Silence of the Royal sisters-in-law: Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle ‘have not spoken in four years’, claims Sussexes mouthpiece Omid Scobie in bombshell new book out on Tuesday
The Princess of Wales and the Duchess of Sussex have not spoken since 2019, the duchess’s controversial biographer suggests.
In a piece in a French magazine to publicise his new book on the Royal Family, Omid Scobie also waspishly claims that Kate spent more time ‘talking about’ her sister-in-law Meghan than she ever actually spent with her.
He claims that Harry and Meghan sent the Waleses’ three children gifts last Christmas, but that William and Kate did not respond with so much as a text.
The author – dubbed ‘Meghan’s mouthpiece’ – repeats previous claims that the Duchess of Sussex ‘never wants to set foot in England again’, ‘never felt at home’ in the UK and ‘never wants to be involved in the British monarchy again’.
But he says Harry has said he is ‘ready to forget’ the recent troubles with his family and has given up on getting the ‘apology or explanation’ he has previously demanded, quoting the prince as saying: ‘At this point, who cares, right?’
Omid Scobie claims there was ‘palpable silence’ as the royal couples travelled the short distance to Windsor’s Long Walk for a royal walkabout in 2022 (pictured)
The Princess of Wales and Meghan Markle’s drive to the Windsor estate for a walkabout was ‘silent’, Scobie’s Endgame claims
Kate and Meghan chatting together at Wimbledon in 2019
The claims emerged yesterday in Paris Match magazine to publicise Scobie’s second royal tome, Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy’s Fight for Survival.
His first was Finding Freedom, the rabidly pro-Sussex account of Harry and Meghan’s romance, wedding and decision to acrimoniously quit as working royals.
The article in Paris Match, ahead of the book’s publication on Tuesday, is a tangled mass of quotes from it, combined with Scobie’s own opinions on the state of the Royal Family and seemingly the interpretation of the magazine’s journalist.
Several new claims are made but none is obviously explosive – so far – although Scobie has conducted several pre-publication interviews to be aired over the next few days, and there is no doubt that the Palace views his public vendetta with the Royal Family as unhelpful.
Many insiders point out that it is no surprise Kate and Meghan have not been in ‘direct communication’ for four years, as Scobie describes it, because the Sussexes left for Canada with baby Archie in the autumn of 2019 and the duchess has returned to the UK, briefly, only four times since.
Paris Match adds that Kate ‘immediately detected a rival to her’ in Meghan, writing: ‘She spent more time talking about Meghan… than with Meghan,’ according to ‘a close friend of the couple’.
Harry, while promoting his tell-all memoir earlier this year, said it quickly became ‘Meghan versus Kate’ after he started dating the US TV actress in 2016.
Harry also repeated claims that Kate made Meghan cry during a row about bridesmaids’ dresses ahead of the Sussexes’ 2018 wedding.
William, Kate, Harry and Meghan were at one time dubbed the Royal Family’s ‘Fab Four’ after they initially appeared to form a close bond.
But when they were reunited for a car journey the day after the Queen’s death in September 2022, there was a ‘palpable’ silence as they travelled the short distance to Windsor’s Long Walk, the book claims.
The magazine goes on to say the book describes the complete breakdown of relations between the brothers, saying: ‘Not even a text message at Christmas, although, according to Scobie, Meghan and Harry had sent gifts to Kate and William’s children.’
While neither Buckingham Palace nor Kensington Palace wants to comment on the claims, the book’s publication is unlikely to do anything to bolster hopes that Harry may one day be reconciled with his family.
In Spare, Harry detailed a disagreement over a shared lip gloss – and how Kate was left hurt by Meghan’s comments about her ‘baby brain’ while pregnant. Kate pictured earlier this month
Palace aides have said they are unlikely to comment on the book, but told The Mail on Sunday any charges of racism will be ‘robustly rebutted’. Meghan pictured earlier this month
The book threatens to re-open old wounds between Harry and Meghan and the rest of the Royal Family
Last week it was suggested there was a thawing of relations after sources close to the prince leaked to chosen media that he had a warm conversation with his father when he rang to wish him a happy 75th birthday.
Scobie insists he is not friends with the Sussexes, nor was he in direct contact with them over the book, and the Sussexes have denied they are ‘affiliated’ with it.
