Omid Scobie’s new book is already a sensation, causing waves around the world with its revelations about the royals.
Based on the journalist’s interviews with insiders and his time in the royal press pack, it paints a picture of a divided royal family, each with particular character flaws which may threaten the institution.
Here are some top revelations:
Charles, the King who demands ironed shoelaces
In Chapter Five, Scobie writes that Charles is often criticised, including by his late mother the Queen. Charles lives extravagantly, which the Queen is said to have “repeatedly complained about”. As Scobie explains, the King demands that his soft-boiled eggs are cooked “just so” or he sends them back. He travels with a one-thousand-thread-count bed linen that must be “perfectly steamed”, while there is “hell to pay” if his pyjamas aren’t pressed. He even likes staff to regularly provide his shoes with a “fresh, ironed pair” of laces, and asks that exactly an inch of toothpaste is squeezed for him from a “crested silver dispenser”.
Perhaps understandably, Charles is close to his favourite staff, but it is perhaps surprising to read that he still speaks to his exiled former aide Michael Fawcett, who was accused of trying to help secure an honorary CBE and UK passport for a Saudi billionaire who handed £1.5 million to Charles’s charities. Fawcett denies any wrongdoing and police decided to take no action after an 18 month inquiry. “He's no longer working for the King, but the two remain in regular contact,” Scobie claims. The pair were once extremely close. Scobie repeats a sometimes forgotten story that Fawcett once held the cup when Charles was providing a urine sample.
Camilla, the anti-woke Queen who is irked by gluten-free menus
Queen Camilla doesn’t get off lightly in the book, and is painted as particularly anti-woke. It’s reported that her former private home used to feature “giant blackamoor statue in the entrance hall – a 4ft muscular black man holding a light bulb”. Palace aides say this was removed some years earlier.
Even gluten-free or dairy-free options on a restaurant menu reportedly “irk” Camilla, who is said to roll her eyes when subjects such veganism or gender identity are discussed. Scobie also claimed that she thanked Piers Morgan for calling Meghan “Pinocchio Princess” after the duchess had spoken about her mental health.
Prince William has a temper, while Kate “spent more time talking about Meghan than talking to her”
In Endgame, Scobie presents a complex Prince of Wales, who has a strong professional persona as a “statesman in the making”, but also a more difficult side. “It's a different story when the stage lights go down… when his temper flares behind closed doors, he more closely resembles his famously ill-tempered father,” the book reports. "He can definitely be sharp,” one aide tells Scobie. Another adds: "You don't want to be the bearer of bad news around him. He's quick to get fed up and blame.”
Scobie claims that while Kate rarely puts a foot wrong, she has a harsher side too, never reaching out to Meghan. "She wasn't a fan” of Meghan since the start, says one aide, while another says: “She spent more time talking about Meghan than talking to her’.” These days, Scobie says: “Kate has jokingly shivered when Meghan's name has come up.” Scobie says that Kate is rarely criticised by royal writers, even though she does few public engagements, and has had five different private secretaries in six years: one is said to have found the job "uninspiring and frustrating”, Scobie writes.
Still, Kate isn’t the only royal who is reported as saying harsh things about Meghan. Princess Michael of Kent is reported as saying at a public event in 2021: “Well. We could already guess what someone like her would be like. I saw it coming from miles away".
Charles’s critique of “that fool” Harry
King Charles has failed to mend relations with his son Prince Harry, Scobie writes, to the chagrin of many in the family. After Harry’s Netflix show, The King “went from not wanting anyone to talk about his son to openly criticising ‘that fool’” the book reports.
Many in royal circles feel King Charles could have reached out to Prince Harry earlier during the Megxit: "It's complex, but there's increasing frustration from some of the wider circle of family members that Charles won't just fix things for the sake of everyone”, a source tells Scobie. “A former Clarence House staff member said Charles was encouraged by senior aides and, on at least one occasion, the Queen herself, to swallow his pride. “‘Just tell him what he needs to hear’ That's what was said”, Scobie writes.
Things have got particularly bad lately. One source tells Scobie that Harry is “seeking accountability and, where appropriate, apologies.” But “stubborn” Charles still won’t mend the rift. Near Christmas last year, Harry asked Charles: “Don't you want to see your grandchildren?” Scobie goes on to say that: “His silence, followed by a half-hearted declaration that they would always have ‘somewhere’ to stay didn't, according to a source, give Harry much hope.”
Downing Street overruled Charles’s wish for a “leaner” coronation
There are regular tensions between the Government and the monarchy. Rishi Sunak and the Government pressured the monarchy into having a bigger coronation than King Charles wanted, because they were keen for a day of national celebration. “While Charles wanted to downsize, Sunak and Whitehall… envisioned a full-fat celebratory weekend – the full monty of carriages, a big concert, and national celebration,” Scobie writes. “Downing Street prevailed, and Charles ceded his vision for a leaner affair”.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Boris Johnson irritated the then Prince Charles when he stood in for his mother and opened parliament in 2022. “Johnson didn't send over the speech until the very last minute, so an irritated Charles wasn't given ample time to practise reading it”. One aide tells Scobie: "Johnson has done everything he can to become the most unpopular prime minister the Windsors have ever known”.
