Spare vs Endgame: How Prince Harry’s tell-all memoir and Omid Scobie’s bombshell new biography about the Sussexes recount the historic day of the late Queen’s death

Omid Scobie‘s new book Endgame claims Queen Elizabeth II’s death ‘ruptured the already-fractured foundations of the House of Windsor’.

The Sussexes’ favoured royal reporter insists that the Duke of Sussex was ‘completely by himself’ as he scrambled to get to Balmoral on September 8, 2022.

It also reopens Royal Family wounds in the aftermath of Megxit, branding Charles III ‘unpopular’, William ‘power hungry’ and says Harry was ‘betrayed by his own family’.

Excerpts have been published in People in the US, with the book out on November 28. And as well as being sympathetic to the Sussexes, at points it is also remarkably similar to Spare, Prince Harry’s bombshell memoirs, released in January 2023. 

As Sussex insiders distanced them from Endgame today, MailOnline compares these two accounts of September 8, 2022 – the day the Queen died.

The moment King Charles called Harry to warn: ‘Granny’s health had taken a turn’

Omid Scobie in Endgame

‘By the next morning, the Sussexes had no idea that Buckingham Palace was already planning for the Queen’s final hours and the first days of the monarchy’s new era — until the duke’s phone started ringing. An unknown number. He usually ignored those.

‘“You should answer it,” Meghan told him. He tapped accept just before it stopped. Harry hadn’t spoken to his father much that year, but this was not the time for any father-and-son tension. 

‘Charles told him he and Camilla were about to leave Dumfries House for Balmoral, where Princess Anne was already by the Queen’s side. He told Harry to make his way to Scotland immediately’.

Prince Harry in Spare

‘That day—September 8, 2022—a call came in around lunchtime. Unknown number.

‘Hello? It was Pa [Charles]. Granny’s health had taken a turn. She was up at Balmoral, of course. Those beautiful, melancholy late-summer days.

Harry’s anger at Meghan ‘not being wanted’ at Balmoral 

Omid Scobie in Endgame 

‘Another call came through from Charles, who instructed his younger son to come alone. Despite already publicly confirming that Meghan would come with him (always the plan if they were traveling from California for this very situation), he reluctantly agreed, after Charles assured him that Kate would not be there, either.

‘Charles had cited “protocol,” but the reality was that Kate chose to stay back to pick up the children from their first day at a new school. “They just didn’t want Meghan there,” said a former Palace aide. Meghan, a friend added, “could sense she wasn’t wanted.”

Prince Harry in Spare 

‘Then came another call from Pa. 

‘He [Charles] said I was welcome at Balmoral, but he didn’t want…her. He started to lay out his reason, which was nonsensical, and disrespectful, and I wasn’t having it. Don’t ever speak about my wife that way. 

‘He stammered, apologetic, saying he simply didn’t want a lot of people around. No other wives were coming, Kate wasn’t coming, he said, therefore Meg shouldn’t. Then that’s all you needed to say’.

Prince William accused of ‘ignoring his brother’s texts’

Omid Scobie in Endgame 

‘William, whom Charles had just spoken to, was supposedly working on arranging travel. Harry sent a text message to his brother asking how he and Kate planned to get to Scotland and whether they could travel together. No response’. 

‘Harry sent another text to his brother. Nothing. Though there were available seats on William’s chartered Dassault Falcon private jet, which was leaving in less than an hour, Harry was left to fend for himself.

“William ignored him,” said a family source. “He clearly didn’t want to see his brother.” Princess Eugenie reached out to Harry to see if he had any more information about their grandmother. She had heard from another family member that it was “time” but knew little more’.

Prince Harry in Spare 

‘I immediately texted Willy to ask whether he and Kate were flying up. If so, when? And how?. No response. Meg and I looked at flight options’.

Harry charters his own plane from Luton to Aberdeen after other royals went on their own private jet

Omid Scobie in Endgame 

‘Harry was informed that William had already secured a flight with his uncles Andrew and Edward (and Edward’s wife, Sophie), but he couldn’t get in touch with anyone about joining that flight. “It was upsetting to witness,” said a source close to the Sussexes. “[Harry] was completely by himself on this.” 

‘Harry eventually located an available option—a private charter costing [$37,000] from Luton Airport, a 40-minute drive from Frogmore without traffic.  

Prince Harry in Spare 

‘By now it was mid-afternoon; no more commercial flights that day to Aberdeen. And I still had no response from Willy. My only option, therefore, was a charter out of Luton. I was on board two hours later.’ 

