Endgame Quotes

“Here was a woman who, in the eyes of many within the institution (consciously or unconsciously), wasn’t considered good enough to be part of it—be it because of her class, her family, her ethnicity, or her career history. Or maybe just because she wasn’t sufficiently reverential and thankful for the opportunity, a haughty opinion that also stinks of prejudice and privilege.”
― Omid Scobie, Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival

“Meghan came in and did the work, but she wasn’t in awe of her surroundings. It was like taking on a new job, one that came as a prerequisite with her marriage to the person she was in love with,” said a close friend of the duchess. “She took it seriously, but the fact she wasn’t saying, ‘Wow, this is the greatest thing on earth’ made people feel like she wasn’t grateful, that she didn’t deserve what she had.” To some at the Palace, here was a woman of color who was allowed into an entitled, exceedingly white space, so how dare she not show an abundance of gratitude. The fact that later she would choose to step away from it, essentially rejecting the hallowed space she was “lucky” enough to have entered, emerged as the sore point for many.”
― Omid Scobie, Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival

“I saw Kate becoming a jointed doll on which certain rags are hung,” Mantel wrote, adding that the duchess appeared like a “shop-window mannequin, with no personality of her own, entirely defined by what she wore.” A harsh observation to be sure, but also a truth most find hard to swallow. Like Diana, Kate became a sparkling showpiece for the Firm, a symbol of refined beauty and those white, English Rose genetics the British newspapers love so much. Freya in an Emilia Wickstead coat dress.”
― Omid Scobie, Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival

“Just a quick example: if the United Kingdom’s gross domestic product (GDP) continues on its current path of an average decline of 0.5 percent annually as it has from 2010 to 2021, the British economy will fall behind many of its European neighbors, including Poland by 2030 and Romania and Hungary by 2040.”
― Omid Scobie, Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival

“It demonstrates an unwillingness to truly accept, embrace, and protect what the Duchess of Sussex’s inclusion stood for beyond palace walls—how important it was for the millions of Black, Brown, and non-white people throughout Britain and the predominantly non-white Commonwealth to finally see a little of themselves represented in the monarchy because of Meghan’s presence, her background, and her union with Harry.”
― Omid Scobie, Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival

“This is a side of Kate that rarely gets written about. Advocating for mental health causes—the mental health of mothers, for that matter—but ignoring her own sister-in-law’s cries for help seemed out of character for someone the public knew as sweet and easy to get along with.”
― Omid Scobie, Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival

“By their very existence, the royal family as a symbol perpetuates the notion of empire and the class system. As a result, it’s almost impossible to separate the three. To do so would require a full-scale operation geared toward redressing the Firm in modern colors and populating the institution with diverse opinions and forward-thinking ideas, including a new governing transparency.”
― Omid Scobie, Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival

“We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love, and then we return home.”
― Omid Scobie, Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival

“An astounding amount of royal history happened during the writing of Endgame. The world was introduced to King Charles III and Queen Camilla; Prince Andrew was stripped of his titles. Prince Harry released an explosive memoir and a revealing Netflix series, and, of course, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II passed away. All”
― Omid Scobie, Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival

“Doubly so when a growing percentage of the population feels that the monarchy is losing relevancy, with many now far more comfortable in voicing their views after Elizabeth II’s passing. Recent years have seen an institution scrambling to justify its significance to younger generations who believe it no longer serves a strong enough purpose to justify its growing cost to the state.”
― Omid Scobie, Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival

“Five months before its release, a close friend of Prince Harry had warned me that the institution—and the media allies that support it—might “play dirty” against those who attempt to expose the truth. They weren’t wrong.”
― Omid Scobie, Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival

“Over four hundred thousand people from every corner of the country and overseas lined up for five days for an opportunity to venerate Her Majesty and her legacy or to just be present for this historical moment. #TheQueue trended on social media, and lines—which could even be seen from planes flying to Heathrow—became an important final scene of the Queen’s life: a national moment of shared experience.”
― Omid Scobie, Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival

“Launched by William and Sir David Attenborough in October 2020, the Earthshot Prize awards one million British pounds to five individuals or teams whose work offers “ingenious solutions to repair and regenerate our planet.”
― Omid Scobie, Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival

“Those who wear the crown should never express public opinions on political matters or policy, no matter how misguided or noxious they might be—it’s why no one ever knew, even posthumously, any of Queen Elizabeth II’s political leanings or opinions.”
― Omid Scobie, Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival

