We must all fight racism, says Duke as book criticises Royal family

Victoria Ward

THE Duke of Sussex has said it will take “every person on the planet” to tackle racism, as the author of a new biography claimed the monarchy had missed an opportunity to put “diversity, inclusivity and representation” at its heart.

Prince Harry said expecting charities to solve racism was “like throwing a bucket of water on a forest fire”. He intervened as Omid Scobie, co-author of Finding Freedom, published today, said racism played a role in the couple’s decision to quit royal life, and that the “level of ignorance” within palace walls “made it difficult for Meghan”.

He said: “History will remember them as a couple perhaps failed by the institution of the monarchy.” The Duke spoke out on the subject in a video call with Rashad Robinson, president of Color of Change, a US civil rights group. The Duke said racism had been around so long and was “now so big” that charity, which was “crucial in many areas”, could not fix it.

“It’s going to take every single one of us,” he said. “This is not down to the black community, it’s down to every single person on the planet right now.” He added that simply talking about it was not enough – words had to be followed by action. “Why wouldn’t you want to be part of the solution?” he said. “If you can’t answer that honestly then I think you are part of the problem.”

Since the early days of his relationship with Meghan Markle, the Duke has been vocal about the levels of racism he believes were levelled against her. In his first official confirmation that they were a couple, in November 2016, he expressed outrage at the “the racial undertones of comment pieces and the outright sexism and racism of social media trolls and web article comments”.

Mr Scobie told Good Morning America, on the ABC network, that the marriage had given the Royal family a unique chance to be represented by “an American woman of colour”.

He said: “That was a chance for the Royal family to have diversity, inclusivity and representation in a way that no other moment in their lives could have brought. For them to not have harnessed that is, I’m sure, something that historians will be looking at for years.”

Buckingham Palace did not comment.