If race-related faux pas were made in Buckingham Palace with Meghan Markle, it was undoubtedly not because King Charles III wanted to.
A new book that has been published revealed that King Charles was clueless about Markle’s race and background when he first met her.
According to Christopher Andersen‘s newly-released book, The King: The Life of Charles III, the Monarch was charmed by Markle’s personality and wit — and it was only months later he discovered that she was of mixed race.
In 2016, after two dates in London, Prince Harry whisked Markle away on a private and romantic five-day trip to Botswana, where they slept under the stars and enjoyed the wildlife.
Prince Harry spoke about the memorable getaway in an interview. He revealed that they could get to know each other, and he understood that she was the one.
The former soldier: “I managed to persuade her to come and join me in Botswana. We camped out with each other under the stars. She came and joined me for five days out there, which was absolutely fantastic. So then we were really by ourselves, which was crucial to me to make sure that we had a chance to get to know each other.”
When Prince Harry returned to London, he decided that the relationship was serious enough and decided to introduce Markle to King Charles and Camilla, Queen Consort.
The royal author claimed that King Charles found Markle delightful, and he was struck by the fact that she looked like Kate Middleton‘s sister, Pippa Middleton Matthews.
The royal journalist revealed: “After returning from Botswana that fall, Harry introduced Meghan to his father and Camilla. The Prince of Wales found the young American actress—who bore a passing resemblance to Kate’s sister, Pippa—’ completely charming, absolutely delightful.”
Talking to an American friend, King Charles told the truth — he never noticed that Markle was a biracial woman until much later as her romance with Prince Harry progressed.
Christopher Andersen revealed King Charles’s private conversation by writing: “At the time, Prince Charles had no idea that Harry’s new girlfriend was biracial. ‘Not that it would have mattered at all, of course,’ Charles told an American friend. ‘But no, I didn’t realize that until later.”
The book went on to explain how Queen Elizabeth II was on point when it came to sensitive matters such as race and ethnicity, whereas King Charles was known to have made some gaffes in those departments.
The author stated: “For her part, the Queen, who experienced countless up-close-and-personal encounters with people of all races, ethnicities, and religions during her record-breaking reign, appeared utterly devoid of prejudice. Not once had she ever been heard to make a racially insensitive comment. The same could not be said for Charles, although his gaffes were rare—like the time he told a writer of Guyanese descent that she didn’t ‘look like she was born in the British city of Manchester, presumably because she was black and wore dreadlocks.”
Years later, Prince Harry and Markle sat down with Oprah Winfrey, where they revealed that racist comments were made about their unborn child.
In Tom Bower‘s book, Revenge: Meghan, Harry, and the War Between the Windsors, it was claimed that Camilla, Queen Consort, joked it would be “funny” if Prince Harry’s unborn child with Meghan Markle was born with a “ginger afro.”
A source close to The Queen told The Daily Mail: “… it’s absolute nonsense; that comment was not made.”
Some observers say King Charles made a gaffe by not doing his research on Markle prior to meeting her.
Others say that the fact King Charles did not care about Markle’s perceived cultural distinctiveness vindicates him from the race drama that the renegades spoke about.
