Royalist is The Daily Beast’s newsletter for all things royal and Royal Family. Subscribe here to get it in your inbox every Sunday.
Sources close to Prince Charles and his wife Camilla hit back Friday at incendiary claims that Camilla Parker Bowles made a joke to Prince Harry asking if his and Meghan’s child could have a “ginger Afro.”
The allegations were made by investigative journalist Tom Bower in his new biography of Harry and Meghan, Revenge, Meghan, Harry and the War between the Windsors.
ADVERTISEMENT
The book has caused headlines with a series of lurid claims about Harry and Meghan, including that the queen was relieved they did not attend Prince Philip’s funeral.
Bower writes that during the early weeks of their engagement, “Harry met Charles and Camilla at Clarence House. In Harry’s version, the conversation alternated between serious and joking and touched three topics. First, Harry was told that Meghan should continue with her acting career. Second, Scotland Yard could not automatically be expected to pay for his girlfriend’s 24 hour protection. And third, according to Harry, someone speculated about what his future child would ‘look like’. In one version, Camilla remarked, ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if your child had ginger Afro hair?’ Harry laughed. Subsequently Meghan’s reaction to that conversation turned Harry’s amusement into fury.”
A well placed source rubbished the allegations to The Daily Beast, pointing out that they were not even accredited to an anonymous source by Bower, much less a named one. The palace insider also questioned why no newspaper that paid to serialize extracts from the book had used the incendiary passage, implying that the allegations had not met those outlet's hurdles for publication and was therefore not worthy of serious attention. Charles and Camilla’s office declined to comment to The Daily Beast.
The palace has consistently refused to be drawn on questions about the identity of the so-called “Royal Racist,” who Meghan alleged in her interview with Oprah Winfrey had “expressed concerns” about the likely skin tone of Meghan and Harry’s then-unborn child or children.
Meghan told Oprah: “In those months when I was pregnant, all around this same time, so we have in tandem the conversation of ‘He won’t be given security. He’s not going to be given a title,’ and also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born.”
Meghan said the information “was relayed to me from Harry” with whom the conversations actually happened.
Meghan said there were multiple conversations on the subject that happened while she was pregnant, however Harry appeared to suggest only one conversation took place and that it was near the beginning of their relationship. The discrepancy in their accounts was not addressed by Oprah.
Claims about the identity of the royal racist have circulated regularly in gossip but have rarely been published.
However author Christopher Andersen wrote in his book, Brothers and Wives, that the remark was made by Prince Charles to his wife in earshot of his servants over breakfast, a claim that was met with a dismissive reaction by Charles’ office.
