taking legal action , but I am not sure that would be wise, especially if legal action means Meghan or Harry being called on to testify at some point, which I find inevitable.

I would agree they would need to be involved, Meghan used the words concerns regarding how dark her childs skin would be........ So that was the start, publicly anyway.

 

[GondorHasNoPants]

The Telegraph is reporting that the Palace is considering taking legal action, but I am not sure that would be wise, especially if legal action means Meghan or Harry being called on to testify at some point, which I find inevitable.

Archive version of the article here.

 

[Asteria12]

Unless he’s being a ‘useful idiot’ for someone higher up in the publishing chain of command. There is much money to be made from a project like this, and I think it’s been established that Mr. Scobie may not be the brightest bulb/sharpest knife, whatever.
This ‘Dutch maneuver’ took some cunning.

It certainly appears to have been a strategic move made by Scobie himself or some other entity in the ring, but I wonder if it will really pay off. It will be interesting to see how much the book makes, because I don't think it will be counted among the literary giants of history!

 

[US Royal Watcher]

I have been very critical about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their behaviour over the past few years, and I agree they should have been aware of the Queen's obviously declining health in the months before her death.

But I keep thinking ... denial is a very powerful thing.Particularly when you don't want to believe what is in front of your eyes. I know from my own experience how easy it can be to not confront the hard truth that a close relative is entering their last days. And we know how deluded Harry and Meghan can be in so many ways. Is it beyond the bounds of possibility that they chose blindly to believe what they wanted to believe and did not fully comprehend that the summer of 2023 was their last chance to see the Queen?

This does not of course take away their responsibility for not taking the opportunity to see her one last time. But perhaps puts it into a less callous context.

I agree with you about a "last visit," but even if the Queen were alive today, Harry and Meghan should have gone to Balmoral that summer to see her. The Queen, who they both claimed to love so much, would have been happy to see them, especially if they had managed to bring the children.

 

[Asteria12]

Meghan barely knew the Queen long enough to form a close association, but Harry would undoubtedly have loved his grandmother. As much as I have little respect for him, I really cannot believe that he didn't love her. It was a missed opportunity that he will most likely regret deeply, but making accusations against other family members to deflect his own failure just marks him as deeply immature (among other things).

 

[US Royal Watcher]

Unless he’s being a ‘useful idiot’ for someone higher up in the publishing chain of command. There is much money to be made from a project like this, and I think it’s been established that Mr. Scobie may not be the brightest bulb/sharpest knife, whatever.
This ‘Dutch maneuver’ took some cunning.

I agree that Scobie doesn't have the brains to pull this off but he must given the names to the publisher.

 

[Somebody]

It was on his show that he revealed the names, after they appeared in the Dutch version of the book.

He cannot reveal something that was already mentioned by others. He might have been the first to share this information on national television in the UK -on Wednesday morning - but it had already been reported by Dutch journalists a day earlier: this message by Rick Evers is from Tuesday 11.41 am.

 

[Moran]

I agree that Scobie doesn't have the brains to pull this off but he must given the names to the publisher.

We don't work with foreign authors directly. All goes through the publisher. Often, we get a few versions of the manuscript, each time with assurance that it's the final file. No way those names weren't somewhere in one of the manuscripts if there was more than one. But even so, the translators would have checked and rechecked to make sure they had worked on the actual final file. Either way, they worked with what they had been given by the publisher.

 

[camelot23ca]

The Telegraph is reporting that the Palace is considering taking legal action , but I am not sure that would be wise, especially if legal action means Meghan or Harry being called on to testify at some point, which I find inevitable.

I vote they leave things at “recollections may vary.”

Once you take away all the background noise you’re left with private conversations between family members. While I think the Royal Family would have a very good chance of winning any legal action they decided to pursue, they’re already winning with the strategy they’ve pursued over the past several years - one statement for the ages followed by silence. There’s not nearly as much upheaval over these latest allegations as there was when Harry and Meghan first made the racism claim. And, while I’m sure it’s not pleasant for the individuals involved right now, having the threat of being named in these unsubstantiated claims hanging over their heads for the past couple of years likely hasn’t been fun, either. That threat is neutralized now.

Essentially I don’t think the BRF has any need to go out of their way to fight this battle. I hope they don’t allow themselves to be roped in.