Labour’s Diane Abbott slams Royal Family ‘racism’

Diane Abbott today launched a furious attack on Royal Family ‘racism’ against Meghan Markle accusing Buckingham Palace of failing to ‘adjust well’ to Harry marrying a ‘mixed race woman’.

The left-wing Labour MP waded in after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex made the extraordinary claim that one Royal raised concerns about how dark the skin of their child might be.

Ms Abbott – who once called for the monarchy to be ‘dismantled’ but later joined the Privy Council – said there needed to be ‘very serious reflection’ about the attitudes of those around the Royal household.    

US TV host Oprah Winfrey, conducted the bombshell interview, says she has been told that neither the Queen nor Prince Philip made the alleged remark about skin colour.

On BBC Radio 4’s Today programme Ms Abbott this morning, Ms Abbot said she did not believe it would have been Prince Charles, insisting the heir to the throne is ‘very open to multiculturalism and diversity’.    

She said: ‘I thought I was the most extremely distasteful thing for somebody to say. First of all it’s stupid, there’s no way Meghan and Harry will know what colour their baby will be.

‘But also to be worrying about quite how dark the child will be could only be described as racism.’

Asked whether the Royal Family needs to respond, with a statement yet to be issued, she said: ‘I don’t think they necessarily need to get into a tit for tat publicly but they do need to think hard about some of the attitudes of the courtiers, the aides the advisers who are in Buckingham Palace because it is clear that on that level they didn’t adjust well to having a mixed race woman marry into the Royal Family.’

Labour MP Diane Abbott waded in after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex made the extraordinary claim that one Royal raised concerns about how dark the skin of their child might be

The Royal Family has been in crisis talks over how to react to a string of incendiary accusations unleashed by Harry and wife Meghan during a two-hour special with Oprah Winfrey on American TV (pictured)

Meghan cradles Archie with Harry in snapshot of family bliss released hours after interview with Oprah aired 

A new picture of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle cradling baby Archie today appeared on social media, hours after the couple’s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey aired in the US.

Misan Harriman – who took the photograph released to announce Meghan’s second pregnancy – shared a previously unreleased image of the couple last night

Amid the huge fallout from last night’s explosive revelations, the couple’s friend Misan Harriman – who took the photograph used to announce Meghan’s most recent pregnancy – shared a previously unreleased image of the couple.

It shows the Duke of Sussex, 36, cuddling his pregnant wife, 39, as she holds Archie, one, in a lush Los Angeles garden. The toddler’s face is hidden from view behind that of his mother’s. 

Like the previous photograph, both the Duke and Duchess are seen barefoot with the same large tree in the background. However, Meghan is seen wearing a different dress to the previous image. 

Mr Harriman shared the image to mark International Women’s Day, in a post made hours after the couple revealed their second child would be a girl during their Oprah interview.

The photographer, who took Meghan’s pregnancy announcement picture remotely using an iPad, said: ‘What wonderful news to celebrate on International Women’s Day! Congratulations my friends, and welcome to the girldad club H!’

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She went on: ‘Meghan and Harry made a point of saying that largely the actual members of the Royal Family were very welcoming. In particular the Queen has been very supportive up to this day.

‘But it does seem that it was a relative who made those ridiculous queries, worrying how dark the child was going to be.’

Ms Abbott said she ‘doesn’t see any reason to believe it was Prince Charles’. 

‘With the Prince’s Trust and his wider work he is very open to multiculturalism and diversity,’ she said.

‘But it was clearly a member of the Royal Family who felt bold to worry about how black the child was going to be.

‘There has got to be very serious reflection. They need to look at some of the people that work at Buckingham Palace.

‘And they also need to reflect, have they learnt anything over the 25 years since what happened to Princess Diana. It doesn’t seem as if they have.’

In another swipe at Palace officials, Ms Abbott said: ‘They clearly very soon did not welcome a mixed race woman marrying into the Royal Family.’

She added that the media had been seeking to ‘tear down a woman for no apparent reason’.

Buckingham Palace is said to be paralysed with ‘horror and dismay’ as Prince Harry stands accused of ‘blowing up his family’ with his bombshell interview – with the Queen said to have refused to sign off on a statement.

The Queen, Prince Charles and Prince William were all locked in crisis talks over how to react to a string of incendiary accusations unleashed by Harry and wife Meghan during a two-hour special with Oprah Winfrey on American TV.

With pressure growing for a statement today, Palace insiders described a mood of ‘intense personal shock and sadness’ that the prince had pressed the ‘nuclear button on his own family’. ‘People are just reeling,’ a source said.

The couple’s interview on CBS late on Sunday night sent shock waves around the world yesterday as the couple laid bare the extent of their rift with the Queen and other senior royals.

They accused an unnamed Royal Family member of racism, suggesting the relative had asked ‘how dark’ their baby would be; said they had been driven out of Britain, in part, by racism; and accused the Palace machinery of failing to support a ‘suicidal’ Meghan.

Harry revealed an astonishing rift with his father, saying his family had cut him off financially while suggesting the Queen had been badly advised and had cancelled a meeting scheduled at Sandringham.

Meghan also accused her sister-in-law Kate of making her cry; suggested senior royals plotted to ensure Archie would never have a title or adequate security; and said officials had failed to stand up for the couple against ‘racist’ commentary, while lying to protect other royals.

A senior Government minister and Boris Johnson ally, Lord Zac Goldsmith, echoed the mood of many in royal circles yesterday. 

Responding to the suggestion that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had ‘loaded up a plane and dropped bomb after heavy bomb on Buckingham Palace’, he tweeted: ‘Not ‘Buckingham Palace’ – Harry’s family. Harry is blowing up his family.’

A statement is understood to have been prepared by Buckingham Palace highlighting the Royal Family’s love for the couple, in attempt to avoid tensions mounting even further. However the Queen was keen not to rush it out without careful consideration overnight, according to The Times.

With pressure growing for a statement today, Palace insiders described a mood of ‘intense personal shock and sadness’ that the prince had pressed the ‘nuclear button on his own family’. ‘People are just reeling,’ a source said