Ngozi Fulani has denied Buckingham Palace's claims they have reached out to her after one of the late Queen's friends resigned over allegedly making racist comments.
It was claimed Lady Susan Hussey questioned Ngozi Fulani about her ethnicity last night while attending the Queen Consort 's reception on violence against women earlier this week. Ms Fulani, who runs a black women's domestic abuse charity, said that she was asked: 'What part of Africa are you from?' during the event.
Yesterday, the palace confirmed they had launched an investigation into the "unacceptable and deeply regrettable comments" and said they had "reached out to Ngozi Fulani on this matter", but she insists that's not the case.
Speaking on ITV's Good Morning Britain today, Ngozi denied claims by the Palace that someone had reached out to her.
"I don't know where this is coming from but I'm telling you categorically we have not heard from the Palace," she told the show's hosts Ben Shephard and Kate Garraway as she appeared on the breakfast programme alongside her daughter.
The Palace said they are taking the incident "extremely seriously" and said the comments were "unacceptable and deeply regrettable".
A palace spokesman said in a statement released yesterday: "We take this incident extremely seriously and have investigated immediately to establish the full details. In this instance, unacceptable and deeply regrettable comments have been made. We have reached out to Ngozi Fulani on this matter, and are inviting her to discuss all elements of her experience in person if she wishes.
"In the meantime, the individual concerned would like to express her profound apologies for the hurt caused and has stepped aside from her honorary role with immediate effect. All members of the Household are being reminded of the diversity and inclusivity policies which they are required to uphold at all times."
Prince William has also made a statement, inviting Ms Fulani to the Palace. She confirmed she will take up that offer from him.
"What we're about is positive results," she said, "So absolutely I think discussions should be held. We've very happy to have that discussion because we want to bring it back to the 16 days of activism. This is about violence against women and girls and although I didn't experience physical violence, what I feel I experienced was a form of abuse."
