Omid Scobie (a trusted journalist friend of Meghan Markle) today said that Prince Andrew’s ‘ring’ of protection around him from the Royal Family was confusing.
Scobie claimed that after the Queen had removed Scobie’s honorary military duties, the “threat” to Brand Windsor and his family business had forced Scobie’s hand on the institution.
Harper’s Bazaar’s Royal Editor-at-Large also made a comparison to Megxit by stating that the Duke was not supported behind the palace walls.
Scobie stated that Harry simply wanted to get his family out of an unhealthy place, but that he was “publicly dragged across the coals” and stripped from every royal achievement before leaving the country.
In the opinion piece, the author pointed out that Andrew had been dealt with 26 months prior to his crisis BBC interview of November 2019.
Scobie stated that he was able to meet a Buckingham Palace senior official for drinks shortly after interview. The man told Scobie: ‘Well, it’s his problem now. It’s not his problem any more.
Before stepping down, Harry and Meghan were seen at Westminster Abbey in February 2020.
This author co-wrote 2020 biography Finding Freedom. He regularly posts news and defenses of the Sussexes on Twitter.
This makes it unlikely that Scobie would write such an article without having spoken in advance with representatives from the Duke and Duchess Sussex.
And he wrote in an opinion piece for the i today: ‘For the public watching this saga play out, the ring of protection around Andrew has been confusing, especially when you compare his treatment to Prince Harry, who – love or loathe him – simply wanted to remove his family from an unhealthy environment.
The Duke of Sussex was not supported by palace walls. Instead, he had to be publicly humiliated and stripped of all his royal achievements and privileges before stepping foot outside the country.
“The royal institution has always spoken out about the need for it to be modern in its ethics. It is obvious that the royal establishment is struggling to restore its moral compass when the insolent behavior of an arrogant prince is kept quiet.
Omid Scobie, Meghan Markle’s friend and trusted journalist wrote an opinion article for the i Today
This comes just a week after Andrew was stripped of his honorary military positions in dramatic Buckingham Palace statements. He also gave up the HRH style.
The sex suit against him had taken a major step forward one day before when the judge denied his motion for dismissal of the sexual assault case.
Andrew was born as an HRH and will no longer use it in any official capacity. He was also stripped of all royal patronages during his total removal from royal life.
This was seen also as an effort to disengage the monarchy and Andrew who had been second in line for the throne in the year that marked the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
Prince Andrew and Harry next to Meghan on the Buckingham Palace balcony, June 2019.
In his legal fight with Virginia Giuffre, his attorneys suggested that he may be able to use a “tone-deaf” defense.
Scobie was the son of a Scottish father, who owns a marketing agency, and an Iranian mother working in child welfare. Scobie began his career in celebrity magazine Heat.
Fame came to him as the author of Finding Freedom. This controversial biography on the Sussexes, which he wrote with Carolyn Durand (a fellow royal expert), was a book that he helped create.
The Court of Appeal heard last year that Jason Knauf, Harry and Meghan’s former communications secretary, gave information to Mr Scobie and Ms Durand – leading to Meghan apologising for misleading the court about whether he had done so.
The Mail On Sunday was ruled to have infringed Meghan’s privacy by a letter it sent to Thomas Markle, her father.
Scobie has claimed to have exclusive access the couple.