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Prince William said on Thursday (March 11) that British royalty were not racist after Meghan, the wife of his younger brother Harry, said that an anonymous family member had asked how dark their son’s skin could be. Archie.
Meghan, 39, made the accusation during an explosive revealing interview she and Harry, 36, gave to Oprah Winfrey that aired on Sunday, plunging the British monarchy into its greatest crisis since the 1997 death of the Princess Diana, William and Harry’s mother.
On a visit to a school in East London, William said he had not spoken to Harry since the interview aired just over three days ago.
“I haven’t talked to him yet, but I will,” said 38-year-old William.
When asked by a reporter if the royal family was racist, William said, “We are not a racist family.”
On the two-hour show, nearly three years after their star-studded wedding at Windsor Castle, Meghan said royalty had ignored her pleas for help while feeling suicidal, while Harry said her father, heir to the throne , Prince Charles. He had let him down and that he had felt trapped.
On Tuesday, Buckingham Palace released a statement on behalf of the 94-year-old Queen Elizabeth, the princes’ grandmother, in which it said the family was saddened by how defiant the couple had encountered in recent years.
But it was the couple’s accusation that one of the royals had made a racist comment that has dominated the coverage and has the potential to cause lasting damage to the 1,000-year-old monarchy.
Britain’s Prince William interacts with a child during a visit to School 21 following its reopening following the easing of coronavirus disease lockdown restrictions in East London. Photo: Reuters
WHO SAID IT?
Meghan, whose mother is black and her father is white, said that while she was pregnant with Archie there were “concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he is born.”
Neither she nor Harry said who had made the comment, though Winfrey later clarified that Harry had said it was not the queen or her 99-year-old husband, Philip, who has been in the hospital for three weeks as the crisis unfolds.
“That conversation, I’m never going to share it,” Harry said during the interview. “But at the time, it was awkward. I was a bit surprised.”
In the queen’s statement, the palace said that racial issues were worrisome and would be treated very seriously, but promptly stated that “some memories may vary.”
The Palace has said that this was a family matter that should be dealt with privately.
During the interview, Harry also exposed how distant he had become from the other members of his family, saying that his father had stopped taking his calls at one point and that there was “space” in his relationship with William.
Britain’s Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, watches a boy raise five fingers to indicate his age during a visit with Prince William to School21, a school in east London. Photo: AP
“Much will continue to be talked about … like I said before, you know, I love William to pieces, he is my brother, we have been through hell together and we have a shared experience,” he said. “But we are on different paths.”
The interview, watched by 12.4 million viewers in Britain and 17.1 million in the United States, has caused divisions among British audiences.
Some believe it showed how old-fashioned and intolerant the institution was, while others denounced it as a selfish assault that neither Elizabeth nor her family deserved. – Reuters
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