The Duchess of Edinburgh has appeared in public for the first time since royal biographer Omid Scobie described her and Prince Edward as ‘casually bigoted’ in his explosive royal book.
Duchess Sophie, 58, has been visiting Colombia this week at the request of the Foreign, Development and Commonwealth Office, where she is undertaking engagements in support of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda working to end sexual violence in conflict.
In photos shared by the royal family, the royal mother-of-two was pictured looking solemn as she dressed in black durng a roundtable discussion in Bogotá, the country’s capital city.
Her appearance comes after royal biographer Omid Scobie released Endgame, in which he pointed to a ‘royal screw up’ from the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh in 2021 after Harry and Meghan sat down for their controversial interview with Oprah Winfrey.
After Sophie and Prince Edward brushed off the interview in their first appearance after it was broadcast, Scobie claimed they came off as ‘stuffy or tin-eared at best, and casually bigoted at worst’.
The Duchess of Edinburgh has appeared for the first time since Omid Scobie’s Endgame labelled her ‘casually bigoted’
The book refers to the couple’s interview with the Telegraph newspaper in March 2021, shortly after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle made some explosive claims about the royal family in their sit-down interview with US broadcasting legend Oprah Winfrey.
In the interview, which was their first in more than two decades, the couple jokingly asked ‘Oprah who?’ when quizzed on whether they watched Harry and Meghan’s bombshell appearance.
‘You know, if you’re not into chat shows, there’s no reason why you should know who she is. Certainly not this this country, anyway,’ Sophie said of the US chat show host.
Scobie claimed the royal duo appeared out of touch due to their comments ‘about the world’s most successful black woman and one of the biggest faces in entertainment’.
He continued: ‘Sophie’s Oprah gaffe is yet another page to add to the history of recent screw ups.’
For Scobie, Sophie and Edward’s apparent ignorance could be used as evidence that the monarchy is an ‘intolerant organisation steeped in bigotry and privilege’.
According to Scobie, Prince Edward and his wife Sophie’s have struggled to gain a desirable amount of media attention
Omid Scobie (pictured) has called Prince Edward and his wife Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh’s ‘Oprah gaffe’ a royal screw up
As she carries out her royal engagements on the other side of the world, Sophie seems focused on the task at hand amid Scobie’s blistering analysis of her time in the spotlight.
The royal family’s website explained she has met with high-profile politicians during her time in Colombia, as well as survivors of conflict-related sexual violence.
The author took a further dig at the couple, saying that even their trip to the Cayman Islands in February this year couldn’t propel them on to the front pages.
According to Scobie, their excursion failed to reach western press, and instead only featured in the Cayman Compass and Cayman News Service.
Scobie recalled a conversation with a ‘top Fleet Street Editor’ about Sophie and Edward who apparently claimed: ‘I’d have more luck putting my mum on the front page.’
The author summed up Sophie and Edward’s March 2022 trip to Antigua, painting a picture where they supposedly ‘smiled’ and ‘waved’ to audiences ‘demanding apologies and reparatory justice’ for Britain’s colonization of the Caribbean.
The author further claimed that Sophie went out of her way to ignore Meghan Markle at the late Queen’s state funeral
According to the author, the public were greeted by a ‘disinterested’ Edward.
Furthermore, the author additionally claimed that Edward went on to offend Antigua’s prime minister, Gaston Browne.
Browne asked Edward to bring about ‘open discussions’ on the topic of colonization, to which he responded: ‘I wasn’t keeping notes’.
He also took another dig at Sophie, saying that she ‘noticeably’ went out of her way to ignore Meghan Markle outside Westminster Abbey at the late Queen’s state funeral.
According to Scobie, it wasn’t just the Duchess of Edinburgh who ignored Meghan, but Queen Camilla and the Princess of Wales too.
The Duchess of Sussex received ‘snubs and brush-offs’ and was victim to ‘the same old power trips’ during their stay, the author claims.
Omid Scobie has launched an astonishing and cruel attack on the Princess of Wales, branding her ‘cold’ and lambasting her for ‘advocating for mental health causes’ while ignoring Meghan’s cries for help’.
