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Prince Charles has denied the claims that he was the unnamed royal family member who commented about the color of baby Archie’s skin before he was born, after an alleged conversation he had with his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, was recounted in Christopher Andersen’s book, Brothers And Wives: Inside The Private Lives of William, Kate, Harry and Meghan which is out on Tuesday, November 30th.
The allegations surrounding a member of the royal family who commented about the color of Archie’s skin were initially made by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in their infamous Oprah Winfrey interview back in March. Although the Duke and Duchess of Sussex didn’t name the family member, Markle told Winfrey that there were “concerns and conversations about how dark Archie’s skin might be when he was born. Those were conversations that family had with Harry.” At the time, Prince Harry revealed that he would never share who the unnamed family member was, but confirmed that it wasn’t his grandmother, The Queen, or grandfather, the late Prince Philip.
However, a spokesperson for the Prince of Wales from Clarence House has denied the allegations made in Andersen's book via a very brief statement, reading: "This is fiction and not worth further comment." According to royal expert Omid Scobie, Prince Charles has already consulted with lawyers in relation to the allegations.
As per Andersen's book, an allegedly well-placed source claimed that on November 27th, 2017 – i.e., the day Harry and Meghan officially announced their engagement – Prince Charles was overheard commenting to his wife about the appearance of the couple's future children. He allegedly said: "I wonder what the children will look like?" According to the royal insider, the Duchess of Cornwall was "somewhat taken aback," and replied, "Well, absolutely gorgeous, I’m certain." The book continues to state that, after lowering his voice, Prince Charles then asked, "I mean, what do you think their children’s complexion might be?"
Andersen has interestingly come to the Prince of Wales' defense since the news came out, telling Today on Monday, November 29th, that his comments were "benign" and have since been twisted and misinterpreted. "On the morning that Meghan and Harry’s engagement was announced, in a very kind of benign way, Prince Charles started to muse on what their future grandchildren might look like," Andersen told Today.
"I mean, here’s this beautiful biracial American woman and the world’s most famous redhead. I’m a grandfather, of course, we all do this, speculate on it. But it was turned into something very toxic, it was weaponized by the ‘Men in Gray’ who run the palace organization. Unfortunately, by the time it got to Harry, that’s the way he took it." In the book, Andersen describes how various members of the royal family reacted to the incident, writing that Harry was extremely frustrated, while Prince Charles felt that his son was being "overly sensitive about the matter." Prince William also, according to the book, felt that his father's comments may have been "tactless" but were certainly "not a sign of racism within the family."
