Author who thinks he’s Meghan’s soulmate
OMID SCOBIE has long been a Meghan apostle. While his coauthor Carolyn Durand has offered support to the Sussex cause, his is unequivocal, his loyalty beyond question.
The reward has, it appears, been access to sources seemingly beyond the reach of others and a biography that, according to The Times, rivals ‘Diana: Her True Story’ by Andrew Morton.
That book sensationally revealed Prince Charles’s adultery and his wife’s bulimia. So far, at least, ‘Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family’ is distinctly lighter on spicy revelations.
Having begun his journalistic career on the celebrity magazine Heat, Mr Scobie had covered the Royals for a number of years and, according to friends, was eager to boost his profile when American journalist Ms Durand suggested the idea for a book.
Spicy or not, it is expected to make them a small fortune.
Like the Duchess, Mr Scobie, who grew up in Oxfordshire, describes himself as bi-racial. ‘She was a bi-racial woman stepping into the House of Windsor,’ the Scottish-Iranian journalist told The Times in an interview published yesterday, later adding: ‘I am a bi-racial royal correspondent. There aren’t many of us.’
Other things in common with the Duchess include a weakness for designer labels (Mr Scobie even has a penchant for Chanel skis) and a love of dogs. His Instagram account is full of images of his French bulldog.
When his Times interviewer suggested, ‘People will say that [he] has fallen in love with the Duchess,’ Mr Scobie replied: ‘That’s definitely something I’ve seen a lot of online and in certain newspaper commentary.
‘I certainly connect to this story in a way that makes it more meaningful to me.’
Born within a month of each other, Meghan and Mr Scobie both turn 40 next year – not that this was apparent in yesterday’s interview to plug his book during which he knocked six years off his age.
The article begins: ‘Andrew Morton was nearly 40 when in 1992 he wrote Diana: Her True Story, the book that revealed the Prince of Wales to be an adulterer and his wife an unhappy bulimic who had attempted suicide. Omid Scobie, the royal editor of Harper’s Bazaar, has just turned 33 and with his co-author ... Carolyn Durand, is about to publish a biography that rivals it.’
In fact, Mr Scobie celebrated his 39th birthday earlier this month.
Friends describe Mr Scobie as ‘quite a laugh’. One said: ‘When you see him, he always has the latest iPhone and the latest designer man bag.’
In an article for Harper’s Bazaar, he described shadowing the Sussexes’ work, ‘getting to know the couple better through their humanitarian endeavours, engagements and overseas visits’.
He went on: ‘Their high-energy work ethic and passion for social justice attracted a new, more diverse demographic of royal watcher. As a young(ish), biracial royal correspondent, the change was exciting. And as their popularity grew around the world, so did a new golden era for the House of Windsor.’
Beginning shortly after the Sussexes’ wedding, Mr Scobie spent two years writing the book with Ms Durand, a former producer with US broadcaster ABC who has covered the Royals for more than 15 years. She now writes about the Royal Family for Elle magazine.
While they do not claim to have interviewed Harry and Meghan, the authors have boasted of it being written ‘with the participation of those closest to the couple’ and of having spoken to members of Harry and Meghan’s ‘inner circle’.