This Morning hit with Ofcom complaints as guest 'jokes' about Meghan Markle's racism claims

This Morning were hit with over 200 complaints to TV watchdog Ofcom, after guest Julia Hartley Brewer alluded to Meghan Markle's racism claims against the royal family.

During a discussion about the photo of the Queen and Prince Philip with seven of their great-grandchildren (opens in new tab), which was released last week, Julia and fellow guest Nicola Thorp spoke about the absence of Meghan and Harry's son Archie in the image.

Chatting to hosts Phillip Schofield and Rochelle Humes, who has replaced Holly Willoughby (opens in new tab) on the show this week, for the This Morning View segment, Julia gave a nod to the allegations that Meghan Markle made during her and Prince Harry's interview with Oprah.

During the extraordinary Oprah chat, it was alleged that an unnamed member of the royal family had made a comment about Archie’s skin (opens in new tab) colour, while Meghan also hinted that she felt the family’s decision not to make Archie a prince (opens in new tab) may have had something to do with his race.

During a conversation about Archie not being given a prince title at birth, Oprah asked Meghan, “Do you think it’s because of his race? I know that’s a loaded question.”

“In those months when I was pregnant, all around this same time, we had the conversation of he won’t be given security, he’s not going to be given a title and, also, concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born,” Meghan told Oprah.

“They were concerned that if he were too brown that that would be a problem?,” Oprah later asked.

“If that’s the assumption you’re making…that would be a safe one,” Meghan added.

It was later confirmed by Oprah that the comments about Archie's skin did not come from the Queen (opens in new tab) or Prince Philip.

Speaking of the photo, which was take before Archie's birth, Julia said,"I wonder if Meghan [Markle] has managed to take offence to this photograph because it doesn't include her son.

"Well she probably thinks it’s a racist photograph, taken before her son was even conceived," she added. "I’m sure she’s managed to take offence at it anyway."

Hitting back at Julia's comment, Nicola told her she "couldn't say something like that".

"To suggest that Meghan would think that something was racist, something that didn’t even exist at the time, you yourself are kind of pushing this agenda," she went on.

Explaining her remark, Julia responded, "I’m making a joke pointing out that some people are able to find offence in anything, as it seems she would’ve done after pointing the finger at senior royals without naming names."

It's since been confirmed that Ofcom received 203 complaints over Julia's dig at Meghan.