Kirsty O’Connor/PA
The Princess of Wales is accused of being “cold” and ignoring the Duchess of Sussex’s “cries for help” in a controversial new book about the royal family.
Omid Scobie’s book, Endgame, which was published on Tuesday, asserts that the future of the monarchy is “in a crisis” and it is in a “fight for survival”.
In the book a “source” claims that Kate can be “cold if she doesn’t like someone” and the writer goes on to say: “This is a side of Kate that rarely gets written about.
“Advocating for mental health causes – the mental health of mothers, for that matter – but ignoring her own sister-in-law’s cries for help seemed out of character for someone the public knew as sweet and easy to get along with.”
In an interview with The Times, Mr Scobie said: “That crisis being a lack of interest from young people, an apathy, a growing republican movement, questions over whether the family still uphold the morals and values of the Crown that the Queen did such a great job of.”
Among the claims made in the book are that there is a rift between the King and the Prince of Wales, that the Queen has “quietly thanked” Piers Morgan for “defending the Firm”, and that a timid Princess of Wales has to be encouraged to take part in engagements.
Mr Scobie’s book makes a series of allegations involving the Sussexes – including that William and other family members “covertly sanctioned” leaks to reporters about Harry, that the elder brother ignored texts from Harry when the family were making their way to Balmoral before the late Queen died last year, and that Charles and Meghan exchanged letters in the wake of her interview with Oprah Winfrey.
The alleged letters are said to reveal the identity of two people the duchess claimed, in the TV interview, aired “concerns” about the colour of then-unborn Prince Archie’s skin.
Mr Scobie co-authored Finding Freedom, a biography of the Sussexes which chronicled the couple in glowing terms, and they receive favourable treatment in his new book.
He writes in Endgame: “The new King is still dealing with the fallout from his inability to convene and command his own family. His ineptitude surrounding the Harry and Meghan saga has effectively turned the couple into the disruptors they were feared to become in the first place.”
The writer claims the King missed an opportunity to let “bygones be bygones” and begin a new chapter in his relationship with Harry, when the duke contacted him after the release of his memoir Spare which made a series of damning allegations about the royal family.
Endgame quotes a source as saying Charles was “cold and brief rather than open to proper dialogue” when he spoke to his son.
And the King’s relationship with his eldest son, the Prince of Wales, appears equally as fractious according to Mr Scobie, who writes “Distrust and simmering animosity between father and son are nothing new to their working relationship.”
The 42-year-old author said he did not interview the Duchess of Sussex for Endgame but shares mutual friends with her which helped with sourcing information.
Harry and Meghan are said in the book to be “in a good place”.
Relations between William and Harry have long been strained, and worsened after the accusations Harry publicly levelled at his brother in double tell-alls: his memoir Spare and his Netflix documentary.
The writer previously said of Endgame: “I was talking to a source quite early on in the process, and they called Harry a ‘defector’, and said that was William’s view.”
He added: “In the eyes of some within the institution, Harry is a threat to the Crown.”
The author said of the brothers’ relationship: “There’s no going back.”
The book’s full title is Endgame: Inside The Royal Family And The Monarchy’s Fight For Survival, and its chapters include Race And The Royals: Institutional Bigotry And Denial, and another called Gloves On: Prince William, Heir To The Throne.
Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace declined to comment.
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