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King Charles and beaming Queen Camilla ignore fallout from Omid Scobie race row as they attend church service in Sandringham

1 year ago 13

King Charles and Queen Camilla have stepped out this morning to attend church in Sandringham.

Embracing a business-as-usual attitude, the British monarch, who recently celebrated his 75th birthday, and his wife, 76, was spotted heading to the service in Norfolk - despite the racism row that has engulfed the Royal Family this week.

The royal couple were all smiles as they journeyed to St Mary Magdalene church, with the impeccably-dressed King walking with purpose before shaking the vicar's hand ahead of the service.

Beaming Camilla combatted the chilly weather in a cream coat with a check scarf and statement hat, while holding an umbrella in one of her hands. 

But their relaxed appearance comes amid a tumultuous time for the Royal Family after the Dutch translation of Omid Scobie's new book Endgame named two royals alleged to have expressed 'concerns' about the colour of Prince Archie's skin.

King Charles and Queen Camilla have stepped out this morning to attend church in Sandringham

It came as media organisations around the world, including ITV, The Guardian and The Times, named the two royals accused of asking about Archie's skin colour as King Charles and his daughter-in-law Kate.

This week, Buckingham Palace officials will meet with aides to Prince William for critical talks in how to deal with the fallout.

The gathering of the two households will see them discuss how to respond, with 'time and care' to be taken before any decisions are made, one source told the Sunday Telegraph.

All options are believed to be 'on the table', including legal action, while Charles, who flew back to the UK after several days at the COP28 environment summit in Dubai last week, is said to be taking the furore surrounding the book 'very seriously'.

It is reported that during the week Charles will discuss the situation with senior advisers, while also carrying out his duties with aides telling the Mirror it will be 'business as usual' with royals to be seen as 'rising above' the row.

He is expected to remain in Sandringham today before returning to London for a series of official engagements this week, including a ceremony at Buckingham Palace and a charity carol concert at Westminster Abbey.

A source close to the Palace told the Sunday Telegraph: 'Discussions [have been] had and we'll continue those discussions this week, but not in a crisis talks manner...

'Decisions [will be] made with care and time and professionalism rather than rushed over a weekend.'

Embracing a business-as-usual attitude, the British monarch, who recently celebrated his 75th birthday, and his wife, 76, was spotted heading to the service in Norfolk - despite the racism row that has engulfed the Royal Family this week

The royal couple journeyed to St Mary Magdalene church, with the impeccably-dressed King walking with purpose before shaking the vicar's hand ahead of the service

MailOnline has contacted Buckingham Palace for comment. 

Meanwhile, the Mail understands that Buckingham Palace is investigating who at their end could have seen the letters between the King and Meghan Markle in which the names were allegedly mentioned.

However, it is confident the leak has not come from within, believing only a 'tiny handful' of people have ever seen them.

Harry and Meghan, meanwhile, have not commented publicly on the scandal. Scobie has been accused of acting as a 'mouthpiece' for the Sussexes, an allegation he has denied, writing on X, formerly Twitter: 'I'm not 'Meg's pal'.

Sources close to the Duchess of Sussex , who allegedly wrote down the names of the two family members in letters to King Charles, have insisted to that she 'never intended for them to be publicly identified'.

They insist that the contents of the letters were 'not leaked to Mr Scobie by anyone in her camp', the Telegraph reports.

But one source close to the Royal Family has now called on Harry and Meghan to speak out publicly on the issue.

The source told the paper: 'For the couple that talked about 'death by a thousand no comments', the silence at this point is deafening.'

Beaming Camilla combatted the chilly weather in a cream coat with a check scarf and statement hat, while holding an umbrella in one of her hands

But their relaxed appearance comes amid a tumultuous time for the Royal Family after the Dutch translation of Omid Scobie's new book Endgame named two royals alleged to have expressed 'concerns' about the colour of Prince Archie 's skin

This week, Buckingham Palace officials will reportedly meet with aides to Prince William for critical talks in how to deal with the fallout. Pictured, King Charles and Queen Camilla arriving for the morning service at St Mary Magdalene Church

King Charles and Queen Camilla arriving for the morning service at St Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham, Norfolk

Another insider added that the decision not to respond was 'interesting' given the Sussexes' previous complaints about not being supported against negative press stories.

The scandal - which Scobie has been forced to insist was not a publicity stunt - has kept Endgame in the headlines for more than a week as excerpts were published in the days before its release in a French magazine. 

The most eye-grabbing extract serialised in Paris Match claimed that there was a second so-called 'royal racist' - after Harry and Meghan alluded to a member of the Royal Household expressing discomfort over Archie's skin colour in 2021. 

They told Oprah Winfrey in their interview a year after they quit royal duties that there had been conversations about 'how dark' Archie's skin would be when he was born.

Meghan did not name the member of the household, saying at the time: 'I think that would be very damaging to them.'

The names did not appear in the English edition of the book when it was released on Tuesday. Scobie had written a paragraph in which he said he could not name them under UK law.

But the names appeared in the Dutch version of the book, prompting the publishers to pulp copies that were on sale.

The Dutch translators who worked on the volume maintain that the manuscript they were given featured both names verbatim.

Saskia Peeters, speaking to MailOnline, said this week: 'The names of the royals were there in black and white. I did not add them. I just did what I was paid to do and that was translate the book from English into Dutch.'

The second translator, Nellie Keukelaar-van Rijsbergern, then told The Sun: 'We are professionals and we've done this for years, both of us. It's unfair.'

Sources have said it will be 'business as usual' for the Royal Family as discussions take place on how to respond to the race row claims. Pictured: The Prince and Princess of Wales arrive at the Royal Variety Show on Thursday

Harry and Meghan (pictured in Dusseldorf in September) have not commented on the scandal publicly

A copy of Endgame, pictured left, which was released last week. In the book author Omid Scobie made a number of bombshell claims about the Royal Family. Pictured right, Author of Endgame, Omid Scobie (pictured on Newsnight last week) has been accused of acting as a 'mouthpiece' for the Sussexes, an allegation he has denied, writing on X, formerly Twitter: 'I'm not 'Meg's pal'

Newspapers in the UK avoided reporting the names after the allegations came to light after Endgame's release on Tuesday, but Piers Morgan revealed them on his Uncensored show on Wednesday.

Morgan added, however, that he did not believe the allegations of 'racist comments'.

He said: 'Because I don't believe any racist comments were ever made by any of the Royal Family, and until there is actual evidence of those comments being made, I will never believe it.'

He then doubled down on his defence later in the week, saying on Thursday: 'I took a view it was ridiculous that British people couldn't be aware of this information. I also said when I named them that I didn't believe a word of the racist allegations made against them.' 

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