Harry and Meghan’s ‘cheerleader-in-chief’ took aim at The Princess of Wales in his new book Endgame, which has been published in Australia, claiming she ‘shivers’ whenever Meghan’s name is brought up and hasn’t spoken to her since 2019.
Omid Scobie’s new book Endgame about the Royal Family is set to be released tomorrow
He claims the Princess of Wales has never had interest in being friends with her sister-in-law and branded her a Stepford-like royal wife and and the monarchy’s ‘last shiny thing for many years to come’.
In a scathing chapter dedicated to the future Queen, Scobie says the Princess of Wales earned the nickname ‘Katie Keen’ and claimed the late Queen liked her because she was ‘coachable’ unlike the ‘strong-minded’ Princess Diana.
He adds her workload is lower than other senior members of The Firm – which he says makes her ‘technically a part time working royal’.
Scobie, who wrote Harry and Meghan’s hagiography Finding Freedom, added that Kate isn’t known for ‘leadership and outgoing nature’ like ‘Meghan’, who was ‘another shimmering ornament in the royal family tree’ before she stepped down.
This, according to Scobie’s recollection, meant coverage of Meghan’s engagements during her short time as a working royal, were ‘far less about fashion choices and more about her work or her role in the Firm’.
Despite thinly-veiled attacks on Kate, Scobie said that Meghan became the ‘star of the show’ and ‘the new Diana’ after marrying Prince Harry.
He believes that Harry and Meghan made the ‘Cambridges looks a little dull’ as they’d shown the world ‘how to be modern royal’.
Because Meghan ‘got things done fast’ William and Kate ‘took note and altered course’ meaning Kate was doing less ‘learning’ and more ‘doing’.
Harry and Meghan’s ‘cheerleader-in-chief’ Omid Scobie took aim at The Princess of Wales in his new book Endgame, which has been published in Australia. Kate is pictured at a recent event
Scobie claims sources told him Kate was ‘cold” and ‘wasn’t a fan’ of Meghan (the pair are pictured at Wimbledon in 2019)
He added that despite Meghan and Kate having ‘nothing in common’ they ‘could have made things work in those early days if there was peace between the warring Windsor siblings’.
Scobie adds that Meghan found her time in the firm ‘lonely and isolated’ and that she hoped Kate would be ‘someone she could turn to for an encouraging word, including her emotional difficulties during her pregnancy as ‘were once both outsiders, middle-class women brought into the House of Windsor for unimaginably different lives’.
Kate, Scobie claims, was ‘uninterested in forming this kind of bond’ as ‘she can be cold if she doesn’t like someone,’ and ‘wasn’t a fan of Meghan’.
Another source told Scobie Kate ‘spent more time talking about Meghan than to her’.
Scobie added that Kate also ‘often stumbles on her words’ when speaking publicly and that she ‘didn’t want to make’ her widely praised Blue Peter performance in June 2019 (pictured)
Scobie said that Kate and Meghan ‘could have helped the warring Windsor brothers’ if they’d made friends
Queen Elizabeth II and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge attend the annual Remembrance Sunday service at The Cenotaph on November 10, 2019
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,’ Scobie writes.
He added that Kate ‘watched on in silence’ as stories were published about Meghan making her cry, and that she now ‘shivers’ when her name is brought up.
Scobie adds that ‘bar a few pleasantries’ the pair have not spoken since 2019 and that she ‘looks back in fondness’ with the relationship she once had with Prince Harry.
Scobie also claims that Megxit saw the birth of ‘Kate 2.0’ where she became more approachable and appeared of the Happy Baby, Happy Mum podcast.
Royal author Robert Jobson, branded Scobie ‘disgraceful’ for his attack on Kate.
Speaking to FEMAIL he said: ‘I know Omid Scobie personally..Our paths have crossed on TV punditry about the royals for a US network. He is sharp and smart and knows how to sell a book or two.
Scobie claims the late Queen like Kate because she’s ‘coachable’ (pictured together in 2012)
‘His last book Finding Freedom, trashing the royals while, claiming it spoke for Harry and Meg sold bucket loads.
‘I admire his gumption, but his latest broadside attack on The Princess of Wales is unwarranted – and worse than unfair.
