Palace 'considering all options' after King and Princess of Wales named amid 'royal racist' row

ITV News Royal Editor Chris Ship analyses what Buckingham Palace has had to say on the matter

Buckingham Palace has said it is considering "all options" following the naming of two members of the Royal Family who allegedly spoke about the skin colour of Meghan and Harry's unborn child.

King Charles and the Princess of Wales were identified as the Royals who were alleged to have had conversations about Archie's skin colour in a new book which examines the fall-out of the Sussexes’ exit from the Royal Family.

The English version of Endgame, by Omid Scobie, does not name Harry’s father and sister-in-law, but copies translated into Dutch which went briefly on sale in the Netherlands did.

No evidence has been presented to back up claims the King and Princess had spoken in racist terms and even Prince Harry himself clarified in an ITV interview in January that he didn’t consider talk of Archie's skin colour by his family as “racist”.

Instead, the Prince told Tom Bradby during his publicity tour for his own book, Spare, that he thought his family had issues with “unconscious bias”.

Since the publication of Endgame earlier this week, there has been much speculation about the identity of the two Royals.

Royal biographer Omid Scobie had denied identifying two royals accused of racism in new book. Credit: AP

Author Omid Scobie denies he ever “submitted” a version of his book with the names of King Charles and the Princess of Wales - but neither he nor the publishers have been able to explain how the two names appeared in the Dutch edition – which was translated from an English manuscript.

Mr Scobie rejects the claim he is “Meghan’s mouthpiece” or “cheerleader” and says he has simply given publicity to uncomfortable subject areas which others have been reluctant to explore.

Both the King and Kate are referred to in passages of Endgame which describe a letter between Meghan and her father-in-law, Charles, shortly after the Sussexes made the initial claims in their sit-down interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021.

A royal source today suggested the palace is considering “all options” after the names appeared in print (in Dutch) – and that does not rule out some form of legal action.

Neither Buckingham Palace nor Kensington Palace have made an official response to the widespread naming of the two royals – firstly on social media and then in the mainstream media.

But for now the Royals are doing what they always do when a storm swirls around them – they carry on doing their work.

The Prince And Princess of Wales attending the Royal Variety Performance. Credit: PA

So tonight, Prince William and Kate attended the Royal Variety Performance at the Royal Albert Hall.

And King Charles has maintained his schedule in Dubai, where he is attending the UN climate change summit, COP28, and will open the event with a big speech on Friday.

But once again, this most painful period in recent royal history is creating uncomfortable headlines for the Royal Family.

And it will stall what had been considered a small thaw in relations between Harry and the King after father and son spoke on the phone on Charles’ 75th birthday earlier in November.

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