- By Sean Coughlan
- State Correspondent
Omit Skopje says that he never wrote a version with the name of the person on the racing line
How about lines in the Dutch version of a book that weren’t in the original English version?
Not random stripes – but a very damaging hint that links a member of the royal family to a racing line that has been buzzing for years.
This was presented as a mistake, a very embarrassing one, and the book was hastily pulled from the shelves. But how could it have happened?
The Dutch language version, Eindstrijd, has a clear reference to an elder king and claims another vague reference to a second name.
The publisher’s managing director, Anke Roelen, said on Tuesday night: “There was an error in the Dutch translation, which is currently being corrected.”
As a result, the publisher, Xander Uitgevers, “temporarily withdraws the book”, throwing its release date into disarray.
Publisher Xander Uitgevers Says Endgame Is “Temporarily Withdrawn” In The Netherlands
Although this blames the problem on the translation process, a comparison of the English and Dutch text does not suggest mixing up certain phrases or vocabulary.
The line identifying a member of the royal family is not in the English text, so it is not mistranslated. seems to have been added.
A further thought is that this may be part of a draft or an earlier revision taken from other language versions, but not updated by mistake in the Dutch version.
But editor Omit Skopje, speaking on Dutch television on Tuesday, made it clear that no version he produced named names. So it will discard any draft or remnant of some earlier edit that hasn’t been deleted.
“None of the versions I’ve produced have had names in them,” the author told the RTL Boulevard program.
“The book is available in several languages and unfortunately I don’t speak Dutch so I haven’t been able to see the copy so if there are any translation errors I’m sure the publisher has ironed it out,” he said. Mr. Scobie.
image source, Joe Pugliese / Harpo Productions / CBS
The racing line emerged from Oprah Winfrey’s interview with Prince Harry and Meghan
In the pre-publicity, he noted that for legal reasons he could not identify the names involved in the betting row that emerged from Meghan’s interviews with Prince Harry and Oprah Winfrey.
Prince Harry and Meghan have never named the person or persons who allegedly asked them questions about their unborn child’s skin color.
As Megan observed about the potential consequences of revealing the name: “I think it would be very damaging to them.”
After it was first revealed in an Oprah Winfrey interview in 2021, it sparked a royal race row, and questions about the identity of those involved have become a lingering cloud.
This latest book suggests that asking these questions involves two people rather than one.
There was no update from the publisher on Wednesday to explain their own investigations — but that hasn’t deterred those trying to figure out what happened.
Could this have been some kind of hack or a publishing version of a hoax? Was it a sales stunt? A joke? Wasn’t the wrong text put in for a joke and then removed? Or does someone change the text after the validation is done?
Surprisingly, any other news lines in the book are heavily trailed, including excerpts from American magazines and interviews.
Therefore, it may seem odd to bury a huge bombshell in the middle of the book without any explanation of this revelation, without highlighting any kind of claim.
After this short line revealing the name, the Dutch text reverts to the English, while it’s the book’s biggest moment, where you’d expect it to hint at or expand on such a big revelation.
If a publisher decides to make such a big decision to reveal this information, it can be its biggest selling point and its biggest risk.
Either way, if it’s going to be revealed on purpose, it’s hard to see why it would be relegated to a single line, in-the-middle text instead of being milked in every way to boost sales.
Buckingham Palace did not comment on the Dutch version of Endgame, which has already appeared in a book targeting senior members of the royal family.
English-language publishers HarperCollins also did not respond.
After an Oprah interview with toxic questions about racism and the royal family, the late queen’s response was: “Memories may vary.”
In this latest Dutch whodunnit, translations may also vary.
