Buckingham Palace is currently under pressure to respond to the heavy allegations of racism following an interview with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex Harry and Meghan. The most shocking revelation of the interview was that the couple revealed a member of the family asked about how dark the skin tone of their child would be while Meghan was still pregnant.
Prince Harry made Oprah, who was running the interview, clarify that neither the Queen nor the Duke of Edinburgh made the remark regarding Archie’s skin tone, however, they also refused to clarify who actually said it, leaving the other royal family members open to suspicion. Meghan told Winfrey that concerns over Archie being “too brown was a pretty safe assumption,” but her and Harry refused to identify who said it, claiming it would be “very damaging” if they did.
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Meghan also suggested that her son’s mixed-race status is what led to him being denied the title of prince; something that is automatically given to any grandchild of a sovereign, which is what Archie is. The couple claimed that racism in general was a “large part” of their decision to leave Britain, and while the UK was not bigoted, the UK press and tabloids were.
Keir Starmer is the labor leader within the palace who claimed the “race and mental health issues raised by Meghan were bigger than the royal family, and should not be put to one side. There is no place for racism in our society.”
Meghan also made shocking claims that during her short time in the palace, she became extremely depressed and suicidal. “I just didn’t want to be alive any more.” Asked whether she had contemplated suicide, she replied: “Yes, this was very, very clear, and very scary. Though I begged for help, and asked to go somewhere to seek help, I was told I couldn’t, that it wouldn’t be good for the institution.”
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Harry then went on to criticize his own father, who stopped taking calls from his son after the couple announced their departure as working royals, which also led to the couple being cut off financially. When asked about if the royal family had apologized at all for any of what the couple has endured within the past few years, Harry claimed they hadn’t, because they felt unsupported.
Harry also clarified that the two of them never “blindsided” the Queen as the media heavily suggested, and instead informed her last year of their intent to quit. He claimed to have too much respect for his grandmother to ever just leave without a warning.
Royal author and historian Robert Lacey claims the repercussions from this interview “would reverberate for a long time because this is more than just a criticism of someone’s personality. This is a first-hand testimony to a dysfunctional family. It’s probably the most damning condemnation of the royal family and how they operate I’ve ever heard.”
So far, the palace and royal family members have yet to respond to the interview beyond seeing what the tabloids have said of it, which has so far been fairly split down the middle, surprisingly.
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
