The Royal Family had ‘several’ conversations about Archie’s skin colour before he was born, the Sussexes’ friend and preferred reporter has claimed. 

Meghan Markle told Oprah Winfrey that a senior member of the family had asked how dark Archie’s complexion would be in her bombshell interview earlier this year.

The duchess refused to name who made the comment, but said it was not the Queen or Prince Philip.

After the accusations came to light, Prince William insisted: ‘We are very much not a racist family’. 

Meanwhile, Buckingham Palace released a statement saying the issues were taken ‘very seriously’ but that ‘some recollections may vary’ and the matter would addressed by the family privately.

Omid Scobie, who co-authored the Sussexes’ biography Finding Freedom, told a Foreign Press Association event in London yesterday that Harry’s family had known about this comment but were ‘unsympathetic’ to the couple’s complaints.

He said this led to ‘follow-up conversations’ on the matter and it became a ‘much bigger issue’ because Harry and Meghan believed several members shared the concerns.

He said: ‘There was one conversation that took place that affected them massively, when it came to someone within the royal family sharing concerns over the colour of Archie’s skin.

‘To Harry I can see how it is one conversation, to Meghan who would have been involved in the follow up conversations, I can see – because there were other people aware of this conversation within the family and within the institution that did also speak about it, some not so sympathetically.

‘So you then are in a position where you start to feel well it’s not just this one person, it’s others as well and it becomes a much bigger issue.’

He went on to say the family did not ‘express the kind of understanding that should have been given’. 

The royal editor for Harper’s Bazaar said he did not know who had initially voiced ‘the family’s concerns’ and said it was something only the Sussexes could share. 

But he did argue the country has a right to know if the culprit is someone who is a ‘future head of state’. 

He said: ‘We as a public have a right to know because of course that is someone that is our head of state, head of the Commonwealth, and if they have an issue with race, we should know.

‘Even when William said we are not a racist family, they didn’t condemn racism in any form whatsoever. 

‘We do not see the Royal Family ever do that. 

‘So of course it then continues this conversation about how anti-racism is the royal family: How much does the Royal Institution own its history and perhaps any kind of unconscious bias that may exist within the establishment or the family? 

‘None of these things ever seem to be addressed’. 

It comes as Harry is believed to be readying himself to return to the UK for the unveiling of a new Princess Diana statue at Kensington Palace. 

Meghan Markle will most likely not be attending because she has just had the couple’s second child Lilibet. 

But Mr Scobie also claims Meghan is planning to make her first trip back to the UK, after quitting as senior royals last year, to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee next summer. 

There has been no mention of when Archie will return home to visit his British family again.

Buckingham Palace has been contacted for comment.

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