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The royal family is one of ambition, distrust and competition, with the Prince and Princess of Wales at the center, according to an explosive new book about The Firm.
In “Endgame,” royal reporter and author Omid Scobie goes beyond Prince Harry and details an alleged power struggle between King Charles and Prince William.
He examines the new king’s relationship with his disgraced brother Prince Andrew and examines why Kate fits perfectly into the image of Britain’s future queen.
Scobie examines the British media’s coverage of previous controversies surrounding William and Kate and makes startling claims about the heir’s attitude towards his brother Harry.
Ahead of the book’s release on November 28, here are some of the biggest royal reveals from Endgame:
William snaps after Charles when the “ambitious” prince sees the throne
One of the key themes of Scobie’s book is the alleged “rift” between King Charles and Prince William
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Scobie points out an alleged rift between King Charles and his son, the Prince of Wales. In Endgame, William is portrayed as an ambitious, hot-headed prince determined to lead the royal family into the future. Scobie claims he wants to “tear up the rulebook” and do things “the Cambridge way.”
He adds that while William respects his father, the differing views could become a problem in the coming years. Scobie writes that William and Charles are united in their frustration with Prince Harry, but disagree on how the institution should be run.
He describes Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace, the offices of Charles and William respectively, as repositories of competing agendas and different ideas for modernizing the monarchy. Scobie also claims that William “doesn’t give his father the same space” as Charles did with the late queen as the 41-year-old keeps his eye on the throne. “There is no time for that,” writes the author.
Insights into Wales’ relationship with the British press
The book looks at the positive media coverage of William and Kate
(PA cable)
Through the lens of a series of incidents in 2019, Scobie provides an analysis of the British media’s relationship with the Prince and Princess of Wales.
Prince Harry has previously claimed that stories about his wife were leaked to the British press. Harry called it a “dirty game” in the couple’s 2022 Netflix docuseries and said negative coverage of Meghan helped divert unwanted media attention from other members of the royal family.
Scobie describes William and Kate’s holiday at Balmoral Castle in 2019 as a “flashy publicity stunt”. This year the prince and princess were praised for booking a Flybe flight from Norwich to Aberdeen worth £73 per person. Harry and Meghan reportedly chartered four private flights in 11 days. What wasn’t part of the “PR gimmicks,” Scobie writes, was that the Cambridges’ scheduled flight didn’t have the Flybe logo on the side.
With airline bosses keen to use a correctly branded aircraft, an empty aircraft was sent from headquarters at Humberside, some 123 miles north of Norwich. The same plane also returned empty to Humberside after the family landed in Aberdeen.
In total, the two flights caused over four and a half tons of CO2 emissions. “Your perfect family trip was exposed for what it really was; “A conspicuous publicity stunt,” says Scobie. A source close to William and Kate reportedly said in a statement to Web that they were unaware Flybe had swapped the flights and had not requested special treatment.
William believes Harry has been brainwashed by an “army of therapists.”
Prince Harry has been very open about his mental health problems
(Apple TV+)
Scobie believes that William and Harry’s relationship is unlikely to improve as the rift between the brothers continues to drive them apart.
The heir and replacement have fallen out with Meghan following Harry’s bombshell allegations against the royal family since stepping down as a senior member and moving to the US.
In “Endgame,” the British journalist claims that William believes Harry blindsided the family with their public complaints and “oh-so-California” smugness. A source reportedly said Scobie William is convinced his younger brother is being brainwashed by an “army of therapists” and that he no longer recognizes who Harry has become.
“He feels like he’s lost Harry and doesn’t want to get to know that version of him anymore,” a source close to William told Scobie. Harry is reportedly ready to put the whole saga behind him, whether or not he and Meghan receive an apology for the royal family’s alleged treatment since their wedding.
Kate jokingly “shuddered” when Meghan’s name was mentioned
Meghan was considered more difficult than Kate “because she had an opinion”
(PA)
Scobie gives Endgame readers his take on Kate and Meghan’s supposedly frosty relationship, writing that they were never close.
Citing multiple sources, he claims Kate was never a fan of the former actress. One person reportedly told Scobie that the Princess of Wales “spent more time talking about Meghan than with her.” He also reveals that Kate has “jokingly shuddered when Meghan’s name was mentioned” lately.
Scobie describes Kate as an “institutional dream come true” and says the future queen has “successfully sublimated her authentic self and has become an enigma to the public and perhaps even to herself.” He claims Kate, who was born in Reading and attended St Andrew’s, where she met Prince William, has “had several rounds of language lessons” and now sounds “more genteel” than her husband.
