The Prince and Princess of Wales showed no hint of the strain as they attended the Royal Variety Performance at the Royal Albert Hall. They were joined by Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel, visiting royals from Sweden.
The Prince and Princess ignored questions about the scandal as they stepped out of their vehicle, walking towards each other and briefly holding hands before they walked down the red carpet.
But behind the scenes, courtiers were locked in meetings with lawyers over how to respond to the furore. A royal source said: “We are considering all options.”
Any potential legal action could lead to a high-profile, international court battle, pitting media giants against the monarchy and the royal institution against the Sussexes.
Legal experts said the royals could sue Scobie for breach of privacy or the media outlets for defamation. They could also seek an injunction to prevent the names being circulated any more widely.
The institution has traditionally shied away from pursuing legal action because of the can of worms that could be opened. However, it is not unprecedented. In 2012, the then Duke and Duchess of Cambridge successfully sued Closer, a French magazine, after it published topless photos of the Duchess on holiday.
Morgan told viewers of his show, Uncensored, that he did not believe “any racist comments were ever made by any members of the Royal family”.
The broadcaster, a vocal critic of both Scobie and the Duchess of Sussex, said he was sharing the names in order to enable an “open debate” about what really happened.
In a lengthy monologue, he poured scorn on the various explanations given for how the royals’ names had emerged in print and said he would name them in order to kick-start the process of getting to the truth.
“I’m going to cut through all this c--p. I’m going to tell you the names of the two senior royals who are named in the Dutch version of the book,” he said. “Because frankly, if Dutch people wandering into a bookshop can pick it up and see these names, then you, British people here who actually pay for the British Royal family, you’re entitled to know too.
“And then we can have an open debate about this whole farrago. Because I don’t believe any racist comments were ever made by any members of the Royal family, and until there is actual evidence of those comments being made, I will never believe it.
“But now we can start the process of finding out if they ever got uttered, what the context was, and whether there was any racial intent at all. Like I say, I don’t believe there was.”
After Morgan, The New York Post was next to name the two royals, with other publications following suit.
Endgame describes how the Duchess, 42, sent a letter to the King, who was then the Prince of Wales, in which she expressed concerns about unconscious bias in the Royal family.
The letter, first revealed in The Telegraph, was sent in the wake of the Sussexes’ March 2021 Oprah Winfrey interview, in which Meghan alleged that a member of the family had speculated about the colour of her unborn son’s skin.
Scobie reveals that the Duchess complained to Charles about two people who had upset her with comments about Prince Archie’s skintone. However, he stops short of naming them in the English language version of the book, citing “laws in the UK”.
He has blamed the fact that the identities were included in the Dutch edition on a translation error, denying that it was a marketing ploy.
Scobie told ITV’s This Morning on Thursday he was “frustrated” that the names had been printed but said he had “never” submitted a version of the manuscript that included them.
Presenter Craig Doyle questioned how that could have happened, describing it as “bizarre” and saying: “You don’t accidentally put in a name and you can’t put it down to a mistranslation. It does feel like a stunt to sell books.”
Scobie replied: “I wish that was the case. It’s still being investigated. I wrote and edited the English version of the book with one publisher and that was then licensed to other publishers.