“In late June 2023, the Sovereign Grant Report, an annual document that outlines the royal family’s expenditures, revealed that spending had risen by 5 percent from the previous year to £107.5 million (the second time in history it had broken the £100 million mark). Despite Charles campaigning on environmental issues, reports for 2022 and 2023 also revealed that he still regularly travels by helicopter between his numerous royal residences at an average cost of £15,000 per flight.”
― Omid Scobie, Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival

“the duke acted as an unofficial “door opener” for financier David Rowland and his secretive bank for the super-rich in Luxembourg, Banque Havilland S.A. Thanks to Andrew’s royal connections and envoy role, he was able to pitch the bank’s services to potential clients from the ranks of the high-net-worth elite. Rowland even brought Andrew on an official visit to China. In return he had access to a Bombardier Global Express jet and a virtually limitless credit card—Rowland even paid off a £1.5 million loan Andrew owed to his bank.”
― Omid Scobie, Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival

“Many of the issues affecting people of color in the United Kingdom originated in the heart of the British establishment—the institution of the monarchy. It was Queen Elizabeth I who legitimized slavery in 1562 when she allowed naval commander John Hawkins to kidnap Africans in his ship’s cargo hold and sell them in the Caribbean. And, during the reign of King Charles II, the Crown financed the African slave trade by founding and maintaining the Royal African Company of England, a trading operation that shipped more enslaved African men, women, and children than any other single institution during the entire period of the transatlantic slave trade.”
― Omid Scobie, Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival

“The murderous and destructive impact of the royal family’s role in slavery is rarely covered in British schools to this day,”
― Omid Scobie, Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival

“Unlike strong-minded Diana, who, saddled with a cruel and taxing marriage, proved to be a woman unwilling to fully submit to the royal cause, so far Kate has been a much more teachable, pliable future Queen. She’s coachable.”
― Omid Scobie, Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival

“This obvious power grab required thick skin, strategic thinking, and persistence, three essential qualities for a modern courtier.”
― Omid Scobie, Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival

“[Camilla] will never publicly comment on anything or speak ill of others, but she will always know someone who can do that for her,” a former Palace aide told me.”
― Omid Scobie, Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival

“But she doesn’t let it get to her. Her philosophy is always, ‘Don’t make a thing of it and it will settle down—least said, soonest mended.”
― Omid Scobie, Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival

“An avid tennis player and patron of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC), Kate showed off her forehand and appeared unfazed by the cameras and the many in attendance who were there to welcome Raducanu back to the United Kingdom after she took the trophy at the U.S. Open just a few weeks before.”
― Omid Scobie, Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival

“Around 45 percent of Scottish voters do not want England to govern their country, and a vast majority of younger Scots are in favor of breaking away from English rule.”
― Omid Scobie, Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival

“Polls often reveal that a majority of the British public do not consider themselves royalists, nor do they enthusiastically support the monarchy, but most leave it at that—viewing the family as a harmless institution that makes Britain unique and one that doesn’t present any glaringly definitive reasons to get rid of it.”
― Omid Scobie, Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival

“Individually, King Charles III has an average approval rating of 54 percent, well below that of his late mother, 76 percent, and William, at 64 percent. In 2023, outright support for the monarchy fell to 55 percent (down from 75 percent in 2012, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Year and the peak of Cambridge mania). Generationally, the differences are huge—79 percent of over-sixty-fives in Britain back the Crown, while just 36 percent of eighteen-to-twenty-four-year-olds want it to continue.”
― Omid Scobie, Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival

“All of this heavily underlines the republican argument that, at the end of the day, monarchies look out for themselves and are propelled by their own agendas, interests, and bank accounts. This enormous fortune speaks volumes about the monarchy’s motivations for sticking around way beyond its sell-by date and why they use the idea of “serving the Crown” as a protective shield.”
― Omid Scobie, Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival

“If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story. —Orson Welles, The Big Brass Ring”
― Omid Scobie, Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival

“Like so much royal philanthropy, Kate’s early-years work is part of a broader institutional campaign to flaunt and elevate her importance to the monarchy and to the nation.”
― Omid Scobie, Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival

“Everyone already knows that King Charles might have preferred a life as Queen Camilla's tampon.”
― Omid Scobie, Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival