Buckingham Palace set to launch diversity review after Harry and Meghan interview

Buckingham Palace is reportedly conducting a diversity review across royal households in the wake of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's interview with Oprah Winfrey.

• Following Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's interview with Oprah Winfrey, it has been claimed that new diversity training measures are to be introduced at Buckingham Palace and other royal households.
• While royal sources insist that current diversity initiatives do exist, they reportedly admit that they are disappointed with the pace of change currently.
• This royal news (opens in new tab) comes after Prince Harry opened up about the loss of Princess Diana in a foreword for a new book (opens in new tab).

According to royal sources, work on diversity throughout Buckingham Palace and other royal households has been ongoing long before Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's interview with Oprah, but there is an awareness that "more needs to be done".

As a point of change, the Queen is considering making a key appointment to promote greater diversity and inclusion at the palace.

The position will be part of the ongoing "listening and learning" initiative throughout Buckingham Palace, Clarence House and Kensington Palace following Meghan Markle's claims that an unnamed royal expressed "concern" (opens in new tab) about "how dark" baby Archie's skin would be, before he was born.

Meghan, who is now pregnant with a baby girl (opens in new tab), told Oprah, "“In those months when I was pregnant, we had in tandem the conversations of him not being given security or a title, and also concerns about how dark his skin might be when he’s born."

Oprah asked which family member had asked about baby Archie’s skin colour but Meghan refused to reveal their name, saying, “I think that would be very damaging to them.”

However, Oprah later confirmed it was not the Queen or Prince Philip (opens in new tab) who made the remarks.

Despite the fact that the royal institution insists that current diversity initiatives exist and are in use, they are said to be unsatisfied with the degree of change.

"We are not afraid to look at new ways of approaching it. The work to do this has been underway for some time now and comes with the full support of the family," the royal insider said.

"Diversity is an issue which has been taken very seriously across the Royal Households."

The turning point follows the Queen's response to the Oprah interview (opens in new tab) which read, "The whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan."

"The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning," the statement continued.

"While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately. Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be much-loved family members."