Prince William is the first royal to speak out against Meghan’s racism claim
Prince William talks with a child in the playground during a visit to a school in east London. Photo: AAP
Prince William has revealed he and his younger brother Harry are yet to speak since the airing of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey.
During a visit to a school in east London on Friday morning (Australian time), William responded to media questions by saying he would talk to Harry and said the British royal family was not racist.
In comments to a royal reporter, three days after the British broadcast of the Oprah interview, William said “We’re very much not a racist family”.
Asked if he had spoken to his brother yet, William replied: “I haven’t spoken to him yet but I will do.”
William did not comment on any other allegations, including that the royal family ignored Meghan Markle’s pleas for help while she felt suicidal and how Prince Charles let Harry down after expressing the duke had felt trapped.
Tweet from @scobie
It followed Meghan’s revelation that one unnamed member of the royal family had raised concerns about “how dark” the skin of her unborn son Archie might be.
Their bombshell interview this week is said to have plunged the monarchy into its biggest crisis since the 1997 death of Princess Diana, William and Harry’s mother.
It was the couple’s accusation that one of the royals had made a racist comment which has the potential to cause lasting damage to the 1000-year-old monarchy.
On Wednesday, Buckingham Palace issued a statement on behalf of 94-year-old Queen Elizabeth, in which she said issues of race were concerning and would be treated very seriously but pointedly stated “some recollections may vary”.
In the statement from the Queen, the palace said that it was a family matter that should be dealt with privately.
During the interview, Harry also laid bare how distant he had become from the other members of his family, saying his father had stopped taking his calls at one point and that there was “space” in his relationship with William.
“Much will continue to be said about that… as I said before, you know, I love William to bits, he’s my brother, we’ve been through hell together and we have a shared experience,” he said.
“But we’re on different paths.”
The interview, watched by 12.4 million viewers in the UK and 17.1 million in the US, has proved divisive among the British public.
Some believe it showed how outdated and intolerant the institution was while others decried it as a self-serving assault that neither the Queen nor her family deserved.
-with AAP