Yahoo Finance Claim Prince Charles speculated on grandchildren’s skin colour ‘is fiction’
Clarence House denies claim in new book that Charles asked about ‘complexion’ of Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s future children
The private office of the Prince of Wales has dismissed as “fiction” claims in a new book that Prince Charles was the royal who speculated on the skin colour of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s future children.
The American journalist and author Christopher Andersen, a former editor of the US celebrity news magazine People, alleges in the book that Charles made the comment on the day Harry and Meghan’s engagement was announced in November 2017.
In the book, Brothers And Wives: Inside The Private Lives of William, Kate, Harry and Meghan, Andersen, 72, writes that the prince said to the Duchess of Cornwall: “I wonder what the children will look like?”
When Camilla replied: “Well, absolutely gorgeous, I’m certain,” the book claims Charles went on to say: “I mean, what do you think their children’s complexion might be?”
Clarence House, the Prince of Wales’ private office, responded on Monday with an emphatic denial of the version of events.
A Clarence House spokesman said: “This is fiction and not worth further comment.”
Harry and Meghan accused a member of the royal family – not the Queen or Duke of Edinburgh – of racism in shocking claims made during their Oprah Winfrey interview earlier this year.
Meghan said that when she was pregnant with Archie, an unnamed member of the royal family raised “concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born”.
Asked whether there were concerns that her child would be “too brown” and that would be a problem, the duchess said: “If that is the assumption you are making, that is a pretty safe one.”
Pushed by Winfrey on who had those conversations, Meghan refused to say, adding: “I think that would be very damaging to them.”
Harry refused to give further details, adding: “That conversation, I am never going to share. At the time it was awkward, I was a bit shocked.”
Charles has arrived in Barbados ahead of a historic ceremony in which the country will swear in its first president and formally end the Queen’s role as its head of state.
Andersen’s other works include unauthorised biographies of Madonna and Michael Jackson, and a range of other works on the British royals, including 2016’s Game of Crowns: Elizabeth, Camilla, Kate, and the Throne.
