Buckingham Palace is considering appointing an official who will serve as a diversity tsar following Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s disturbing interview with Oprah Winfrey, according to various media reports.
A source said that the palace has been working for some time to improve the diversity in the royal households, but that little progress has been made.
Diversity is an ‘issue taken very seriously in the royal households’, the source told CNN and British stores.
“We have the policies, procedures and programs in place, but we have not yet seen what progress wants to be made and accept that more needs to be done,” the source added. “The work to do this has been going on for some time and comes with the full support of the family.”
The nomination of a diversity tsar for spearhead efforts is on the table, but it is still too early to announce a “fixed plan”, the source explained. “We are listening and learning to get it right,” the source added.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex complained to Winfrey in an interview earlier this month about racist coverage in the British press. But in the most disturbing revelation, they said a member of the royal family spoke to them about ‘concerns’ about how dark their son’s skin would be. They do not name the family member, but Winfrey later made it clear that it was not Queen Elizabeth or Prince Phillip.
The BBC reports that Buckingham Palace will already be reviewing diversity policies in all the royal households, including Clarence House and Kensington Palace.
The Guardian reports that royal assistants would participate in a “listening and learning” process in the coming weeks. It will reportedly involve individuals and business leaders on how the monarchy can improve representatives of people of color, members of the LGBTQ + community and people with disabilities.
In a statement on behalf of the Queen following the Winfrey interview, Buckingham Palace said the Duke and Duchess were “concerned” about Sussex’s allegations of racism, adding that they would be “taken very seriously” and “by the family will be addressed privately ‘. ”
After the interview, Prince William told a reporter that “many of us are not a racist family.”
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