The Dutch version of the book Endgame, about the British royal family, has been removed from shelves in the Netherlands. The publisher states that there is an error in the Dutch edition but does not want to explain further.
According to independent licensing reporter Rick Evers, the publisher intervened because King Charles’ name in the Dutch edition was linked to a conversation about the skin color of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s son, Baby Archie. No names are mentioned in the English version.
Two years ago, Meghan and Harry said in an interview with Oprah Winfrey that concerns about skin color had been raised within the royal family before their son Archie was born. It mostly had to do with how dark his skin would be.
The couple did not want to say who made these statements in the interview. A representative later said this involved neither the then-Queen Elizabeth nor her husband, Prince Philip.
Correspondence with names
After the interview was published, there was a correspondence between Meghan and Charles, as can be seen from the book. According to Evers, only the name of one of the participants in the conversation about Archie’s skin color in the Dutch version of “The Last Battle” was revealed in this correspondence: Charles.
Evers posted a photo of the passage in question online:
Later in the book, Prince William’s wife Kate’s name is also mentioned in connection with the subject, but the reference is less clear.
The author of the book is Omid Scobie, who previously wrote the book “Finding Freedom” about Prince Harry and his family’s departure from England. It was later revealed that Meghan had a hand in this, too. In his response to RTL Boulevard, Scobie said that he had “never made a version with names in it”.
However, Evers, who first noticed the names in the book yesterday, says this may also have been true in an earlier version.
“You can also see that these two paragraphs are missing from the English version. “My theory is that someone forgot to send the memo about this to our little country, or the memo was left somewhere at the publisher.”
No translation errors
According to Evers, there is no translation error. “This is illogical. “I think it was in the manuscript and one of the consultants said to the publisher, ‘Take it out, you’re going to have problems.'”
There is a lot of talk in the British media today that the Dutch edition will be withdrawn from the market, but Charles and Kate’s names are not mentioned. This has to do with data protection legislation.
Evers said the editor asked him to remove the page containing the passage about Charles from Twitter. The reason given was copyright infringement.
Source: NOS
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
