Meghan Markle Takes New Potshots at Buckingham Palace as the Names of ‘Racist Royals’ Are Inadvertently Disclosed

Duchess of Sussex or commander of chaos? Former actress Meghan Markle has reached into her bag of tricks yet again, or so it appears, to fire yet another parting shot at the British royal family as her middling career at Hollywood falters. The heart of the matter is Ms. Markle’s assertion that two royals once discussed their concerns about the potential skin color of her son, Archie. On Wednesday, British broadcaster Piers Morgan identified the royals as King Charles III and the Princess of Wales, Kate Middleton.Mr. Morgan was riding the shockwaves that started when Dutch copies of a new book — published in the original English on Tuesday — about Meghan and her husband, Prince Harry, by British writer Omid Scobie were summarily pulled from shops in the Netherlands after “a translation error exposed the identity of a family member embroiled in a race row over Prince Harry and Meghan’s first child,” as CNN reported.The Dutch publishers of Mr. Scobie’s book, “Endgame,” have stated that “an error occurred in the Dutch translation and is currently being rectified.” According to some reports, the publisher “received a request from the United States” to pull the books from shelves. It will publish a “rectified” edition that will be in Dutch shops next month.The plot, however, thickens. Mr. Morgan, on his show Wednesday night, said that, “Frankly, if Dutch people wandering into a bookshop can pick it up and see these names, then you — the British people here, who actually pay for the British royal family — you’re entitled to know, too.”The Duchess of Sussex attends the 2023 Variety Power Of Women at Mother Wolf on November 16, 2023 at Los Angeles, California. Kayla Oaddams/Getty ImagesIt was Ms. Markle who lit the first match during an interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021. She told Ms. Winfrey, who is a longtime resident of Montecito, California, where the Sussexes have a multimillion-dollar home — but with no beach access — that unnamed members of the royal family had had conversations about her future child’s skin color. In response to Ms. Winfrey’s question about whether those conversations were “about how dark your baby is going to be,” Ms. Markle, who is biracial, answered, “Potentially, and what that would mean or look like.”Fast forward to Mr. Scobie, who claims in his book that Ms. Markle penned private letters to Charles in which she named the two royals who allegedly expressed concerns about her then-unborn offspring’s potential complexion. In recent interviews to promote “Endgame,” Mr. Scobie claimed to know the names of the two accused racist royals but could not expose them for legal reasons. Britain’s libel laws are notoriously hostile to journalists. Yet now that the names have been broadcast, it reignites Ms. Markle’s long-simmering feud with her arch-rival, Princess Catherine. There was, of course, the fight over bridesmaids’ dresses during Ms. Markle’s wedding, after which, Ms. Markle claimed to Ms. Winfrey, Catherine — then the Duchess of Cambridge — “owned it” and sent her flowers. Then there was the contretemps over lip balm, exposed in Prince Harry’s explosive memoir, “Spare,” which recounts how Ms. Markle asked to borrow Catherine’s lip balm which led to Catherine being “taken aback” and “grimacing.”Mr. Scobie has recently poured more gas on that fire, reporting in “Endgame” that the Princess of Wales “shivers” when Ms. Markle’s name comes up, is “cold if she doesn’t like someone,” and ignored Ms. Markle’s alleged mental health crisis — he claimed to have been suicidal while living at Kensington Palace — while hypocritically advocating for mental health. He also criticized her for shirking her royal duties, a critique that has reportedly enraged her husband, Prince William. Catherine, who is the Princess of Wales, during her recent visit to Sebby’s Corner on November 24, 2023 at Barnet, England. Omid Scobie has drawn outrage after referring to her, in his new book, as “cold” and “a part time royal” who shirks her royal duties. A Dutch version of his new book, “Endgame,” through an “inadvertent editing error,” names her as one of two royals, along with the future King Charles, who allegedly asked about the race of the baby of the Duchess of Sussex. Frank Augstein – WPA Pool/Getty ImagesIf Mr. Scobie — whose name should not be conflated with the cartoon canine character Scooby-Doo — seems to be rather firmly ensconced in the Sussex’s corner, well, he has denied that he was in any way under their employ and said he’s “not their pal.” He is, in any event, unusually familiar with the couple’s thoughts, and his previous book about them, “Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family,” cleared a path for “Endgame.” Ms. Markle at first denied cooperating with “Finding Freedom” but later, in a sworn court statement during her feud with the Daily Mail, admitted that she had briefed and authorized a friend to speak to Mr. Scobie. When it comes to the “racist royals,” it is Ms. Markle who is playing the long game here, at least in terms of roiling the most senior members of the royal family. London’s Sun newspaper reported that an unnamed senior Buckingham Palace source said, “In all likelihood, it must have been the Sussex camp which leaked the names,” adding, “It’s a nasty and deliberate attack.”That same source said that Meghan’s letter to Charles, which contained the names, “is under lock and key and no one from within the King’s circle would’ve briefed anyone about its contents.”Ms. Markle herself may have given a preview of the leak. In a treacly red carpet interview at Variety’s “Power of Women” event earlier this month, the dabbling duchess said that she had some exciting projects in the pipeline — but none that she could announce. Was she waiting for the publication of Mr. Scobie’s latest book of alleged scoops to make her move?King Charles III inspects the 200th Sovereign’s parade at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on April 14, 2023 at Camberley, England. A Dutch version of Omid Scobie’s new book, “Endgame,” exposed him, “inadvertently,” as one of two royals accused of racism for allegedly asking about the skin color of the child of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. Dan Kitwood/Getty ImagesTo this ugly family squabble, which is swiftly transforming into a transatlantic drama of Shakespearean proportions, add another twist. In March 2021, Mr. Morgan stormed off the set of the ITV network’s popular program “Good Morning Britain” after his co-host said on the air that Mr. Morgan was “continuing to trash” the Duchess of Sussex. Mr. Morgan had accused her of being an inveterate liar who prevaricated about her mental health woes.Following that incident, Mr. Morgan left ITV. His current show, “Piers Morgan Uncensored,” airs on a network called TalkTV. On the same broadcast Wednesday night in which he named the royals whose names appeared by mistake in the Dutch edition of “Endgame,” he also said, “I don’t believe any racist comments were ever made by any of the royal family, and until there is actual evidence of those comments being made, I will never believe it.”For his part, Prince William told reporters, after Ms. Markle’s initial broadside during the Oprah Winfrey interview, that “we are not a racist family.”If vengeance is a dish best-served cold, both Ms. Markle and Mr. Morgan demonstrate they are savvy servers. Mr. Morgan, like any broadcast journalist, needs to keep his ratings up. Ms. Markle needs to stay in the public eye, and setting off this latest round of fireworks is one sure way to do it. If she risks courting new legal trouble, she may also find a bigger audience than she’s been able to muster for any of her entertainment projects, barring the now-canceled “Suits,” in which she starred and reruns of which became a surprise megahit on Netflix this fall. This is so even as polls show that most Britons view the Princess of Wales in a far more favorable light than Ms. Markle, who is now 42, and more than anything else princess of — as many in Southern California might say — bad vibes.

Meghan Markle Takes New Potshots at Buckingham Palace as the Names of ‘Racist Royals’ Are Inadvertently Disclosed

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