The agency of the author Omid Scobie sent his book’s Dutch publisher a final version weeks before publication which did not name the two royals at the centre of a race row.
However, United Talent Agency (UTA) had earlier sent a draft version to the Dutch publisher Xander Uitgevers which did contain the names, a source told The Times.
It is understood that the translator interpreted an earlier version of the manuscript, rather than the final approved text.
Thousands of Dutch-language copies of Endgame had to be pulled from the Netherlands and Belgium last week after they named King Charles and the Princess of Wales as the senior royals who were said to have made remarks speculating about the skin colour of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s unborn child. The claim arose in an interview given by the Sussexes to Oprah Winfrey in 2021. After the broadcast, Prince Harry denied that he and his wife had accused a member of the royal family of racism.
Translating can be a long process and it is common for agents to send early versions to foreign publishers to get it underway. It is understood UTA received a signed-off manuscript from the British publisher, Harper Collins, and sent that to its foreign counterparts.
The King will consult senior advisers this week on the family’s next step, with “all options” including legal action set to be considered.
Xander initially said the names were revealed in a “translation” mix-up but later said that an “error” led to the printing. The book has the title Eindstrijd (Final Battle) in the Netherlands.
Anke Roelen, managing director of Xander Uitgevers, said: “Xander … temporarily removed the book from sale, due to an error that occurred in the Dutch edition.” That edition credits two translators.
One of them, Saskia Peeters, said last week that the names were in the manuscript that she was sent. “I translate what is in front of me … I did not add them,” she told MailOnline. The other translator, Nellie Keukelaar, did not comment.
Scobie, 42, said last week that he did not include the names when he gave the manuscript to his publisher.
When told that Scobie had denied the names were in his manuscript, Peters said: “I don’t know why he would say that. I have been translating for many years. This is the first time anything like this has happened. This is not something I wanted to be involved in. This has been upsetting.”
In their infamous interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021, the Sussexes alleged that an unidentified member of the monarchy, not the late Queen or Prince Philip, had raised “concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born”.
● Omid Scobie speaks out: Harry, Meghan and the royals in crisis
The late Queen subsequently released a statement saying that while the issues around race were concerning, “recollections may vary” and vowed to deal with the matter privately.
It has been reported that the King and the Duchess of Sussex subsequently exchanged letters about the matter in which he is said to have expressed his sadness that she felt that way but took great pains to explain that there would have been no “ill will or casual prejudice” intended on behalf of those involved.
It is understood that Buckingham Palace has been internally investigating who could have seen the letters from their end, but it is confident the leak has not come from within, believing only a “tiny handful” of people have ever seen them.
Omid Scobie and Xander Uitgevers were approached for comment.
Sussexes ‘must be stripped of royal titles’
It was perhaps inevitable that Omid Scobie’s latest book on the dysfunction inside the House of Windsor would reignite a royal scandal of some sort.
Less predictable was that a rogue Dutch translation would trigger an attempt to use First World War-era legislation to strip the Duke and Duchess of Sussex of their royal titles.
Bob Seely, MP for the Isle of Wight, said he was so incensed by the couple’s failure to defend the King and the Princess of Wales, who were named in error as the royals who allegedly made remarks over Archie’s skin colour, that he would try to bring forward legislation stripping them of their status.
He said he believed the Sussexes’ part in the royal racism row left parliament with no choice but to consider the “nuclear option” of demoting them to plain old Mr and Mrs Sussex. Seely said he would present his Titles Deprivation 1917 Act Amendment Bill in the next couple of weeks.
The law was originally passed to deprive German and Austrian relatives of the royal family of their English titles. It was controversial then, too, because it created a way of severing the Windsors’ close blood ties with Germany.
There was no historical precedent for such a mechanism, so the act effectively created a new one.
Then, as now, the legislation was partly motivated by the desire to save the royal family from being embarrassed by their relatives.
Writing for The Mail on Sunday, Seely said: “I’m not a republican and support the monarchy, but after the latest instalment of the couple’s feud with the rest of the royal family, I believe that parliament and the privy council should consider a nuclear option. The duke and duchess can be Mr and Mrs like the rest of us.
“My Titles Deprivation 1917 Act Amendment Bill would allow a vote in parliament to advise the ancient advisory privy council to strip a member of the royal family of their titles. My aim is simple: if someone doesn’t want to be royal, that is a decision we respect — but they should not keep the titles and privileges if they trash an institution that plays an important part in our nation’s life.”
Seely was not among the 20 MPs drawn out of the private members’ bill ballot and therefore does not have priority to bring forward a proposal. It means the bill is highly unlikely to make progress through parliament in its proposed form due to a lack of time.
His comments came as Palace officials continued to consider whether to take legal action over the publishing error, in which the King and the Princess of Wales were named in the Dutch translation of Scobie’s Endgame. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021, Meghan alleged that an unidentified member of the monarchy — not the late Queen or Prince Philip — had raised “concerns and conversations about how dark his [Archie’s] skin might be”, leading to speculation. After the interview, Harry denied that he and Meghan had accused a member of the royal family of racism.
The royal rift showed no signs of healing after it emerged that the Sussexes had not been invited to the wedding of one of the duke’s close friends. The Duke of Westminster, 32, is godfather to children of both the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Sussex: Prince George and Prince Archie. It is understood that the duke has invited the King and Queen and the Prince and Princess of Wales when he marries Olivia Henson, 30, at Chester Cathedral on June 7 — but not the Sussexes in order to avoid an embarrassing clash.
Harry’s memoir Spare has become the most “traded-in” biography of the year. According to WeBuyBooks, an online company that swaps items for cash, Spare has been traded in 459 times. It has topped the bestsellers list since publication on January 10. A spokesman said: “We limit how many we accept so chances are if we’d accepted every copy, there’d have been more.”