But there is a certain level of detail that, if true, could only have come from sources who are extremely close to the couple. This includes claims that Harry twice texted his estranged brother around the death of the Queen, and heard nothing back, and that his father, King Charles, called him from an ‘unknown number’.
Scobie also has details of an alleged conversation between Charles and his younger son, when Harry apparently called to talk to him about his vitriolic memoir, Spare.
He says the King was ‘cautious’, further claiming that a message was circulated among family members not to trust Harry with anything and to ignore both the book’s claims and what he was saying to promote it.
Paris Match also reports that Scobie will say it was Harry’s aunt, Princess Anne, who persuaded Charles to withdraw the use of Frogmore Cottage from the Sussexes, prompting the prince to plead: ‘Don’t you want to see your grandchildren any more?’
And Scobie says that only Harry’s uncle, Prince Edward, was concerned about the prince’s mental health.
He even accuses the King of being more worried about the pressure on Prince Andrew in the wake of the Epstein scandal. The magazine says: ‘Meanwhile, the King could not bring himself to hurt his brother. [He] was in tears because he was afraid for Andrew’s mental health. Charles leads with his head and his heart. William is colder. He wants the job done and he had no problem with casualties along the way.’
There are clear howlers in the extracts from the book that have been released, including the suggestion the Prince of Wales ‘is eager to ascend the throne’.
Friends of William have made clear that he wants to ring-fence his three young children for as long as possible and has no desire to hasten his progress towards becoming king.
Mr Scobie has denied his new book Endgame is ‘Harry and Meghan’s’ and instead claimed it will tell the ‘current state of the British Royal Family’
Prince Harry reportedly introduced Kate to his girlfriend of six months, Meghan, in January 2017 – and the two made their first joint appearance that December
Harry and Meghan with Archie. The book goes into further detail about the rift between the Sussexes and the Waleses
It follows Prince Harry’s own accounts in Spare, which recounted that Meghan had a strained relationship with his sister-in-law.
The rift between them was laid bare when the Duke of Sussex released his sensational tell-all memoir last year, writing in extraordinary detail about how the women were both left in tears during the infamous bridesmaid dress row.
He also detailed a disagreement over a shared lip gloss – and how Kate was left hurt by Meghan’s comments about her ‘baby brain’ while pregnant.
Elsewhere, Harry revealed how the Waleses were left annoyed when the Sussexes didn’t buy their family Easter gifts.
Endgame is also set to deal with allegations of racism within the Royal Family.
Scobie, who wrote a biography of the couple Finding Freedom in 2020, unveiled the cover of his latest project this month, calling it ‘a penetrating investigation into the current state of the British monarchy’.
One chapter will be called ‘Race and the Royals: Institutional Bigotry and Denial’ and is likely to tackle claims of racism within the Firm.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex famously told US TV host Oprah Winfrey that an unnamed member of the Royal Family had questioned what skin colour their son Archie, at the time not yet born, was likely to have.
Palace aides have said they are unlikely to comment on the book, but told The Mail on Sunday any charges of racism will be ‘robustly rebutted’.
The Sussexes repeatedly denied co-operating with Scobie and his co-author Carolyn Durand on Finding Freedom, but Meghan was later forced to admit in the High Court that she authorised an aide to brief the pair secretly.
Scobie, 42, who was the royal executive editor of Yahoo! News until July of this year, has also shared a sneak peek of what readers can expect from the book in a picture of his work posted to X/Twitter.
The front cover shows three royal couples; King Charles and Queen Camilla, the Prince and Princess of Wales, and Prince Harry and Meghan. The promotional material for the new book has already branded Prince William ‘ power-hungry’ and Charles ‘unpopular’.
A source told The Mail on Sunday earlier this month: ‘I’ve been told this is bad, very bad. It is unlikely that Royal aides will comment, but if there are charges of racism, they will, of course, be robustly rebutted.’
The pair together at the Royal Foundation forum summit in 2018
Kate and Meghan in the royal box on Centre Court after the Ladies Singles final on day twelve of the Wimbledon Championships
Endgame is likely to cause further disquiet at Buckingham Palace. Although the author boasts that he interviewed family members, sources close to the Sussexes have previously distanced them from the book, indicating to MailOnline they had nothing to do with it.
