‘We’re Very Much Not A Racist Family’: Prince William Quietly Responds To Markle’s Charges

 

Visiting a school in east London with his wife, Princess Kate, to promote a mental health program on Thursday, Great Britain’s Prince William was asked about the racially charged allegations Meghan Markle, the wife of his younger brother Prince Harry, has made against the Royal Family.

“Sir, have you spoken to your brother since the interview?” the reporter asked.“No, I haven’t spoken to him yet, but I will do,” William answered.

“And if you’d just let me know, is the Royal Family a racist family?” asked the reporter.

“We’re very much not a racist family,” William replied.Phil Dampier, who has been covering the Royal Family for 35 years, tweeted, “Clearly very hurt but dignified. Well said, William. The royals will survive and slowly fight back but Harry and Meghan have played all their cards. From now on they can’t blame everyone else and have to stand or fall by their own actions.”

“The decision to publicly respond to personal allegations is unprecedented for a senior royal, and shows the strength of feeling in the royal household about the attacks directed at them,” The Daily Mail opined, adding, “The Queen broke her silence on the interview on Tuesday, voicing her ‘concern’ over the issues raised, ‘particularly that of race’, although the statement added that ‘some recollections may vary.”William and Kate spoke of the rollout of a mental health program in secondary schools, the same program she had launched for primary schools in 2018.

In the interview she and her husband conducted with Oprah Winfrey that aired on Sunday night, Meghan Markle made the explosive charge that someone inside the royal family had told her husband Prince Harry while she was pregnant with their son Archie that they were concerned about how dark the skin of the child would be.

Markle said that when she was pregnant with Archie, she was told that Archie wouldn’t be given a title and that he wouldn’t have the same security he would have had with a title.

Winfrey asked, “How did they explain to you that your son, the great-grandson of the Queen, wasn’t going to be a prince? You certainly must have had some conversations with Harry about it and had your own suspicions as to why they didn’t want to make Archie a prince. Why do you think that is?”

In the exchange revolving around Markle’s charge, Winfrey asked, “What are those thoughts? Why do you think that is? Do you think it was because of his race? And I know that’s a loaded question…” That prompted the following exchange:

Markle: I can give you an honest answer. In those months when I was pregnant, all around the same time, so we had in tandem the conversation of, “He won’t be given security, he’s not gonna be given a title,” and also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born. And —

Winfrey: What?

Markle: And —

Winfrey: Who, who is having that conversation with you? What?

Markle: So, um …

Winfrey: There’s a conversat — hold up —

Markle: There are several conversa — there are several conversations.

Winfrey: There’s a conversation. With you.

Markle: With Harry.

Winfrey: About how dark your baby is going to be.

Markle: Potentially and what that would mean or look like.

Winfrey: Who? And you’re not going to tell me who had the conversation?

Markle: I think that would be very damaging to them.

“Markle confirmed that Harry had spoken to a close family member on the subject of their future child’s skin color,” Oprah Magazine noted.

Harry confirmed the alleged incident to Oprah, saying, “That conversation I’m never going to share. But at the time, it was awkward, I was a bit shocked. I’m not comfortable sharing it.”

At one point Winfrey asked, “They were concerned that if he were too brown that that would be a problem?” Markle responded, “I wasn’t able to follow up. If that’s the assumption you’re making … that would be a safe one.”