Historical documents reveal racist policies of royal household – report

SENIOR aides to Queen Elizabeth II barred the hiring of “coloured immigrants or foreigners” in office roles at Buckingham Palace until at least the late 1960s, a report said yesterday.

The Queen and Britain’s royal household also negotiated an exemption from 1970s-era laws on race and sex discrimination that still exist today, The Guardian reported.

Citing historical papers it unearthed at the National Archives, the newspaper said that in 1968, the Queen’s chief financial manager told government officials of the hiring policy towards ethnic minorities. “It was not, in fact, the practice to appoint coloured immigrants or foreigners” to clerical and other office posts, one document quoted the royal courtier as having stated. “Coloured applicants” were considered only for “ordinary domestic posts”, it added.

It is unclear when the policy ended, but Buckingham Palace has said its records show people from ethnic minority backgrounds being employed in the 1990s, The Guardian noted. The palace said it did not keep records on the racial backgrounds of employees before that. A palace spokesperson said: “Claims based on a second-hand account of conversations from over 50 years ago should not be used to draw or infer conclusions about modern-day events or operations.”

She said the royal household complied with the provisions of the 2010 Equality Act.

The revelations are the latest in an investigation by the paper into the royal family’s use of an arcane parliamentary procedure – Queen’s consent – to influence legislation.

Documents show senior aides to Queen Elizabeth co-ordinated with government officials on the wording of new racial and sexual equalities laws in the 1970s.

The exemption secured for the royal household meant a government board, not the courts, has since dealt with claims of discrimination by staff.

Earlier this year, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle said a family member had expressed concern about their expected child’s skin colour.

Shock at the claim prompted Prince William to insist the family was “very much not” racist.