The book, subtitled ‘Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy’s Fight for Survival’, is billed as an ‘explosive’ look at events surrounding the Queen’s death.
The Amazon sales pitch states: ‘Queen Elizabeth II’s death ruptured the already-fractured foundations of the House of Windsor – and dismantled the protective shield around it.’
Scobie claims to have interviewed ‘current and former Palace staff, trusted friends of the Royals and even the family members themselves’.
It was due to be published in August, but the date was pushed back to include events surrounding the Coronation.
A publishing source in America told The Mail on Sunday: ‘The word is this is going to have bombshell after bombshell. Some are even speculating it may name the person who questioned what colour Archie’s skin would be.
‘Everyone knows Omid is the Sussexes’ unofficial mouthpiece, so it’s fair to say there will be a huge deal of interest in this book on both sides of the Atlantic.’
Meghan and Harry’s official wedding photo at Buckingham Palace
Chapter headings include: ‘Shaky Ground: The Queen is Dead, the Monarchy Faces Trouble’; ‘The Fall of Prince Andrew: Scandal, Shame and Silencing Jane Doe’; ‘Race and the Royals: Institutional Bigotry and Denial’; ‘Gloves On: Prince William, Heir to the Throne’; and ‘Gloves Off: Prince Harry, Man on a Mission’.
Publisher HarperCollins has previously said that the book will ‘have the world talking’, and Scobie has warned it will reveal moments the Royals should be ‘ashamed of’.
In Finding Freedom, Scobie wrote in detail about the first night Meghan and Harry spent together and recounted seemingly verbatim conversations between the Sussexes and senior royals.
He has continued to be a favoured journalist for the Sussexes and is often the first to post information about their charitable endeavours and awards on social media.
Kate the Christmas elf grafts on visit to the grotto
The Princess of Wales spoke of her anguish at hearing about families’ ‘desperate’ suffering due to the cost of living crisis as she helped out at a baby bank yesterday.
Kate, 41, also donated 50 copies of Jill Tomlinson’s The Owl Who Was Afraid Of The Dark – a picture book she frequently reads to her children – to its Christmas grotto during a visit to highlight the lifeline such services provide.
Dressed in a black polo neck jumper and matching skirt, she spoke to parents and volunteers at Sebby’s Corner, a baby bank on a retail park in Barnet, London.
The Princess of Wales, 41, headed to Sebby’s Corner in Barnet yesterday to kickstart an initiative to provide support to families with young children in the run-up to Christmas
Kate, Princess of Wales, helps out putting books and toys on shelves ready to be collected for Christmas presents during her visit to Sebby’s Corner
The mother-of-three, who has made early years development the core of her work in the Royal Family, sported a light layer of foundation and black eyeliner which paired perfectly with her business-casual look
Kate said: ‘It’s such a vital role you play. Being able to have support from community and support from a network, it is really vital and essential, not only for children but also for parents.
‘There are so many families in challenging circumstances. Every child should have the basic essentials. The needs are really huge.’
The princess also called for all of the country’s 250 baby banks – which distribute clothes, nappies, toys, toiletries and other children’s goods – to be more accessible in villages, towns and cities. She said: ‘We need to normalise it and make it more visible, put them where families and children are.’
Discussing examples of how struggling parents reuse soiled nappies, Kate said: ‘Some of the stories you hear are really desperate. That’s why places like this need to be in every community and normalised.’
She gets to work in the storeroom, making sure all items to be donated are in the right place
Hands on! Kate labels shelves stacked with toys for families with youngsters who need support
The baby bank also runs a Christmas shop for parents struggling to afford gifts and Kate helped to stock shelves and added festive bows to decorate the grotto.
Her visit launched a campaign by the princess’s Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood to encourage the public to donate goods, money or time to the baby banks.
Together with Giovanna Fletcher, the 2020 winner of I’m A Celebrity, she met representatives from the Baby Bank Alliance – a 50-strong union of centres in Shropshire, Derbyshire, Wales and Hartlepool.
Sebby’s Corner founder Bianca Sakol described the princess as an ‘authoritative voice’ and praised her ‘amazing work’ to highlight the organisation’s work.
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