Royal family not racist: Prince William

LONDON • Prince William denied on Thursday that Britain's royals are racist after Meghan Markle, the wife of his younger brother Prince Harry, said one unnamed member of the family had asked how dark their son Archie's skin might be.

Markle, 39, made the allegation during an explosive tell-all interview that she and Prince Harry, 36, gave to American talk-show host Oprah Winfrey and which was aired on Sunday, plunging the British monarchy into its biggest crisis since the 1997 death of Princess Diana, the princes' mother.

On a visit to a school in east London, Prince William said he had not talked to Prince Harry since the interview was broadcast just over three days ago.

"I haven't spoken to him yet, but I will do," Prince William, 38, added.

Asked by a reporter if the royal family is racist, he said: "We're very much not a racist family."

In the two-hour interview, nearly three years after their star-studded wedding in Windsor Castle, Markle said the royals had ignored her pleas for help when she felt suicidal.

Prince Harry said his father, heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles, had let him down and that he had felt trapped.

On Tuesday, Buckingham Palace issued a statement on behalf of 94-year-old Queen Elizabeth II, the princes' grandmother, in which she said the family was saddened by how challenging the couple had found the last few years.

But it was the couple's accusation that one of the royals had made a racist comment which dominated coverage and has the potential to cause lasting damage to the 1,000-year-old monarchy.

Markle, whose mother is black and 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's born".

Neither she nor Prince Harry said who made the remark, although Winfrey later clarified that the prince said it was not the Queen nor her 99-year-old husband Prince Philip, who has been in hospital for three weeks while the crisis unfolded.

"That conversation, I'm never going to share," Prince Harry said during the interview. "But at the time, it was awkward. I was a bit shocked."

In the statement from the Queen, the palace said issues of race were concerning and would be treated very seriously, but pointedly stated that "some recollections may vary".

The palace has said it is a family matter that should be dealt with privately.

The interview, watched by 12.4 million viewers in Britain and 17.1 million in the United States, has proved divisive among the British public.

For some, Markle's accusations confirmed their belief that the monarchy is an outdated and intolerant institution, while others decried it as a self-serving assault that neither the Queen nor her family deserved.

REUTERS