Prince Harry has denied calling the royals racist after he and Meghan Markle revealed his family had "concerns and conversations" about their son's skin color during the 2021 bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey.
In the interview, Harry and Meghan opened up about how the royal family had questions during her pregnancy regarding how dark Archie's skin color would be. The bombshell revelation sparked global conversation and was widely regarded as an allegation of racism against the royal family.
However, Harry denied that he ever accused his family of racism during an interview that aired on UK television on Sunday (January 8) as part of a media blitz for his new memoir "Spare," HuffPost reports.
“No, I didn’t. The British press said that," the Duke of Sussex responded when ITV’s Tom Bradby noted he had previously “accused members of your family of racism.” “Did Meghan ever mention that they’re racist?”
Bradby pointed back to the Winfrey interview, citing Meghan's revelation that “there were troubling comments about Archie’s skin color.”
“There was concern about his skin color,” Harry said.
“Right. Wouldn’t you describe that as essentially racist?” Bradby followed up during Sunday's interview.
“I wouldn’t,” Harry replied. “Not having lived within that family.”
“The difference between racism and unconscious bias, the two things are different,” he continued. “But once it’s been acknowledged, or pointed out to you as an individual, or as an institution, that you have unconscious bias, you, therefore, have an opportunity to learn and grow from that in order so that you are part of the solution rather than part of the problem. Otherwise, unconscious bias then moves into the category of racism.”
Harry and Meghan have declined to identify which members of the royal family were in conversations about Archie's skin color, only noting that the comments weren't made by Queen Elizabeth or Prince Philip. Following the 2021 interview, Prince Williams said the royals are “very much not a racist family,” and Buckingham Palace stated that “the issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning” and would be “addressed by the family privately.”
While defending his family Sunday, the Duke of Sussex called out the royals for failing to take the opportunity to change following the backlash.
“Everything they said was gonna happen hasn’t happened. I’ve always been open to wanting to help them understand their part in it, and especially when you are the monarchy ― you have a responsibility and quite rightly people hold you to a higher standard than others,” he said.
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