Prince Charles Feels "Enormously Let Down" by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Racism Claims

After Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's interview with Oprah in which they alleged racist behavior by royal family, Prince Charles reportedly feels let down.

  • Following the revelations that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle made in their explosive sit-down interview with Oprah Winfrey, it's not surprising that tensions are high between the Sussexes and other members of the royal family.
  • A royal insider told People that Harry's father, Prince Charles, "feels enormously let down" by the couple's claims of racist behavior from members of the royal family. 
  • The source added that Harry and his older brother, Prince William, have always had a complicated relationship with Charles. "It's not a straightforward father-son relationship," the insider said. "He is their father and their boss, and they are beholden to him to fund their offices and lives."

Prince Charles is feeling hurt in the wake of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's bombshell sit-down interview with Oprah Winfrey.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex made a number of surprising revelations during the 90-minute, televised interview, including allegations that unnamed members of the royal family had made racist remarks in the months before their son, Archie Harrison's, birth.

Although both Meghan and Harry declined to name the royal relative specifically, Meghan revealed during the interview that someone in the royal family had "concerns and conversations about how dark [Archie's] skin might be when he's born" that were brought up with Harry. Oprah later revealed that Meghan and Harry had told her that comments in question were not made by Queen Elizabeth II or Prince Philip.

According to People, a royal insider says Harry's father, Prince Charles, "feels enormously let down" by the Sussexes' claims in the interview.

"The prince believes in diversity and his actions show that," the source explained. "He was the first person to highlight the Windrush generation [the first mass immigration from the Caribbean to the U.K. in the 1950s] and the contributions they made to British society. He has worked hard for the Muslim community. Of all the members of the royal family, he has taken this issue the most seriously."

In another of the interview's most talked-about moments, Harry revealed that Charles had stopped taking his phone calls for a while during the Sussexes' royal exit.

"Of course, I will always love him, but there's a lot of hurt that's happened. And I will continue to make it one of my priorities to try and heal that relationship," Harry said.

According to the People source, Harry and his brother, Prince William, have always had a complicated relationship with Charles. 

"It's not a straightforward father-son relationship," the royal insider said. "He is their father and their boss, and they are beholden to him to fund their offices and lives."

RELATED STORIES
Kayleigh Roberts
Weekend Editor

Kayleigh Roberts is a freelance writer and editor with more than 10 years of professional experience. Her byline has appeared in Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, The Atlantic, Allure, Entertainment Weekly, MTV, Bustle, Refinery29, Girls’ Life Magazine, Just Jared, and Tiger Beat, among other publications. She's a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.