William has often “rejected his father's counsel”
The book claims that King Charles and Prince William are often at odds, despite claiming to be in “lockstep” over moves like stripping the Duke of York of his titles. In reality, William doesn’t always listen to Charles: “He has often rejected his father's counsel, keen to avoid the controversial candidness for which Charles has a reputation…He doesn't want to follow that same path" Scobie reports.
When William created Earthshot, an environmental prize, in 2020, Charles is said to have been annoyed, because his own green credentials were ignored. "He had hoped that William would want to involve his father or at least credit him for inspiring him to take on this role, but instead it was as if [Charles's environmentalism] didn't even exist” a source tells Scobie.
After a trip to the Caribbean was criticised for its colonial overtones in 2022, William tried to blame the problems on the family at large, and said that he would develop a different style of doing things: “The Cambridge way”. "It was disrespectful,” an aide tells Scobie. “Not only was he dangling the carrot of something his father could not deliver, but he also failed to address how he could actually deliver any of that”. Another source tells Scobie that William was "out of order".
Soon after the coronation, William let it be briefed that he would be doing things differently to his father, wondering how to make his ceremony more “modern and relevant”. When Lady Susan Hussey created Charles’s first full-on royal storm by repeatedly asking charity boss Ngozi Fulani where she was “really from” at a party, William was “furious” and “told his team that he needed to distance himself quickly”. “‘[William] asked, 'Why was she [Lady Hussey] there in the first place?!?".
Harry heard about death of the Queen “via the BBC News app”
Scobie writes about how Harry was excluded from mourning over the Queen’s death. First, he wasn’t invited on a plane north with William. Instead he got a £30,000 private plane from Luton Airport. His plane was still in the air when the Queen’s death was announced, so when he landed he “received a text from Meghan urging him to call ASAP followed by a breaking news alert via the BBC News app”.
The “walkabout” where Harry, Meghan, Kate and William met mourners after the Queen’s death was extremely cool between the brothers. Afterwards, William’s team tried to brief that it was his idea, but this was “a grab for positive press”, according to one of Charles’ aides. Later, Harry had to fight to wear his military uniform at a ceremony, but the shoulder epaulettes were missing the Queen's "ER" initials when they arrived.
William “infuriated” over Harry’s words on Diana
Scobie underlines how bitter Harry and William’s relationship has become by reminding readers of their differing views on Princess Diana’s infamous Panorama interview with Martin Bashir. Bashir used underhand means to get the interview, which led some of the royals to say that she didn’t mean what she said, including William. However, Harry has said: "she was deceived into giving the interview but at the same time she spoke the truth of her experience", Harry says in an episode. William was said to be "infuriated” by this.
Scobie writes too that royal princesses are often encouraged to dress like Diana, so that some of her popularity might “rub off” on them. “Diana cosplay has become a royal staple,” he writes.
The difficult relations between the brothers goes back some way, and was apparently helped by William’s ex-Private Secretary Simon Case. According to Scobie, Case decided that the best way to make William look good was to leak stories about Harry. Harry had wanted to make one of his old friends his best man, but Case is said to have leaked that William would do the job, knowing that the media would ask questions if he didn’t.
William’s team, led by Case, are also alleged to have orchestrated a photo opportunity where William would be seen taking a commercial flight (which actually turned out to have been specially flown for them), to make a contrast with Harry and Meghan.
“Two identities” of royals who asked about Archie’s skin colour
Scobie claims that it was not one but two royals who had a conversation about what colour Harry and Meghan’s unborn first son Archie’s skin would be, an exchange the couple famously found offensive, and spoke about in their Oprah interview.
Endgame reports that the name of those two royals are revealed in private letters between Charles and Meghan, but that “laws in the United Kingdom prevent me from reporting who they were”. Details of the letters were first written up in the Telegraph newspaper earlier this year.
Harry and Meghan to “move past” royal rift and live a quieter life
Harry and Meghan are now planning a less dramatic life, with "royal revelations… now over”. There will not be a new chapter for the Spare book, Scobie reports, and the Duke of Sussex is now focusing on screen productions. "I'm ready to move on past it,” Harry tells a friend. Meanwhile, Meghan is building a business: "something more accessible, something rooted in her love of details, curating, hosting, life's simple pleasures, and family”, and something “safe and timeless” that can’t be accused of “riding on the back of” royal links.
Back in the UK, Kate and William are now said to be enjoying life in Windsor, where the family enjoy "plenty of outdoor time”. Without the live-in help they had at Kensington Palace, Kate has “really gotten into cooking”.
