How Big Are Endgame's Bombshells?
The Times presented what it considered the biggest bombshells from Omid Scobie's new book on the royals: Endgame; I discuss those bombshells here.
The royal watching world is a tizzy as Omid Scobie’s book Endgame was published/released today. As I noted on Instagram yesterday, I do not think Scobie is actually taken very seriously by anyone other than the most radicalized Meghan fan, so I think this book will make for some splashy headlines and be forgotten almost as quickly. The Times published a round-up of some of Scobie’s most salacious claims with the following paragraph:
The hapless King who thought his son a fool, the cold duke desperate to be king, the feuding royal brides who will never see eye to eye, a prince betrayed and a Queen obsessed with preserving her own image. No, they are not characters from a gothic fairytale, but the very real personalities whose tales are told in Omid Scobie’s latest book.
But even in saying they are not tales from a gothic fairytale, you can feel the Times might be suggesting they are modern day fabrication nonetheless. To my mind, half the bombshell claims in the book are, frankly, wholly unremarkable under the circumstances. I don’t plan to read the book, and I get the sense many of you don’t plan to either, so let’s just run through the Times’ handy guide. It’s off to a hilarious start with the first of Scobie’s bombshells that wasn’t:
King Charles told royals not to trust ‘that fool’ Harry
King Charles allegedly told the royal family to not trust his son, the Duke of Sussex. A source close to the King said that a message was circulated at the behest of Charles that the “family was not to trust him [Harry]”, following publication of the Duke’s memoir Spare in January this year, according to Endgame, which is released on Tuesday.
The King is also said to have referred to the Duke of Sussex as “that fool” and rejected the chance of a meeting after his youngest son made a series of claims against the royal family in the Netflix documentary series Harry & Meghan.
So what? I mean, Charles would be Fool-in-Chief if he trusted Harry after the latter’s book Spare came out. In fact, if a memo was required at all to alert the family to maintain careful discretion when dealing with Harry, it should have gone out the night of the Oprah interview. So I consider KCIII a bit behind the eight ball on that one. And after everything Harry had said and done, calling him a “fool” seems like Charles was putting it mildly. Does any sensible person disagree with this?
The next claim?
Prince William is ‘power-hungry and cold’ — and desperate to be king
Before readers even open the book, they are told in the blurb of a “power-hungry heir to the throne”. “The Prince of Wales is eager to ascend the throne,” Scobie writes. “A real impatience is created around him.” William is portrayed as an ill-tempered king-in-waiting who is “reserved on the pitch, but unpredictable” off it, with Scobie telling the French weekly magazine Paris Match: “When something doesn’t suit him, his anger immediately escalates.”
Sounds like projection to me. This goes against William’s well-documented reticence about his royal role. As a teenager and in his early twenties, it was well known that William resented his position and the pre-ordained life he was expected to live. One of the impressive signs of maturity displayed by William has been that he has obviously come to peace with his position, embraced it, and is executing it with confidence. But this history alone belies the truth of this so-called bombshell. And I wold even say that William might like being PoW more than king, since as king, he will be expected to undertake more of the ceremonial and traditional duties that he seems to want to avoid or downplay.
This kind of “bombshell claim” is one of the reasons Scobie just is not taken seriously. It is not plausible. As to William’s temper? That’s no newsflash. He definitely has a temper—a family trait he shares with his father and his brother Harry.
What’s next? Ahh, a potshot at Kate.
Princess Kate sees Meghan as ‘rival’
From the moment her future sister-in-law’s relationship with Harry was made public in 2016, the Princess of Wales considered Meghan a “rival”, according to Scobie. The women, Scobie suggests, have had “almost zero communication” since late 2019. He quotes a source close to the royals as saying: “She [Kate] spent more time speaking about Meghan than to Meghan.” “Each time that she heard about Meghan, Kate shook with giggles,” Scobie writes.
Separately, the book appears to suggest that Kate, lacking in originality, has previously sought to emulate Meghan.
I doubt Kate considered Meghan a rival “from the moment” the engagement was announced. Again, this claim underscores a fundamental misunderstanding about the hierarchical nature of the monarchy. Kate was secure as the senior princess.
Some fans will get a little upset when I say this, but I do think there was a bit of rivalry that developed for a short while.