In a personal letter to King Charles, Meghan Markle shared her concerns about unconscious bias within the royal family, The Telegraph reports—and in doing so named the member of the family who allegedly made comments about “how dark [Archie’s] skin might be when he’s born,” allegations made by Meghan and husband Prince Harry during their bombshell March 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey. The letter, People reports, was sent soon after the Oprah interview to Charles, who was then still the Prince of Wales.
Meghan’s correspondence was allegedly sent in response to a letter she received from Charles, in which he “expressed his sadness over tension within the family,” People reports. “Charles is believed to be the only senior royal to have made contact with Meghan following the Oprah interview.”
The letters name the individual who allegedly said the comments, and both Charles and Meghan agreed, per The Telegraph, that the comment was said with no malice intended.
Meghan also allegedly told Charles that “she didn’t intend to accuse the royal family member of racism, but instead wanted to discuss unconscious bias,” People reports. Meghan also thanked Charles for his letter and, while the tone of the exchange was “warm,” tension within the family remains.
As to whether the skin tone comment was Meghan’s reason for declining the invitation to the King’s Coronation, a representative of the Duchess of Sussex, speaking to People, said that speculation was “ridiculous.”
“The Duchess of Sussex is going about her life in the present, not thinking about correspondence from two years ago related to conversations from four years ago,” the spokesperson said. “Any suggestion otherwise is false and, frankly, ridiculous. We encourage tabloid media and various royal correspondents to stop the exhausting circus that they alone are creating.”
Harry himself acknowledged in an interview with ITV’s Tom Bradby that there is a difference between racism and unconscious bias, saying “Once it’s been acknowledged or pointed out to you as an individual, otherwise an institution, that you have unconscious bias, you, therefore, have an opportunity to learn and grow from that…otherwise, unconscious bias then moves into the category of racism.”
