EXCLUSIVE Kate’s uncle GARY GOLDSMITH slams ‘weasel’ Omid Scobie’s ‘tapestry of jibber’ and the ‘bonkers’ claim the Princess of Wales is racist
Pantomime season is upon us I know, but I’ve never seen such a one-dimensional depiction of my niece Kate as the one I have just read in Omid Scobie’s book Endgame.
Does the man we all see as Meghan’s mouthpiece really believe that the Duchess of Sussex is Cinderella and the Princess of Wales an Ugly Sister?
If he does, he needs his head tested. What does that make Harry? Buttons?
Scobie, of course, has form.
His first book Finding Freedom: Harry, Meghan And The Making Of A Modern Royal Family was highly biased towards the Sussexes and, when I saw the author parading his latest tawdry tome round the TV studios this week, I thought he was a smarmy character with a definite financial goal and an awful affected voice. But I didn’t expect him to be such a fantasist.
His book made me feel nauseous. I had to put it down many times because the content made me so angry and I haven’t even been able to finish it.
It’s such a character assassination of William and Kate in particular, who is mentioned an extraordinary 291 times. There is even a chapter devoted to her, Kate, my niece!
Pantomime season is upon us I know, but I’ve never seen such a one-dimensional depiction of my niece Kate as the one I have just read in Omid Scobie ‘s book Endgame
Colour, race, age, creed and religious beliefs have never been a factor in our friendships or values. To think Kate would buck that trend is totally bonkers
His book made me feel nauseous. I had to put it down many times because the content made me so angry and I haven’t even been able to finish it
And now we’re even being told that Kate has been ‘accidentally’ named as the supposed royal racist, along with her father-in-law, King Charles, in the Dutch translation of the book.
Somehow, the names of two of the most upstanding members of the Royal Family were in the manuscript when it was sent to Dutch translators, in a passage about an exchange of letters between Meghan and Charles regarding members of the Royal Family and unconscious bias.
It’s utterly ridiculous to consider that Kate is a racist.
Racism isn’t something which is inherent in anyone. It comes from an environment. Both Kate’s mum Carole and I grew up in Southall, West London.
Colour, race, age, creed and religious beliefs have never been a factor in our friendships or values.
To think Kate would buck that trend is totally bonkers.
And if the standing ovation she and William got on Thursday night at the Royal Variety Performance is anything to go by, the British public know this too and don’t believe a word of these absurd claims.
The whole book is just a tapestry of gibber and falsehoods sewn together with his personal opinion. It is Scobie milking his relationship with the Sussexes for every cent it’s worth and stirring up a pot which has been stirred enough.
Let’s face it, this one-sided snidey account will make it even harder for any of the Royal Family to reach out to Harry and Meghan now or in the short-term future.
From the first page to the last, all Scobie does is re-tell well-worn stories, but with a particularly vicious slant, using terms such as ‘pliable’, ‘tightly controlled’ and ‘carefully assembled’ to scoff at Kate.
He even pursues the laughable theory that Carole orchestrated Kate’s relationship with William, pushing her daughter to choose St Andrews University in a bid to meet William when, in fact, she would rather have gone to Edinburgh.
‘The Middleton strategy involved more than just aristocratic affectation — Carole calculatingly placed Kate right at the centre of young Prince William’s world,’ he writes.
What rubbish. St Andrew’s is the best university for history of art and Kate did well to get in.
Does Scobie really believe that Carole was sitting there in a war room down in the basement of Bucklebury planning out some devious strategy saying: ‘Right. If we put her in the right place on this day then bang… fireworks’?
Then there’s the offensive comparison of my niece to Princess Diana, suggesting that, unlike her late mother-in-law, who was ‘strong-minded’, Kate has been a ‘much more teachable, pliable future Queen’.
I believe it’s laudable that Kate works so hard as a member of the Royal Family and she should be applauded for being keen to serve.
This sounds to me like blatant jealousy, as William and Kate have always been the main event and Harry and Meghan the sideshow
Does the man we all see as Meghan’s mouthpiece really believe that the Duchess of Sussex is Cinderella and the Princess of Wales an Ugly Sister?
Scobie paints Harry and Meghan as the perfect working royals, suggesting that the Cambridges looked ‘dull’ in comparison
But Scobie clearly sees this character trait as a negative and even suggests that she earned the nickname ‘Katie Keen’ on social media. It’s not a name I’ve ever heard used. If it ever was, it must have been bandied about among his two mates.
It sounds to me like Scobie’s whole social network would fit in a back of a Mini.
He goes on to claim that Kate is workshy because she only has 20 patronages and he criticises her decision as a mother-of-three to centre her work around school terms. Personally, I think the British public has been really impressed with how William and Kate have chosen to modernise the Royal Family and put their loved ones up there with duty as a priority.
You can see the confidence in young Charlotte and both George and Louis are so well-behaved at public events. Kate is doing a brilliant job as a mother and still finds time for her royal duties.
READ MORE: Palace could take legal action in race row: King Charles is taking allegations ‘very seriously’ and ‘considering all options’
What’s wrong with that? She is a fantastic role model — that’s what the majority of decent humans think.
In Scobie’s skewed view of the world even this nice, loving little family is something to be mocked.
