Again, be mindful of the Murdoch family connections within all of these dramas involving Omid Scobie’s Endgame and the “mistranslated” editions. Endgame was published by Harper Collins here in the UK and North America – that’s the publisher Scobie worked with throughout the process of writing Endgame, and that publishing house is owned by News Corp, meaning the Murdochs. News Corp also owns News UK, the umbrella for all of the Murdochs’ media outlets in the UK, which includes The Sun and The Times of London. The Times has had very curious coverage of Endgame and the mistranslations, and I believe their reporting about an internal investigation. Thus far, the Times has avoided assigning blame, all while the other British outlets are basically calling for Scobie’s beheading. Well, the blame game might be afoot internally, because now the Times has this curious story about where and when the names of the “racist royals” might have been added.
The agency of the author Omid Scobie sent his book’s Dutch publisher a final version weeks before publication which did not name the two royals at the centre of a race row. However, United Talent Agency (UTA) had earlier sent a draft version to the Dutch publisher Xander Uitgevers which did contain the names, a source told The Times. It is understood that the translator interpreted an earlier version of the manuscript, rather than the final approved text.
Thousands of Dutch-language copies of Endgame had to be pulled from the Netherlands and Belgium last week after they named King Charles and the Princess of Wales as the senior royals who were said to have made remarks speculating about the skin colour of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s unborn child. The claim arose in an interview given by the Sussexes to Oprah Winfrey in 2021. After the broadcast, Prince Harry denied that he and his wife had accused a member of the royal family of racism.
Translating can be a long process and it is common for agents to send early versions to foreign publishers to get it underway. It is understood UTA received a signed-off manuscript from the British publisher, Harper Collins, and sent that to its foreign counterparts.
Xander initially said the names were revealed in a “translation” mix-up but later said that an “error” led to the printing. The book has the title Eindstrijd (Final Battle) in the Netherlands. Anke Roelen, managing director of Xander Uitgevers, said: “Xander … temporarily removed the book from sale, due to an error that occurred in the Dutch edition.” That edition credits two translators.
One of them, Saskia Peeters, said last week that the names were in the manuscript that she was sent. “I translate what is in front of me … I did not add them,” she told MailOnline. The other translator, Nellie Keukelaar, did not comment.
Scobie, 42, said last week that he did not include the names when he gave the manuscript to his publisher. When told that Scobie had denied the names were in his manuscript, Peters said: “I don’t know why he would say that. I have been translating for many years. This is the first time anything like this has happened. This is not something I wanted to be involved in. This has been upsetting.”
[From The Times]
I genuinely believe Scobie’s denials, that he never included the names in any drafts he turned in, and here’s a question I have for the lawyers: even if Scobie did turn in a draft with the names, wouldn’t legal have caught it immediately and shut it down? It makes zero sense for the names to have been included in earlier drafts, only to be edited out at the last moment… especially with Scobie saying repeatedly that he never included the names in the first place. As I said up top, be mindful of the Murdoch connections here – is someone trying to set up Omid Scobie?
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Photos courtesy of Scobie’s IG and a screencap from the BBC.
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