Prince William Boldly Claims the Royals Aren’t Racist

The allegations that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry made about the royal family in Sunday’s tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey were disturbing, to say the least—so much so that it took Queen Elizabeth II two days to put together a 61-word response. The 94-year-old monarch did allow that “some recollections may vary,” but the gist was essentially “we see you, we hear you.”

Prince William, on the other hand, does not. His relationship with his younger brother has been fraught for years now, and William did not seek to ameliorate it when reporters approached him on Thursday. Instead, he focused on—and refuted—one of the couple’s most alarming (and arguably believable) claims. “We’re very much not a racist family,” the duke told reporters while visiting a school in East London. (Presumably, he meant the current generation; imperialism is horrifically engrained in the larger monarchy’s history.)

Interestingly enough, William currently has about as much insight into where Harry honestly stands as the public. They last spoke before the interview aired, though William said he plans to reach out soon.

And that was that—nothing more from the duke, and both at all from his wife, Kate Middleton, who was at his side at the time. Meghan was careful to paint her in a positive light, blaming the media for pitting them against each other instead of the duchess herself. It’s a narrative that Cambridges have yet to dispute, even though Meghan has made it clear just how severely it’s harmed her mental health (which, ironically, is their charitable focus).

Of all the royals that Meghan and Harry mentioned on Sunday, Charles by far came off the worst. Even the remarks that Harry made in passing about his father—who at one point stopped taking his calls—caused alarm. Overall, Harry said, he feels “let down,” especially given Charles’s firsthand experience with such a similar situation. “He knows what pain feels like, and Archie’s his grandson,” Harry said, referring to Charles’s late wife, Princess Diana. “At the same time, of course I will always love him. But there’s a lot of hurt that’s happened and I will continue to make it one of my priorities to try and heal that relationship.”

Unfortunately, Harry may be in for more disappointment. When asked for his reaction at Covid-19 clinic on Tuesday, the future king reportedly “chuckled and carried on walking.”