In contrast, a former palace aide told Scobie that Meghan was seen as difficult “because she had an opinion.”
“They wanted Meghan to just do everything suggested and not do any extra work,” he writes. “It was a combination of her not conforming to the behavior of women marrying into the family and certain people just being lazy.”
William “ignored his brother” and Harry was “left completely alone” after the Queen’s death.
Prince Harry has become increasingly distant from his family in Britain
(Getty Images for the 2022 Robert F. Kennedy Gala)
Queen Elizabeth’s reign ended last year when the longtime monarch died on September 8, 2022. Scobie writes that the Sussexes had no idea that Buckingham Palace was preparing for their final hours when Charles called Harry and asked him to head to Balmoral Castle immediately.
When Harry contacted William to see if they could travel to Scotland together, there was said to be radio silence.
Harry was reportedly informed that William had secured a flight for himself and his uncles, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward. In the meantime, the Duke received no details about taking part in this flight.
A source told Scobie: “It was disturbing to witness. [Harry] was completely on his own.”
Harry sent his brother a follow-up text message, but he still received no response from William – even though there were seats available on the private Dassault Falcon jet the prince had chartered.
“William ignored him,” a family source said. “He obviously didn’t want to see his brother.”
In the end, Harry flew alone from Luton Airport in a $37,000 private plane.
Harry learned of the queen’s death after a news report
A source claimed William “completely ignored” Harry around the time surrounding the Queen’s death.
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Harry had no idea that his grandmother had died at 3.10pm on September 8th, more than two hours before his own flight took off. While the Duke was still racing against time to reach Her Majesty’s bedside, Buckingham Palace prepared to break the news of her death to the world, writes Scobie.
“[Harry’s] “The team had to literally beg to wait for their plane to land, and they reluctantly agreed to withhold the statement for a while,” Scobie shares the statement of a close family friend. But when Harry’s plane was delayed due to bad weather over Aberdeen International Airport, “they couldn’t wait any longer and the announcement went live at 6.30pm,” he writes.
When the plane landed at around 6.50pm, Harry received a text message from Meghan asking him to call her after she received a breaking news report from the BBC about the Queen’s death.
“Harry was devastated,” a friend of the Duke’s told Scobie. “His relationship with the queen was everything to him. She would have wanted him to know before it went out into the world. They could have waited a little longer, it would have been nothing in the grand scheme of things, but no one respected that at all.”
Charles was “in tears” over his disgrace to Andrew’s mental health
Prince Andrew with his brother Charles
(Getty Images)
Scobie says Charles, like his late mother, has a soft spot for Prince Andrew, who has withdrawn from royal life amid intense scrutiny over his ties to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
“It was easy enough to dismiss and exclude his son,” he writes, referring to Charles’ approach to dealing with Harry, “although with his own brother it’s a different story.”
Amid Andrew’s fall from grace, Scobie writes, “Charles had tears in his eyes, fearing for the disgraced Duke’s sanity.”
The Duke of York was stripped of his military titles by his mother after Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s victims, accused him of sexually abusing her in his Belgravia apartment when she was 17. Andrew strongly and repeatedly denied the allegations and later paid millions of dollars. pound amount to settle the lawsuit.
According to R Scobie, it was “William who set the wheels in motion” to distance the royal family from Andrew, despite the Queen being the “official face of Andrew’s reckoning”. He claims Charles “wanted no part of it.”
Silence from the royal family on the racial dispute over Prince Archie
Apparently Harry is now “doing well” and is focusing on his physical and mental fitness
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In the two years since the royal family was embroiled in a racial dispute over Harry and Meghan’s son, no one but Charles is said to have addressed the alleged conversation about Prince Archie’s skin color.
After moving to Montecito, California, Harry and Meghan met for an interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021. During their hour-long conversation about her treatment by the royals, Meghan claimed a senior member speculated about the color of Archie’s skin while she was pregnant.
Although the issue was reportedly raised privately in letters between Meghan and Charles, neither Kate nor William have contacted the Sussexes about the matter.
“The silence has caused great confusion and excitement,” said a source close to the family.
Harry “is doing great”
With the long rift between him and his family showing no signs of healing, Prince Harry is focusing on his role as father to Archie and Princess Lilibet.
According to Scobie’s report, Harry also values his physical and mental fitness, adding that the Duke regularly works out with his personal trainer. His everyday life also includes regular hikes, bike rides and ice baths.
“Endgame” is released in the UK on November 28th. You can read The Independent’s review of the book here.
Kensington Palace, Buckingham Palace and the Sussexes have all been contacted for comment.