In echoes of Harry’s tortuous memoir Spare, Scobie refers to the Wales’s family with the dismissive phrase: ‘The heir and spare tasks achieved.’
Let the spare thing go, mate. They love all their children equally. When Kate opted not to attend William’s Earthshot Prize in Singapore last month, I think she did the right thing, staying in the UK to make sure George was prepped for his exams. After all, he is our future King.
Imagine them sitting together at the kitchen table working on his homework. That’s a great example of family life we all resonate with. And so is Kate’s legacy project, The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood, highlighting the importance of those first years.
Scobie even manages to make that sound rubbish, churlishly focussing on how supposedly ‘nervous’ she was about public speaking and being filmed for a segment on Blue Peter unveiling her Back To Nature Garden at the Chelsea Flower Show.
In a patronising tone, Scobie writes: ‘Naturally timid and introverted, Kate had historically eschewed giving interviews or public speaking, instead finding comfort in engagements that were often led by a host while she quietly followed, giving a speech from a script or teleprompter.’
I had to take a moment to compose myself because that is not the Kate I know and is simply not true.
I saw her on the show and she was a natural. I know that she is mindful of her role and lets William take the lead on their joint projects but she speaks very eloquently, as she always has, and is refreshingly authentic.
And why criticise someone who reads from a script? Bill Gates does it. The Prime Minister does it. So does the President of the U.S.
Everything that weaselly individual writes has a negative spin that’s not deserved.
No one who has watched Kate over the years could call her shy. She is always getting involved and throwing herself in the deep end. It’s the Middleton way. And I don’t think she’s had elocution lessons, despite Scobie’s claim that she now sounds ‘plummier’ than William. She sounds the same as she always has.
Scobie doesn’t seem to understand the public’s love for her and sounds so bitter when he declares that Kate gets overwhelmingly positive media coverage for performing ‘the simplest of tasks’ such as ‘flipping a pancake’.
Let’s be honest about what’s going on here: as Jan Moir wrote in the Mail this week, Scobie’s book is ‘a reshaping of events through a golden Sussex prism’.
I believe it’s laudable that Kate works so hard as a member of the Royal Family and she should be applauded for being keen to serve
Let’s face it, this one-sided snidey account will make it even harder for any of the Royal Family to reach out to Harry and Meghan now or in the short-term future
It’s such a character assassination of William and Kate in particular, who is mentioned an extraordinary 291 times
For me, Meghan is too rumbustious and desperate to be the centre of attention
For it is when he is describing the relationship between the Cambridges and the Sussexes that Scobie shows his true colours, painting Harry and Meghan as the perfect working royals, and suggesting that the Cambridges looked ‘dull’ in comparison.
This sounds to me like blatant jealousy, as William and Kate have always been the main event and Harry and Meghan the sideshow.
Our future monarchy will always be front and centre for obvious reasons but, until the Sussexes felt that they were not getting the lion’s share of the publicity, it was harmonious. Then all hell broke loose.
He suggests that Kate was unwelcoming to her future sister-in-law and spent more time talking about her than to her, but I suspect cultural differences were at play.
For me, Meghan is too rumbustious and desperate to be the centre of attention. Kate will generally put people at ease, make them feel relaxed, and try to make them feel important.
It’s a superpower which is very difficult to pull off when you have a Zebedee character bouncing about demanding special treatment and the spotlight.
Relationships need time to develop. It does not mean that Kate is cold or frosty.
She is very welcoming, has a loving heart and a warmth about her. But realistically, she would also naturally be reserved meeting someone new for the first time.
In Scobie’s ‘Meghan good, Kate bad’ world there seems no room for this kind of nuance.
READ MORE: Omid Scobie swears ‘on my family’s life’ that naming royal ‘racists’ was not a publicity stunt and insists he didn’t put their identities in Dutch version
In one passage he drips yet more poison on Kate while elevating Meghan with a saccharine reference to the latter’s ‘outgoing nature and leadership potential’, and describing them as ‘qualities for which Kate isn’t known’.
In another reference he seems to be trying to claim Kate even owes her style to her sister-in-law, saying she transformed her wardrobe ‘into more relaxed, business-casual attire’ chosen by the Californian duchess.
Even Megxit, which was so damaging to the monarchy and put Kate, William and their young family under enormous strain — and, of course, required them to take on the patronages vacated by the Sussexes when they flounced off — is seen by Scobie as an example of the muppets in Montecito actively helping the Waleses.
‘That period saw the introduction of Kate 2.0 — a slightly more relaxed, more relatable duchess with a voice that could be (needed to be) heard,’ he drones.
The idea of Kate and William taking advice from Team Megxit is ludicrous.
I must say I struggle to understand why Scobie has got such a warped view of the world — he’s so well-balanced he’s got chips on both shoulders.
Luckily, my family is made of sterner suff. I’m sure both Carole and Kate will keep calm and carry on, business as usual.
It’s too close to Christmas and they have more important work to do than worrying about retired royals in Montecito.
If I had one Christmas wish, it would be that people don’t buy this book and stop talking about it. It’s not a stocking filler. It’s a Christmas turkey.
If someone bought it for me, I certainly wouldn’t put it on my bookshelf. It would be straight out of the back door and into the garden on the compost heap.
- AS TOLD TO CLAUDIA JOSEPH
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