Prince Harry was 'kept in the dark' about Queen's death and there is 'no going back' for his broken relationship with William - who believes his 'defector' brother has been 'brainwashed by an army of therapists', Omid Scobie claims in bombshell new book

Prince Harry was 'kept in the dark' about the Queen's health in the hours before she died, the royal's biographer has claimed. 

Omid Scobie, who is a close friend of the Duke of Sussex, said Harry, 39, and his 42-year-old wife Meghan Markle had 'no idea' the Royal Family were preparing for his grandmother's death last year. 

The allegations come amid a deepening rift between Prince Harry and his relatives, including Prince William and King Charles, following explosive attacks on them in his memoir, Spare. 

In Endgame, Mr Scobie recounts how the Sussexes had visited the UK for a series of engagements in September 2022 when the palace announced that Queen Elizabeth had been advised by her doctors to rest. 

Buckingham Palace has not yet commented on the extract.  

In the extract of Endgame revealed today, Mr Scobie claims:

• William ignored Harry when he asked how he was planning to get to Scotland;
• Eventually, he booked a £30,000 charter flight to Aberdeenshire from Luton;  
• Charles told him to come without Meghan, with a source claiming she 'wasn't wanted'; 
• Harry had 'no idea' about what was going on in Balmoral when his plane took off; 
• Palace 'sources' briefed certain newspapers that Charles had personally shared the news of the Queen's illness with his son;
• William and Harry's relationship is beyond repair because the Prince of Wales sees his brother as a 'defector'.

In an extract of the book shared with People, he writes: 'By the next morning, the Sussexes had no idea that Buckingham Palace was already planning for the Queen's final hours and the first days of the monarchy's new era — until the duke's phone started ringing. An unknown number. He usually ignored those.'

Meghan told her husband to pick up the phone and he accepted the call 'just before it stopped', the author wrote. 

He continues: 'Harry hadn't spoken to his father much that year, but this was not the time for any father-and-son tension. Charles told him he and Camilla were about to leave Dumfries House for Balmoral, where Princess Anne was already by the Queen's side. He told Harry to make his way to Scotland immediately.'

Harry sent a text message to his brother William asking how he and Kate planned to Scotland and whether they could travel together but got no response, Mr Scobie claims. 

He was later told Harry had managed to secure a flight with his uncles Prince Andrew and Prince Edward. 

'It was upsetting to witness,' Mr Scobie claims he was told by a source close to the Sussexes. '[Harry] was completely by himself on this.' 

Mr Scobie claimed that Palace 'sources' briefed certain newspapers that Charles had personally shared the news of the Queen's illness with his son. He quoted a friend of the duke who said this left Harry 'crushed'.

In his new book, the author suggests William and Harry's relationship is beyond repair because the Prince of Wales sees his brother as a 'defector'.

He claims 'there is no going back' for the brothers and 'absolutely nothing has changed' since the Duke of Sussex released Spare earlier this year.

Mr Scobie even alleges that William 'doesn't want to know' his younger brother, who he feels has been 'brainwashed an army of therapists'.

He writes: 'I was talking to a source quite early on in the process, and they called Harry a 'defector' and said that was William's view.

'These were two men who once upon a time were firmly aligned in their outlook. One of them had to move on to also protect the crown.' 

Harry was close to his grandmother, and opened up about her death in Spare.  

In the memoir, he described how he whispered to her that he 'hoped she was happy' and would be reunited with Prince Philip, who died a year earlier. He also told her that he admired her for having carried out her duties until the end.

The prince  scrambled to Scotland to see the Queen - Britain's longest reigning monarch - on September 8 last year after Buckingham Palace announced that she was gravely ill. However, he failed to reach the estate before she passed away aged 96.

In a moving passage, the duke describes how he learned of the Queen's passing after checking the BBC news website. Upon arriving at Balmoral, he was greeted by Anne, the Princess Royal, who then took him upstairs to a room where the late Sovereign was lying. 

