Meghan Markle attended Variety's Power of Women
Meghan Markle, seen here at Variety's Power of Women gala, has remained mum after Piers Morgan named the two royals who allegedly raised concerns about her son Prince Archie's complexion. Photo: Variety/X Variety/X

Meghan Markle was spotted smiling while in workout gear on Monday, December 4, amid the reignited race row involving the royals brought by the release of Omid Scobie's new book.

The Duchess of Sussex was photographed in Santa Barbara dressed in an all-black ensemble of black leggings and a black long-sleeved T-shirt. She paired her workout gear with a green baseball cap, a pair of New Balance 327 sneakers, and Krewe sunglasses.

At one point, she was snapped smiling while walking with her phone in her hand. The former "Suits" star appeared unaffected by the controversy caused by Scobie's book "Endgame: Inside The Royal Family and the Monarchy's Fight for Survival" which came out on November 28.

The Dutch version of the book accidentally named the two senior royals who allegedly raised concerns about how dark Prince Archie's skin could be before he was born. The book was pulled back from release, but Piers Morgan nonetheless named these royals on his "Uncensored" show last week.

Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace have remained mum on the book's claims. Scobie, who has been dubbed as the unofficial mouthpiece for the Sussexes, has also since denied that he was responsible for the leak as he did not submit a book for publication with the said royals' names on it.

The royal author also shunned accusations that the "translation error" on the Dutch version was part of a marketing gimmick to sell more copies of his book. He also denied that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were involved in "Endgame," unlike in his previous work "Finding Freedom," which had input from the Sussexes' team.

Amid accusations that the duchess leaked the names herself to Scobie, The Telegraph's Victoria Ward cited sources close to the former actress who said that she never intended for their identities to be made public.

Meghan Markle refused to identify these royals when asked by Winfrey in 2021 as she said it would be damaging for them. Since then, she and Prince Harry have kept their identities secret, although Scobie claimed that she mentioned them in private letters she sent to King Charles III which were believed to be under lock and key.

"Sources close to the Duchess of Sussex, who named the pair in a letter she wrote to the King, have insisted she never intended them to be publicly identified and that the letter was not leaked to Scobie by anyone in her camp," Ward wrote.

Prince Harry, in a promotional interview for his memoir "Spare" in January, also clarified that his wife never accused the royals of being racist. He denied that the royals were racist and reasoned that the two royal family members who raised concerns about their son's complexion showed unconscious bias instead.

Fellow royal author Phil Dampier has now urged the Sussexes to come forward and speak up against the book's claim if they want to mend their relationship with the royals.

He told the Daily Mail: "'The onus is now very much on Harry and Meghan. If they are not behind this book and don't believe the royal relatives are racist they should now come out and say so. Their silence speaks volumes and I can't see any reconciliations any time soon."

Morgan said King Charles III and Kate Middleton were the two senior royal family members mentioned in the Dutch copy of "Endgame" who allegedly raised concerns about how dark Prince Archie's skin could be before he was born. The Princess of Wales refused to comment on the claim when asked by reporters at the Royal Variety Performance last week. It was also back to work for His Majesty following the book's release when he visited Dubai for the COP28 summit and Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have also remained mum.