UK royal family ‘very much not racist,’ William says after Meghan interview
Prince says he hasn’t spoken to his brother since Harry and Meghan revealed that family members had fretted about their unborn baby’s skin color, but says he will
Britain's Prince William watches a child in the playground during a visit with Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, to School21, a school in east London, March 11, 2021. (Justin Tallis/Pool via AP)
LONDON — Prince William on Thursday defended Britain’s royal family against accusations of racism made by his brother Prince Harry and sister-in-law Meghan, saying the royals are “very much not a racist family.”
In comments made during a visit to an east London school, William became the first royal to directly address the explosive interview broadcast Sunday in the US that his brother and the Duchess of Sussex gave to Oprah Winfrey.
Buckingham Palace sought to respond to Harry and Meghan’s allegations of racism and mistreatment in a 61-word statement, but it has failed to quell the controversy.
William, second in line to the throne after his father Prince Charles, said he hadn’t yet spoken to Harry in the aftermath of the interview, “but I will do.”
Harry and Meghan’s comments have rocked the royal family — and touched off conversations around the world about racism, mental health and even the relationship between Britain and its former colonies.
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Australian television news in Sydney, Monday, March 8, 2021, reports on an interview of The Duke and Duchess of Sussex by Oprah Winfrey. The interview airs in Australia Monday evening. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
Those tensions have only built as the public waited to see how the royal family would respond.
Meghan, who is biracial, said in the interview she was so isolated and miserable as a working member of the royal family that she had suicidal thoughts. She also said Harry told her there were “concerns and conversations” by a royal family member about the color of her baby’s skin when she was pregnant with their son, Archie.
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