Omid Scobie insists Harry and Meghan didn’t brief him for Endgame – but admits there are ‘plenty of people around them’ who DID – as he embarks on media blitz amid backlash to his ‘poisonous’ book

Omid Scobie today insisted that Harry and Meghan had not informed him about Endgame, but admitted that ‘people around them’ were happy to tell all about ‘the ins and outs’ of their feuds with the royal family.

Mr Scobie appears to be in New York today for a series of US TV interviews to promote his latest attack on the royal family, calling much of the criticism against it ‘nonsense’.

Speaking to the London Evening Standard, the Sussexes’ favorite royal reporter said he had met Meghan a number of times.

But he again denied he was close to the former Suits star and her royal husband, repeatedly insisting they were helping him with the new book.

He said: “There are plenty of people around them and in their environment who know the ins and outs of things,” adding: “If there has ever been a private meeting with Meghan, I have talked about it.”

Scobie’s ‘depressingly toxic’ Endgame was today written off as yet another book by those working inside Buckingham Palace, MailOnline can reveal today, as the under-fire author hit back.

He hit back at critics on Instagram – and ignored some reviews – stating: ‘After all the nonsense written by people who haven’t seen the book, I’m looking forward to everyone actually being able to read Endgame for themselves’.

King Charles III (L) and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (C) speak with Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida (R) at Buckingham Palace to mark the closing of the Global Investment Summit yesterday

Prince William, Prince of Wales, on stage at the 2023 Tusk Conservation Awards at The Savoy Hotel last night

Buckingham Palace has maintained a contemptuous silence, but a royal source has dismissed Scobie’s Endgame as yet another book about the Windsors not worthy of official comment.

The insider told MailOnline when asked if there was any truth to Mr Scobie’s claims: ‘Hundreds of books have been written about the royal family.’ Endgame was released today, but some reviews were bad.

Even the Sussex-sympathizing New York Times was withering, likening his writing to an AI chatbot with one section compared to a press release from Meghan and Harry.

The new book about the royal family was labeled ‘evil’ and ‘downright nasty’ last night. Well-placed sources described wild claims that Charles, Camilla and William were plotting to undermine Harry and Meghan as ‘depressingly toxic’.

Omid Scobie’s book also takes aim at the Princess of Wales, labeling her “cold” and castigating her for supporting mental health care while “ignoring Meghan’s cries for help.”

It tries to stir up controversy over the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh’s joke to deflect questions about the Sussexes’ impressive interview with Oprah Winfrey by saying: ‘Oprah who?’

He says it made Edward and Sophie seem “casually bigoted.” Endgame, which was published in Australia yesterday and hits shelves here today, paints an almost comically negative picture of the monarchy, with royals depicted as pantomime-style villains.

Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace have declined to comment, believing they have nothing to gain from pursuing the claims. Charles and William were both busy with public engagements close to their hearts: the King hosted a global investment summit and his son attended the Tusk Conservation Awards.

Royal sources described wild claims that Charles, Camilla and William conspired to undermine Harry and Meghan as ‘depressingly toxic’

Those in royal circles described the book as ‘downright nasty’, ‘cruel’ and a ‘skewed’ retelling of family events ‘in the Sussex style’. Endgame claims:

• Charles’s ‘incompetence’ in dealing with Harry and Meghan – and refusal to give them the apology they demanded – has turned them into ‘disruptors’;
• Harry tried to ‘contact’ his father after the publication of his vitriolic memoir, Spare, earlier this year by calling his father, but found the king’s response to be ‘cold and curt’;
• Senior royals turned a blind eye to aides who leaked details about the Sussexes as part of their power games and subjected them to ‘institutional cruelty’;
• William and his father disagree over the future of the monarchy and the handling of family issues;
• Their ‘distrust and simmering hostility’ resulted in Charles borrowing ‘schadenfreude’ from his son’s supposedly disastrous tour of the Caribbean the previous year;
• William is ‘colder’ – but also inexplicably more ‘hot-headed’ – than his father and ‘has no problem taking prisoners along the way’;
• Camilla has helped leak stories about other members of the royal family and has ‘no relationship’ with Harry. The book says she has “great sympathy” for what Meghan went through, but “no respect” for the way the Sussexes handled themselves;
• The king was so indecisive about how to treat his beleaguered brother Andrew that William had to intervene and insist that he should lose his privileges;
• Charles “stumbled” through his first 100 days because King and Queen Elizabeth had so little faith in him that she made a former spymaster her “CEO.”

Despite Scobie’s claims of independence from the Sussexes, they are the only ones who have been spared his sharp words, rumors and banter. He claims senior royals were jealous of Harry and Meghan’s success and undermined them.

Meghan suffered because she was too dynamic, he says, “insufficiently respectful” as a woman of color working in an “entitled, extremely white space” and reminded the royals of Princess Diana.

As a result, palace aides refused to defend her against the negative stories that began to appear about her, while they were happy to take action against a publication that suggested Kate had undergone ‘baby Botox’.

Queen Elizabeth, on the other hand, liked that “Katie Keen” – a nickname said to come from social media – was “coachable” as a future royal.

Yet Scobie claims her lack of support, involvement and insistence on spending time with her three young children during the school holidays technically makes her a ‘part-time working royal’.

Scobie says the statement after Harry and Meghan’s interview with Oprah that “memories may vary” was deliberately crafted to “plant seeds of doubt in people’s minds” about their claims.

William, Harry, Meghan and Charles speak together at Westminster Abbey in March 2019

Omid Scobie’s new book Endgame about the royal family was published today

Meanwhile, Wiliam shows ‘indifference’, ‘hardness’ and continues to ‘hold Harry back’ while his brother only wants ‘honest conversations and responsibility’. William’s attempts to promote racial harmony are branded ‘opportunistic’ as he refuses to talk to Harry about ‘unconscious prejudice’ in his own family.

The book says Charles and Meghan discussed the issue in an exchange of letters – in which she named two people she claims were concerned about her son Archie’s skin color – but William has not responded to the king’s requests to discuss it with Harry to talk. at.

Although aides expected the book to be a “hatchet job” based on Scobie’s previously flattering tome about the Sussexes, Finding Freedom, it has still upset many.

One source said that while much of it is a ‘rehash’ of well-known events from a ‘decidedly Sussex skew’, the almost pantomime nature of the leads calls into question much of what Scobie claims.

Another said there was a ‘fairytale’ atmosphere to the book. ‘It shows how little he actually knows. It’s actually quite embarrassing,” they noted.

However, the book does contain some insights into the letters Charles and Meghan exchanged and the Sussexes’ daily family routine.