He writes: 'I advanced with uncertainty and saw her. I stayed still, watching her carefully for a good while.

'I whispered that I hoped she was happy and that she was with Grandfather now. I said that I admired her for having carried out her duties until the end. The [Platinum] Jubilee, the welcoming of the new Prime Minister'.

Mr Scobie covered the Sussexes in his 2020 bestseller Finding Freedom, and is now considered the couple's unofficial mouthpiece. 

Promotional material for Endgame suggests it will be equally hostile to the remaining members of the Royal Family as his previous work. 

A breathless description on Amazon calls it as 'a penetrating investigation into the current state of the British monarchy – an unpopular king, a power-hungry heir to the throne, a queen willing to go to dangerous lengths to preserve her image and a prince forced to start a new life after being betrayed by his own family'.

A source told The Mail on Sunday: 'I've been told this is bad, very bad. It is unlikely that Royal aides will comment, but if there are charges of racism, they will, of course, be robustly rebutted.'

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex famously told US TV host Oprah Winfrey that when Meghan announced her pregnancy an unnamed member of the Royal Family had questioned which skin colour their son Archie was likely to have.

The Sussexes repeatedly denied co-operating with Scobie and his co-author Carolyn Durand on Finding Freedom, but Meghan was later forced to admit in the High Court that she authorised an aide to brief the pair secretly.

Endgame, published on November 28, is likely to cause further disquiet at Buckingham Palace. It is unknown whether the Sussexes had any input this time, although the author boasts that he interviewed family members.

The book, subtitled 'Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival', is billed as an 'explosive' look into events surrounding the Queen's death.

The Amazon sales pitch states: 'Queen Elizabeth II's death ruptured the already-fractured foundations of the House of Windsor – and dismantled the protective shield around it.'

Scobie claims to have interviewed 'current and former Palace staff, trusted friends of the Royals and even the family members themselves'.

The Mail on Sunday has learned that the book will be serialised in a major US magazine, but not in the UK.

It was due to be published in August, but this was pushed back to include events surrounding the Coronation.

A publishing source in America said: 'The word is this is going to have bombshell after bombshell. Some are even speculating it may name the person who questioned what colour Archie's skin would be.

'Everyone knows Omid is the Sussexes' unofficial mouthpiece, so it's fair to say there will be a huge deal of interest in this book on both sides of the Atlantic.'

Chapter headings include: 'Shaky Ground: The Queen is Dead, the Monarchy Faces Trouble', 'The Fall of Prince Andrew: Scandal, Shame and Silencing Jane Doe', 'Race and the Royals: Institutional Bigotry and Denial', 'Gloves On: Prince William, Heir to the Throne', and 'Gloves Off: Prince Harry, Man on a Mission'.

Publisher HarperCollins has previously said that the book will 'have the world talking', and Scobie has warned it will reveal moments the Royals should be 'ashamed of.'

Earlier this month, Scobie wrote in detail about the first night Meghan and Harry spent together and recounted seemingly verbatim conversations between the Sussexes and senior royals.

He has continued to be a favoured mouthpiece for the Sussexes and is often the first to post information about their charitable endeavours and awards on social media.

This week, he took yet another dig at the King and Queen for walking along a red carpet laid out for them over bare ground in Kenya during their State Visit last week.

Writing on X, formerly Twitter, he said: 'Even if this was a choice made by the hosts (and it probably was), the optics of the King and Queen walking on a red carpet to avoid soil at Nairobi National Park are pretty ridiculous and out of touch.

'A clued-up Palace aide could have easily asked for it to be removed.'

But Scobie was criticised for his comment, including by Kenyan journalist Joseph Wakhungu, who wrote: 'I can tell you that's just how all visiting heads of state and government are treated when they land in Kenya.'

Responding to a fan on social media who wrote of Endgame, 'I hope it goes further and deeper than Finding Freedom', Scobie responded: 'They're worlds apart.'