Prince Harry denies he and Meghan said the royal family was racist

Prince Harry has denied that he and Meghan ever accused the royal family of racism, arguing that there is a "difference between racism and unconscious bias".

In an interview with ITV News presenter Tom Bradby, Harry was asked about the couple's sit-down with Oprah Winfrey last year.

Meghan claimed to Winfrey that when she was pregnant with Archie there were "concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born".

In Sunday's interview, Bradby said: "In the Oprah interview, you accuse members of your family of racism..."

"No," Harry interjected. "The British press said that, right? Did Meghan ever mention 'they're racists'?" Bradby said: "She said there were troubling comments about Archie's skin colour. Wouldn't you describe that as essentially racist?"

Harry responded that he would not describe the incident as racist, "not having lived within that family".

"The difference between racism and unconscious bias... the two things are different," he said.

Unconscious bias is "the tendency of us as humans to act in ways that are prompted by a range of assumptions and biases that we are not aware of", a University of Edinburgh definition says.

Harry continued: "Once it's been acknowledged or pointed out to you as an individual, otherwise an institution, that you have unconscious bias, you therefore have an opportunity to learn and grow from that... otherwise, unconscious bias then moves into the category of racism."

Harry then referred to an incident in which Lady Susan Hussey, a member of the Buckingham Palace household, repeatedly asked black British charity boss Ngozi Fulani where she “really came from”.

"What happened to Ngozi Fulani is a very good example of the environment within the institution," he added.

Harry also said that he and Meghan "love" Lady Susan.

He said: "We think she's great. I also know that she never meant any harm at all. But the response from the British press and from people online because of the stories that they wrote was horrendous, absolutely horrendous."

Ms Fulani said she had suffered “horrific abuse” on social media after she went public about the incident with Lady Susan. Furthermore, her domestic abuse charity, Sistah Space, had to pause its operations over safety fears.

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