- Monday, May 06, 2024
By: Sattwik Biswal
THE Royal Family had several conversations about Archie’s skin colour and were ‘unsympathetic’ to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s complaints, Omid Scobie, a close friend of Duchess of Sussex has alleged.
Scobie, who co-wrote the Sussexes’ biography Finding Freedom while speaking at an event at the Foreign Press Association in London, also alleged about the Royal Family’s ‘unconscious bias’ against Meghan.
Harry and Meghan fell out when they dropped ‘truth bombs’ about the family and told Oprah Winfrey on her show how a senior royal asked how dark Archie’s skin would be, before he was born.
At the event, Scobie claimed that the Royal Family was aware of the comment but they remained ‘unsympathetic’ to the couple’s complaints. He added it was ‘not just this one person’ who was worried about how dark Archie’s skin would be.
Scobie said: “There was one conversation that took place that affected them massively, when it came to someone within the royal family sharing concerns over the colour of Archie’s skin.
“To Harry I can see how it is one conversation, to Meghan who would have been involved in the follow up conversations I can see – because there were other people aware of this conversation within the family and within the institution, that did also speak about it, some not so sympathetically.
“So you then are in a position where you start to feel well its not just this one person, it’s others as well and it becomes a much bigger issue.”
On Oprah’s show, Markle had claimed how the family had not helped her when she was suicidal and pregnant with Archie. The Queen had then responded by saying the issues were taken ‘very seriously’ but that ‘some recollections may vary’ and the matter would be addressed by the family privately.
Scobie criticised the Queen’s statement and said how she ‘cleverly using the phrase recollections may vary’ to ‘cast doubts on Harry and Meghan’s version of events but didn’t denounce racism in any way whatsoever’.
Prince William also spoke out to deny the Royal Family is racist.
“Other individuals within the institution didn’t express the kind of understanding that should have been given.
“Even when William said we are not a racist family, they didn’t condemn racism in any form whatsoever. We do not see the royal family ever do that. So of course it then continues this conversation about how anti-racism is the royal family, how much does the Royal Institution own its history and perhaps any kind of unconscious bias that may exist within the establishment or the family. None of these things ever seem to be addressed,” Scobie said.
It has been announced that Duchess of Sussex will not join Prince Harry when he returns to the UK later this month for the unveiling of Princess Diana’s statue.
