Paul Burrell calls for investigation into Meghan Markle’s racism accusations

Paul Burrell has insisted there should be an investigation into Meghan Markle’s claims there were concerns and conversations within the Royal Family about how dark her son’s skin might be.

During Meghan and Prince Harry’s tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey, she alleged that the comments were made while she was pregnant with Archie.

Speaking on Steph’s Packed Lunch on Channel 4, former royal butler Burrell stated that in 21 years of working with the royal family, he ‘never saw racism’.

Host Steph McGovern asked him: ‘Meghan and Harry are clearly saying they have had a problem with racism, do you not think there should be an investigation?’

He responded: ‘Well yes, because racism should be stamped out, there’s no room for it in today’s society, absolutely no room at all.’

In the interview, Oprah asked Meghan about the alleged conversations about her unborn child: ‘Who is having that conversation with you?’

Meghan would not say who raised this, saying: ‘I think that would be damaging to them.’

She added the concerns were relayed to her by Harry, who had been told people were worried about ‘what that would mean or look like’.

Meghan added: ‘That was relayed to me from Harry, those were conversations the family had with him, and I think it was really hard to be able to see those as compartmentalised conversations.’

Asked whether there were concerns her child would be ‘too brown’ and that would be a problem, Meghan said: ‘If that is the assumption you are making, that is a pretty safe one.’

Joining her in the interview later, Prince Harry confirmed what she said, adding he would not reveal who raised the concerns as he said: ‘That conversation I’m never going to share. At the time it was awkward. That was right at the beginning. “What will the kids look like?” ‘

Meanwhile, Paul also said he believes the interview is a ‘release’ for Harry following his upbringing within the royal family after the death of his mother.

He added: ‘When Princess Diana died, Harry was a young child, William was almost an adult at 15. I remember when he [Harry] came back to Kensington Palace, he broke his heart to me.

‘He wrapped his arms around me and cried and wet my shirt through. He didn’t know how to cope with it. No one gave him the help then of how to deal with losing your mother at such an early age.

‘And I think it all stems back to then because then he was taken back inside the royal family, which aren’t very good at helping people, and he was told you can’t mention your mother’s name, you can’t grieve about her, Diana’s gone now and we must move on and keep a stiff upper lip…

‘That’s what caused his early problems, not being able to talk about it. Until he was an adult and had a wife of his own, could he come out and say this is how it affected me.

‘I think this interview is a sort of release, it’s a bottle of fizzy pop, that cork’s suddenly gone off and out it all comes. These are all the problems these young royals have faced without the proper help.’

Steph’s Packed Lunch airs weekdays at 12.30pm on Channel 4.

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