‘It is a complete character assassination of a woman who has done nothing but try to serve her queen and now her King and country. And she’s done it very well.
‘The Princess has devoted herself to duty, to looking after her husband and looking after her young family. She should be looked up to, not denigrated.
‘Now we have this jumped-up, alleged insider hurling outrageous insults, describing her, for example, as some sort of grinning puppet.
‘Why would Scobie come up with this stuff? Is it to squeeze up to Harry and Meghan?
‘I know Harry and he’s not a mean guy – and he’s not a traitor, by the way – and probably won’t agree with this. His sister-in-law is a really nice woman and he knows it.
‘She was his friend. She looked after him and he looked up to her.
‘The only winner in all this is Omid Scobie sitting at home in Canary Wharf and waiting to bank the cheque. Disgraceful.’
Royal expert Richard Fitzwiliam added that ‘Scobie was always likely to aim for sensation;
‘One sure way of getting headlines is to aim a few blows at the Princess of Wales. It is important to understand Scobie’s attitude to the institution of monarchy, which he claims faces a crisis that may mean extinction or, at best, irrelevance.
‘He is, or at least, was, known as the unofficial spokesperson for the Sussexes. The review in the New York Times of Endgame, which is published tomorrow, was far from flattering.
‘Scobie’s attack on Catherine’s workload shows how little he understands about what the Waleses are trying to do, as they balance their royal commitments and family life so well.
‘He moans that Catherine ‘has no plan to increase her workload for 10-15 years’ or until her children reach adulthood. The Palace are currently reviewing royal patronages. Unlike the late Queen, Prince Philip and Charles when Prince of Wales who were attached to numerous institutions, the Waleses have selected a few and do a great deal for those they have chosen. Catherine’s focus is on early childhood.
‘They are both enormously popular at home and abroad, with levels of support the Sussexes would envy! Scobie believes that the late Queen found Catherine “coachable” in contrast to Diana and he apparently regards Meghan as ‘ the new Diana’.
‘His prose is execrable, what “coachable” presumably means is that she was prepared, together with William, to dedicate herself to being the monarchy’s future. What better example to learn from than Queen Elizabeth who is iconic.
‘Diana as we know was a genius at reaching out to those in need but also wilful.
‘Perhaps Omid Scobie will provide examples in the book where Meghan actually does something worthwhile, other than talking about doing so and trashing the royal family.
Scobie also claims that Kate ‘does not plan to increase her workload for 10-15 years’, or until her children reach adulthood, and added that she earned the nickname ‘Katie Keen’, because palace press release mitigate her doing less by saying she is ‘keen to learn’.
In a clear swipe, Scobie writes Kate’s lifestyle is something most parents could ‘only dream of’ and that Palace aides were afraid to push her do to anything that ‘makes her uncomfortable’ before the Queen died.
He adds that the future queen has been through five different private secretaries in six years, because they all found the role ‘uninspiring and frustrating’.
‘The late Queen, too, would take off blocks of time throughout the year to recharge, but she was also known to carry out at least three hundred engagements annually.
Royal author Omid Scobie gave an interview broadcast on ABC’s Good Morning America today
‘Sources said Kate remains ‘laser focused’ on her duty to the family first, and then the Crown,’ he writes.
Scobie added that Kate also ‘often stumbles on her words’ when speaking publicly and that she ‘didn’t want to make’ her widely praised Blue Peter performance in June 2019.
Describing it as a ‘low-pressure, small-stakes’ appearance, Scobie says Kate was ‘a bag of nerves’ and ‘well out of her comfort zone’ before the taping’, which was suggested by then press secretary Christian Jones.
He claims a Kensington Palace source said she ‘had never been pushed’ until that point as she was ‘naturally timid’.
‘Where other senior royals are out and about several times a week, meeting people across the length and breadth of the country, Kate has long maintained a smaller work schedule that helped her check off the required royal boxes while saving time for her roles as a mother and a wife,’ he writes.
Scobie adds that William manage to circumvent Kate’s lower workload by allowing her role to produce an heir, and spares, first.
He adds that Palace gatekeepers are ‘vigilant’ of Kate, never pushing her too hard ‘as the road to Queendom is a marathon, not a sprint’.
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