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Royals ‘were aware of racist remark’ about Harry, Meghan’s children

A royal biographer claims the skin tone of Harry and Meghan’s children was the subject of several conversations.

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, with her son Archie. Picture: AFP.
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, with her son Archie. Picture: AFP.

Members of the British royal family were aware of a racist remark made to Prince Harry about his children’s skin colour and some spoke about it – but not sympathetically – royal biographer Omid Scobie has claimed.

Scobie has been told the name of the accused royal but won’t divulge it because he hasn’t verified it with other sources. Yet he said the public had a right to know who made the remark if the person was a future head of state.

In an interview with the Foreign Press Association in London on Friday, Scobie, who has close contacts with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and is the author of the book Finding Freedom about the Sussexes, said the issue of their son Archie’s skin tone was the subject of not one conversation, but several.

In explaining an inconsistency during an Oprah Winfrey interview in which Harry referred to a baby’s skin colour being raised in one conversation early in his courtship with Meghan, while Meghan described a conversation during her pregnancy with Archie, Scobie said the initial conversation developed into “a much bigger issue”.

“There was one conversation that took place that affected them massively, when it came to someone within the royal family sharing concerns over the colour of Archie’s skin,” Scobie said.

“To Harry, I can see how it is one conversation; to Meghan who would have been involved in the follow-up conversations I can see, because there were other people aware of this conversation within the family and within the institution, that did also speak about it, some not so sympathetically.

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“So you then are in a position where you start to feel, well it’s not just this one person, it’s others as well and it becomes a much bigger issue.”

Scobie said “pass” when asked if he knew who made the initial remark about skin colour, saying he had only one source and would not divulge the name it because he had not verified it with multiple contacts. He said it was a story for the couple to share, should they ever want to.

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But he added: “At the time, the biggest conversation was ‘did this come from a senior member of the royal family, a future head of state?’ If that individual is a head of state, then we as a public have a right to know because, of course, that is someone that is our head of state, head of the Commonwealth. And if they have an issue with race, we should know.”

Scobie also claimed that the Queen’s statement addressing the Winfrey interview allegations had cleverly used the words “recollections may vary”, which then “cast doubts on Harry and Meghan’s version of events, but didn’t denounce racism in any way whatsoever”.

“Even when William said they were not a racist family, again, they did not condemn racism in any form whatsoever,” he said.

Scobie said unconscious bias in the establishment or the royal family was never addressed.

Read related topics:Harry And MeghanRoyal Family

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/royals-were-aware-of-racist-remark-about-harrys-children/news-story/7858a8445fad10051859ae1fdeb9a4a6