Sophie Wessex 'furious' after 'being dragged into’ royal racism row amid claims she did 'little to support Meghan' | The Sun

THE Duchess of Edinburgh is furious at being drawn into the royal racism row reignited by Omid Scobie’s book, which claims she did little to support Meghan Markle when she was struggling to adjust to her new life as a member of the royal family.

Friends of Sophie (who was then the Countess of Wessex) say that it is also "blatantly untrue" that according to Scobie she ignored Meghan as she was leaving a church service in Windsor. The author also accuses Sophie of being "casually bigoted".

But Sophie’s allies point out that she went out of her way to befriend Meghan in the early months of her marriage to Prince Harry, inviting her to tea at her Surrey home, Bagshot Park.

“It was just the two of them at and they talked for hours,“ says a senior Royal source. “Meghan had so many questions and Sophie, who knows what it’s like navigating your way through the early days of transition from a commoner to a royal, gave freely of her advice.

Sophie found Meghan likeable and engaging and told her that she could call her any time

“Sophie found Meghan likeable and engaging and told her that she could call her any time when she needed advice about dealing with some of the trickier royals.

“She was quite surprised when that was the last she heard from Meghan. As she noted, it would’ve been nice to receive a return invitation to Frogmore Cottage (where Meghan was then living with Harry and is less than half an hour from Bagshot).”

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Sophie, who grew up in a middle-class family in Kent and established a successful PR firm before marrying Prince Edward, has been compared with Meghan, given the scale of the changes both faced on joining the royal family.

In an interview, Sophie contrasted Meghan’s experience to hers with Edward, commenting: “Remember I’d had five years to adjust to royal life. And for our six-month engagement, I was even staying at Buckingham Palace. It took me a while to find my feet.” 

It was the late Queen who first suggested that Sophie could mentor the royal newcomer.

Gyles Brandreth in his book, Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait, wrote: "The Queen (who, of course, had seen it all before) understood that Harry's girl might find adjusting to royal life 'challenging to begin with' (as she put it). 'It is very jolty, but you soon get used to it' – that was Her Majesty's experience going back many years.

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"To help Meghan, the Queen suggested that her daughter-in-law, Sophie Wessex, would be an ideal mentor. 'Sophie can help show you the ropes,' said the Queen.

“But Meghan made it clear that she did not feel she needed Sophie's help. She had Harry."

In his book, Endgame, Scobie refers to an interview in the Telegraph in which Sophie was asked about her reaction to Harry and Meghan’s appearance in 2021 with Oprah Winfrey during which accusations were made about some members of the royal family being racist.

According to Scobie, Sophie said about the American chat show host: “You know, if you’re not into chat shows, there’s no reason why you should know who she (Oprah) is. Certainly not in this country, anyway.”

Meghan made it clear that she did not feel she needed Sophie's help. She had Harry

Scobie says in his book: "Whether it was a 'joke' (as a source close to Edward and Sophie later claimed it was) or not, the comments about the world’s most successful black woman and one of the biggest faces in entertainment made them seem stuffy or tin-eared at best, and casually bigoted at worst.”

The author commented that Sophie’s remarks could also be used as evidence to support the notion that the British monarchy is an "intolerant organisation steeped in bigotry and privilege.”

During the Oprah interview with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Meghan alleged that two unidentified members of the royal family had raised ‘concerns and conversations about how dark their son Archie’s might be.’

Meghan was said to have been so concerned about the ‘ingrained racism’ that these remarks represented that she exchanged letters with the King.

Scobie said he knew the names of the two royals who speculated about Archie’s colouring but that he would not name them, but in a draft version of his book which was sent to a Dutch publisher they were identified as the King and the Princess of Wales.

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Scobie’s first book, Finding Freedom, was judged to be so sympathetic towards the California-based couple that he was labelled Meghan’s mouthpiece.

She later admitted, during a newspaper libel trial, that she had authorised a senior aide to brief Scobie.

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