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Meghan’s racism allegations have sparked outrage, and the royal response has failed to quell it.

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Updated on March 20, 2021

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The royal family’s response to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s accusations of racism and mistreatment has failed to quell the outrage, with some blaming the royal family for failing to strongly condemn racism and implying that the couple’s version of events might not be true.

Royal commentator Peter Hunt called the palace’s 61-word statement “too little, too late,” and criticized it for saying the issue would be handled privately as a family matter.

Hunt wrote on the website of the popular British magazine The Spectator, “This delayed, tame statement went for predictability when unpredictability — stepping out of the Windsor comfort zone — was what was needed.”

The statement was released on behalf of the queen 36 hours after Oprah Winfrey’s interview with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex was broadcast in the United States.

The palace said, “The whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan.” “The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately.”

According to Ed Owens, a British monarchy historian and author of “The Family Firm: Monarchy, Mass Media, and the British Public, 1932-53,” the comment should calm the debate, but media interest in the story will continue, and there will be pressure on the palace to publicly answer Harry and Meghan’s concerns.

“There are big questions here that need to be answered, and I think the press in the United Kingdom, Europe, and the United States will continue to ask questions about Harry and Meghan’s family relationship with the Windsors in the United Kingdom,” Owens said.

Meghan, who is biracial, said in the interview that as a working member of the royal family, she felt so alone and unhappy that she had suicidal thoughts, but when she pleaded for mental health assistance from the palace’s human resources workers, she was informed she couldn’t get it because she wasn’t a paid employee. When she was pregnant with their son, Archie, she said Harry told her there were “concerns and conversations” about the color of her baby’s skin.

The interview, which has been watched by nearly 50 million people around the world, has caused controversy.

Many people have backed Meghan, claiming that the accusations show that the firm hasn’t kept up with the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter campaigns. Others defend the royal family, blaming the pair for making their damning accusations as Prince Philip, Harry’s 99-year-old grandfather, remains hospitalized in London after a heart operation.

The palace’s brief message had “hardened the lines” between those who think the monarchy is an obsolete bastion of hereditary white privilege and those who see it as a revered national institution, according to Anna Whitelock, director of the Centre for the Study of Modern Monarchy at Royal Holloway, University of London.

The interview’s fallout is likely to spark controversy about the monarchy’s future and position in the United Kingdom and other countries where the queen serves as head of state, according to Whitelock. Aside from the United Kingdom, the queen is the head of state of 15 countries, the majority of which were once part of the British Empire, such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Caribbean island nations.

“That is a debate that has been held in check, in large part because of the length of the queen’s reign and respect for her and the role she has played,” Whitelock said. “However, it will happen, and the question is when, not if.”

A famous British TV personality has already lost his job as a result of the ongoing controversy. Piers Morgan has stepped down from ITV’s morning news talk show after a backlash over his on-air criticism of Meghan Markle. More than 41,000 people protested to the UK’s communications regulator after Morgan said he didn’t believe something Meghan said on Monday’s episode of the show. According to ITV News, the duchess protested to a British television station about the remarks, focusing on their effect on people struggling with mental health issues.

The disclosures by Harry and Meghan contrasted sharply with the public image they cultivated following their May 2018 wedding at Windsor Castle. The royal family seemed to warm to Meghan, a glamorous former TV star, at the time, and the couple was seen as bringing a fresh young face to the monarchy of an increasingly multicultural country.

The fairy tale didn’t take long to unravel. Last year, the pair left their royal duties and relocated to California, claiming they wanted to avoid racist coverage and unwelcome intrusions into their privacy from the British media.

Many Black people have said Meghan’s remarks exposed the reality of racism in the United Kingdom, where the problem is so frequently framed as an American issue.

Bell Ribeiro-Addy, a Labour Party member of Parliament who is Black, expressed disappointment that the royal family intended to deal with Meghan’s accusations privately.

She also blasted the Buckingham Palace statement for failing to clearly denounce racism. The palace’s inability to do so contrasts with its reaction just last week, when reports emerged that Meghan had bullied employees during her tenure as a working royal, according to Ribeiro-Addy. The palace immediately released a statement in response to the accusations, noting that it “does not and will not tolerate bullying or harassment.”

“Any criticism of the monarchy should really be met with a forceful response from the institution about what they are going to do,” Ribeiro-Addy told the BBC. “Any institution should be able to do that,” says the author. “Why not the monarchy, why not the palace?”