ROBERT JOBSON: It’s time for Harry and Meghan to speak out and distance themselves from these ill-informed and lurid allegations

• Endgame is not the first pro-Sussex book that Omid Scobie has produced
• Don’t miss our brilliant new podcast, The Crown: Fact or Fiction with Robert Hardman and Natasha Livingstone. Listen now on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts

Omid Scobie’s new book, Endgame, is certainly causing a stir.

It is getting the sort of publicity every author and publisher would dream of.

It now seems certain that the book that I bought in Waterstones for £22 is heading for the bestseller lists.

Yet that dramatic title is as fanciful as some of the more lurid, headline grabbing content.

Endgame boasts that it is the monarchy’s ‘fight for survival’. Really? is the monarchy really in such a bad state?

If Harry and Meghan remain silent, they are effectively backing Omid Scobie and his claims, says royal author Robert Jobson

The Prince and Princess of Wales are criticised by Scobie, who accuses Kate of being terrified to carry out anything beyond photo opportunities. The Waleses are pictured at last week’s ceremonial welcome for the President of South Korea

Author Omid Scobie poses for a selfie with a copy of his book. Is he in danger of believing his own publicity?

Princes Harry and William are pictured together in July 2018. It was another 18 months before Harry and Meghan left front-line royal duties and decamped to north America

I think Omid, the co-author of bestseller Finding Freedom, and former showbiz and entertainment reporter, is in danger of believing his own publicity.

I work alongside Omid at US network ABC, where we are both contracted royal contributors. I like him personally. We have a good working relationship.

But to suggest the British monarchy is on its last legs is not only a bit much, it’s as ill-informed as some of what appears inside the 403-page tome.

As an author of 18 books (some bestsellers, some sadly not) I am loath to criticise another writer’s work, knowing how much blood, sweat and tears goes into a book.

But some of what he says about Catherine, The Princess of Wales is catty and unfair.

I have now read – in full – the chapter that focuses on her and I agree that it some of the coverage has been overblown.

But it is still unfair.

The princess has done her best to serve the Queen, the King and the country as well as her husband and family. As a mother of three her schedule is relentless.

She faced a hostile press and criticism, too, like Meghan did – in places – when she first arrived on the royal scene.

Catherine was dubbed ‘Waitie Katie’, remember. Her poor mum Carole was even slammed for being working class, for aspiring to better (her real ‘crime’ in my view) and – Heaven forbid! – for chewing gum.

But surely there is a bigger question at play here, one that has little to do with the veracity of what actually appears in the Scobie book.

And it is this: why doesn’t Harry, Duke of Sussex make a clear, personal statement to distance himself from Endgame and its contents?

Why doesn’t Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, do the same?

Off-the-record briefings and ‘friends’ don’t cut it.

By staying quiet they are effectively backing Omid, his implausible claims and his spurious allegation that the monarchy is on the brink and ‘fighting for survival’.

Some of the claims in Endgame are fanciful and lurid, says Robert Jobson

Royal writer Jobson believes the monarchy is in good hands – and that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex should distance themselves from Omid Scobie’s book

King Charles and Queen Camilla on November 14, the King’s 75th birthday

Is that what they want?

My view of this is very different:  the British monarchy is far from at its end game under King Charles III.

With the support of his eldest son Prince William, Queen Camilla and the rest of the working royals – in particular Catherine – this 1000-year-old institution is embracing change and going from strength to strength.

• Robert Jobson is author of Our King: Charles III, published by John Blake Publishing Ltd

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