Buckingham Palace is ‘considering all options’ after two royals accused of ‘unconscious racial bias’ were named in a book released in the Netherlands.
Meghan Markle claimed in 2021 that two members of the Royal Family expressed ‘concern’ about which colour Prince Archie’s skin would be before he was born.
Prince Harry and Meghan have never publicly revealed the identities of who allegedly made the remarks – but two names were included in Omid Scobie’s book titled Endgame.
Shortly after the book was released in the Netherlands this week, it was quickly pulled from the shelves and taken off sale.
The UK and US versions do not name any individuals and the publisher dismissed an extra paragraph identifying them in the Dutch copies as a ‘translation error’.
Now, royal aides are seriously looking at how they should respond to the bombshell, if at all, according to well-placed sources who spoke to the Daily Mail.
‘I understand the palace is considering all options open to them,’ the source said, including the possibility of legal action.
‘However, the key thing for them is His Majesty responding in the most eloquent way possible by getting on with business and not letting it distract from vastly more important issues regarding the future on the planet and bilaterals with other world leaders including those impacted by the situation in the Middle East.’
Royal author Mr Scobie defended his controversial book when appearing on This Morning and said he is ‘just as frustrated as everyone else’ that the royals were named’.
Co-host Craig Doyle suggested it may have been a ‘stunt to sell books’ and said it seemed ‘bizarre’ that they had been identified.
Mr Doyle said: ‘That just seems bizarre to everybody out there because you don’t accidentally put in a name, and you can’t put it down to mistranslation, can you?
‘It does feel like a stunt to sell books – which I understand.’
Mr Scobie said he wrote the English language version of his book but does not speak the other languages it was translated into, ‘so the only time you hear about the book is once it’s come out in the public domain..
‘I’m as frustrated as everyone else,’ he said.
He also claimed: ‘The reality, though, is that this is information that is not privy just to me, journalists across Fleet Street have known those names for a long time.
‘I have never submitted a book that had their names in it, so I can only talk about my version.’
Harry and Meghan made it clear at the time of their interview that it was not the late Queen Elizabeth II or her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, who had raised ‘concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born’.
Presenter Piers Morgan chose to name the two royals named in the book live on TalkTV on Wednesday night and subsequently on social media, saying the British public had the right to know because Dutch readers were already aware.
In his book, Mr Scobie states that two people, not one as Meghan said, made the comment about Archie, which was widely interpreted as a racist remark.
King Charles and the Duchess of Sussex are said to have exchanged letters about the issue following her claims in a sit-down interview with Oprah Winfrey.
He is said to have expressed his sadness that she felt that way and explained there would have been no ‘ill will or casual prejudice’ intended on behalf of those involved.
Royal expert Phil Dampier told MailOnline he believes that the scandal in Holland has caused more turmoil for the royals.
‘They will be scratching their heads at Buckingham Palace and wondering what the best thing to do about this,’ he said.
‘I don’t believe for one moment that either of the two people who have been named are racists.’
Mark Stephens, one of Britain’s leading media lawyers urged the Sussexes to sue Omid Scobie for a privacy breach.
He said: ‘He’s let the cat out of the bag and they can also get the injunction against the world – and it could be the great rapprochement.’
Mr Stephens told Newsweek: ‘You’re mainly looking to prevent him or anyone else from repeating information that should have never seen the light of day.
‘The way that Harry and Meghan demonstrate that they didn’t want to see this in the public domain is by getting an injunction against the person who’s breached their confidence.
‘The moral imperative is that they must – given their widely known concerns about privacy and seeing another member of the family suffer as well as themselves suffer from an invasion of privacy – they would want to do everything they could to prevent it going further.’
Metro.co.uk has approached Buckingham Palace for comment.
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