Prince William breaks cover as he arrives at The Savoy Hotel for the Tusk Conservation Awards – amid Omid Scobie’s claims he rejected two opportunities to meet Prince Harry following the release of Spare

Prince William shook off blistering attacks from royal biographer Omid Scobie in his book Endgame as he attended the Tusk Conservation Awards in London this evening.

The Prince of Wales, 41, smiled warmly as he greeted organisers upon arrival at The Savoy Hotel on The Strand, amid claims in Scobie’s book that he has rejected attempts by his younger brother Prince Harry to set up meetings this year.

Mr Scobie, who is sympathetic towards the Sussexes, claimed in Endgame, which is released at midnight in the UK but has been published in Australia today, that the Duke of Sussex made two attempts to set up meetings with William in the wake of his bombshell memoir, Spare, which was released in January, but that the Prince of Wales refused both attempts. 

Elsewhere in the book, Scobie claimed William ‘set the wheels in motion’ in stripping Prince Andrew of his military titles when his friendship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein came to light because he felt his father King Charles and grandmother Queen Elizabeth were being ‘too soft’.

Despite these bombshell claims, the Prince of Wales was all smiles as he arrived at tonight’s event, which highlight the work done by conservationists across African nations.

The Prince of Wales arrived at The Savoy Hotel this evening where he is attending the Tusk Conservation Awards

Since the inaugural event in 2013, the awards have now recognised 55 conservation leaders from 20 countries and Tusk continues to capitalise on the extraordinary knowledge and experience of the Alumni to support the wider Tusk portfolio.

Prince William is Patron of Tusk, and attended a symposium last year for the charity’s 10th anniversary, which brought together 2022 award winners, alumni from previous awards and conservation experts.

As the Prince is set to present awards this evening in his role as patron, he is shaking off some explosive claims published in Endgame about his role in the royal family and the fractured relationship he now shares with his brother.

Prince William, 41, greeted organisers of the event in a business-as-usual fashion despite bombshell claims from Omid Scobie

Scobie (pictured) claims in Endgame that Prince William rejected two of Harry’s attempts to meet up this year

In a chapter about the Prince of Wales, Scobie recounts meeting one of the royal’s former aides and asking them whether William and Kate have made note of the ‘difficulties of being the spare to the heir’.

The source said: ‘[Prince William] has read passages but not the full thing… 

‘Harry’s experience is very different to [that of William’s] own children.’ 

Elsewhere in the book, Scobie claims that Prince Harry tried to reach out to his brother on two separate occasions while he was in London. 

At the time, the royal’s memoir had only been out for a matter of weeks – and his attempts at contacting Prince William fell on deaf ears.

Scobie claims: ‘In February and March, the Prince turned to a mutual friend in London to try to set up a conversation with his brother, but the attempts were ignored.’

Prince Harry made a series of damaging claims about his brother in his memoir – including going into detail about one alleged incident where Prince William ‘knocked him into a dog bowl that cracked and cut his back’ within the Kensington Palace estate.

What’s more, the Duke of Sussex also claimed that the Prince and Princess of Wales ‘told him to wear’ the infamous Nazi fancy dress costume and ‘howled with laughter’ when they saw him in it.

While promoting his memoir in January, Prince Harry invited The Daily Telegraph‘s Bryony Gordon into the family’s Montecito home – where he revealed he ‘worries’ about the Prince and Princess of Wales’ children. 

He said at the time: ‘And though William and I have talked about it once or twice, and he has made it very clear to me that his kids are not my responsibility.

‘I still feel a responsibility knowing that out of those three children, at least one will end up like me, the spare. And that hurts, that worries me.’

Elsewhere in Endgame, Scobie claims Prince William played a key role in stripping Prince Andrew of his military titles following accusations of sexual assault from Virginia Giuffre (which Andrew has always denied).

He writes: ‘While King Charles has, so far, shown no inclination of conclusively stopping his support for his wayward brother, Andrew would be foolish to think that William will unquestionably support his uncle in the same way.

‘It’s fair to say, the next King is the one in the family who inherited Prince Philip’s assertiveness when it comes to protecting the Crown. Until then, though, Andrew remains a wild card and one that can still inflict considerable damage to the monarchy’.

Scobie opines that Andrew’s close association with Charles may ‘end up coming back to bite the King and the monarchy’ if more stories from the past continue to ‘trickle out’.