‘I spent much of the flight staring at the clouds, replaying the last time I’d spoken with Granny.

‘Four days earlier, long chat on the phone. We’d touched on many topics. Her health, of course. The turmoil at Number 10. The Braemar Games—she was sorry about not being well enough to attend. 

‘We talked also about the biblical drought. The lawn at Frogmore, where Meg and I were staying, was in terrible shape. Looks like the top of my head, Granny! Balding and brown in patches.

‘She laughed. I told her to take care, I looked forward to seeing her soon.

On claims Harry learned the Queen had died via the BBC

Omid Scobie in Endgame 

‘When William and the others landed at 3.50 pm to discover the news that the Queen had passed away at 3.10 pm, Harry still had no idea what was going on when his own plane finally took off at 5:35 p.m. And, as his phone service cut out after takeoff, he remained in the dark for the duration of his 70-minute flight.

‘When Harry’s plane finally touched tarmac twenty minutes later, he received a text from Meghan urging him to call ASAP followed by a breaking news alert via the BBC News app with the announcement of the Queen’s death’.

Prince Harry in Spare 

‘When the plane started to descend I saw that my phone lit up. It was a message from Meg: “Call me when you get this”. I looked at the BBC website. My grandmother had died. My father was King.

‘I put on my black tie, got out of the plane under heavy rain and shot up to Balmoral in a borrowed car.

‘As I pulled through the front gates it was wetter, and pitch-dark, which made the white flashes from the dozens of cameras that much more blinding’.

Saying goodbye to the Queen after she died

Omid Scobie 

‘When he [Harry] arrived at Balmoral, Princess Anne warmly greeted him and led him to the Queen’s room, where he spent a quiet moment privately paying his respects. He had hoped to see his father — who had made it to Balmoral Castle in time to see his mother alive — to express his sympathies, but he was informed that Charles, William, and Camilla had already left for Birkhall together’.

Prince Harry in Spare 

‘Hunched against the cold, I hurried into the foyer. Aunt Anne was there to greet me. I hugged her. Where’s Pa and Willy? And Camilla? Gone to Birkhall, she said.

‘I advanced with uncertainty and saw her. I stayed still, watching her carefully for a good while.

‘She [Princess Anne] asked if I wanted to see Granny. She led me upstairs, to Granny’s bedroom. I braced myself, went in.

‘The room was dimly lit, unfamiliar—I’d been inside it only once in my life. I stood, frozen, staring. I stared and stared. It was difficult, but I kept on, thinking how I’d regretted not seeing my mother at the end. Years of lamenting that lack of proof, postponing my grief for want of proof. Now I thought: Proof. Careful what you wish for.

‘I whispered that I hoped she was happy and that she was with Grandfather now. I said that I admired her for having carried out her duties until the end. The [Platinum] Jubilee, the welcoming of the new Prime Minister’. 

Harry’s night at Balmoral

Omid Scobie in Endgame  

‘That night after eating he retired to his room, exhausted by the day’s emotional roller coaster. He was glad to have had a private moment to say goodbye to his grandmother, but there was no point in sticking around. 

Prince Harry in Spare 

‘I rang Meg, told her I’d made it, that I was OK, then walked into the sitting room and ate dinner with most of my family, though still no Pa, Willy, or Camilla.

‘Towards the end of the meal, I braced myself for the bagpipes. But out of respect for Granny there was nothing. An eerie silence.

‘The hour getting late, everyone drifted off to their rooms, except me. I went on a wander, up and down the stairs, the halls, ending up at the nursery.

‘The old-fashioned basins, the tub, everything the same as it had been twentyfive years ago. I passed most of the night time-traveling in my thoughts while trying to make actual travel arrangements on my phone’.

Harry jets back to London early, and alone

Omid Scobie in Endgame 

‘With no offer to return with William and the others in the morning (all of his texts, including a thoughtful message about the loss of their grandmother, continued to be ignored), Harry booked his own British Airways ticket on the first available departing flight’.

Prince Harry in Spare 

‘The quickest way back would’ve been a lift with Pa or Willy…Barring that, it was British Airways, departing Balmoral at daybreak. I bought a seat and was among the first to board.

‘Soon after settling into a front row, I sensed a presence on my right.

‘Deepest sympathies, said a fellow passenger before heading down the aisle. Thank you.

‘Moments later, another presence. Condolences, Harry. Thanks…very much.

‘Most passengers stopped to offer a kind word, and I felt a deep kinship with them all. Our country, I thought. Our Queen’.