That leaves the question if it truly was an honest mistake or intentional...
The Sun (yes, I know) has reported that they have had more of the Dutch edition of the book translated, and that they have found other significant differences between the Dutch and English versions of the text. https://www.thesun.co.uk/royals/24930053/prince-william-denied-harry-chance-fly-queens-deathbed/?utm_source=sharebar_app&utm_medium=sharebar_app&utm_campaign=sharebar_app_article
We may never know the true sequence of events or decisions, but it does seem to me logically that the publisher is the party most likely to have wanted those names removed. It stands to reason, because their in-house or attorney of record would have advised the publisher to not take that risk of naming names. Mr. Scobie, on the other hand, would have noted the erasure in the draft coming back from the publisher and then insisted on at least one version in a territory outside the UK including it - in this case, the Netherlands. Perhaps the Netherlands was the agreed on country because the risks of legal liability there are less than in some of the other countries? In any case, the result is that the names have in fact been cited, the books withdrawn, and both Scobie and publisher can claim it was all an "error" somehow. A very convenient "error" for some parties however, creating a media bounce and attention that the book might not otherwise have had.....
It could have been done by the publisher. Though i do believe there was an original manuscript with the names in that was later altered for legal purposes.
Yes, that was what I originally understood and meant to add - the Dutch version alone was "mysteriously" different than all others. Also, the difference being in two RF parties named but not in the version distributed inside the UK, thereby avoiding the potential for any direct litigation against Scobie, while still disclosing to the wider world through this Dutch version the actual names. The translators have explicitly denied any responsibility for being the party that inserted those names, so that leaves one person only - the so-called "author".
The Dutch translators got a different manuscript than the book published in English. From those who bought the original Dutch translation i have understood that the entire passage in the book is different.
Somebody may have made an honest mistake in sending an older draft of the manuscript to the Dutch translators but that seems odd. Why only to the Dutch and not to the Japanese, French, Spanish, German, Italian etc. I think the manuscript with the names was sent on purpose to one translating language in order to create more publicity.
I also saw a segment that someone said that the names in the book are not the name he knew had asked the questions referred to in the Oprah-show (i cannot honestly call it an interview because she did not interview them).
How is anyone supposed to make sense or understand a totally reverse logic in which black is white and vice versa? What I can observe, and even without reading that (so-called) book, is that it exists in a wider and long-term context in which the primary subjects and instigators left the UK, followed by interviews and then a book ghosted on behalf of the so-called author. Then that book is followed up here by this secondary player who does a rather transparent workaround in fueling the original "racist" accusation by now "accidentally" naming the two persons supposedly "guilty" in the unsubstantiated episode. And of course, cleverly making sure those names are not included in the English language version of the book circulating in the UK, but only in a Dutch language version of the book which "mysteriously" cites those two names. While the Dutch version has been pulled from store shelves in the Netherlands, the objective of targeting RF names has been achieved. Scobie denies responsibility, but the Dutch translators far more credibly also deny inserting those two names. I won't go on, but basically in my view the notion of any "endgame" reflects much less a monarchy that has survived from early times to the present day and much more the likely sad outcome for two individuals with no apparent purpose except to justify their existence through a narrative of victimhood which is transparently false. The Dutch Game was Scobie's planned maneuver from the get-go, and Scobie himself was the useful tool of the ultimate manipulator in Montecito.
Whether or not you are planning to read Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival by Omid Scobie, this in-depth interview of the author by Vanity Fair magazine will be of interest.
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