Ethnic minority Britons believe royal family IS racist, YouGov poll reveals 

Ethnic minority Britons believe royal family IS racist and 43% don’t want the monarchy to continue – but 67% like the Queen, YouGov poll reveals

  • A poll found 43 per cent of ethnic minority Britons believe royal family is racist 
  • Of the general UK population 55 per cent believe royals not racist, YouGov found
  • Survey found 67 per cent of non-white voters thought positively of the Queen

A relative majority of ethnic minority Britons believe the royal family is racist, a YouGov survey revealed.

The poll found 43 per cent of non-white voters believe the family holds racist views, whilst 27 believed they were ‘very much not a racist family’, as Prince William recently stated.

A survey of the wider population found that on the whole 55 per cent of the UK believes the royals are not racist, with 20 per cent of the opinion that they are, The Times reports.    

The poll, conducted days after Prince Harry and Meghan’s interview with Oprah Winfrey, asked 504 people from ethnic minority backgrounds whether the UK should ‘continue to have a monarchy in the future’ to which 43 per cent said yes,  but 40 per cent opted for an elected head of state instead.   

Prince Harry, left, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, in conversation with Oprah Winfrey, in an interview which aired March 7

Almost half, 49 per cent, of those asked said they believed Prince Harry and Meghan had been treated unfairly by the royals. While 24 per cent said they had fair treatment. 

During the interview The Duchess of Sussex told Oprah that a relative of Harry asked him ‘how dark’ their unborn child would be and said that Archie being mixed-race was a ‘problem’ for the royals after Oprah asked her if they were worried their son would be ‘too brown’.

The former Suits star said she would not name the person because it would be ‘too damaging’ for them. But she confirmed that her husband was asked the question – ‘how dark his skin might be when he’s born’ – ‘by family’.

Meghan then said Archie may have been denied the title of prince because he is mixed-race, but has never been told. The Duke of Sussex was also asked to identify the culprit but said he didn’t feel ‘comfortable’ discussing it.

Queen Elizabeth II looks on during the wedding ceremony of Prince Harry and US actress Meghan Markle in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. May 2018

Queen Elizabeth II looks on during the wedding ceremony of Prince Harry and US actress Meghan Markle in St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. May 2018

Anthony Wells, director of YouGov, told The Times: ‘Our polling of ethnic-minority attitudes suggests the royal family need to mend some fences.’

He added that there was a negative perception of Charles and Camilla among ethnic minority voters, the Queen, Prince William and Kate, ‘all have strongly positive ratings’. 

The survey found 67 per cent of non-white voters thought positively of the Queen, the paper reports.          

Earlier this month, William became the first senior royal to address directly the string of allegations made by Harry and Meghan in their explosive interview.

Prince William insisted the royals were ‘very much not a racist family’ as he and wife Kate visited a school in East London to support a youth mental health support service. 

The Mail On Sunday revealed last week that The Queen is to boost the Palace’s diversity initiative by appointing a diversity tsar to modernise the Monarchy.

Sources say the proposed move is an acknowledgment that ‘more needs to be done’ to champion minorities’ rights and follows the explosive claims made by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex of institutional racism.

As part of a major drive encompassing Buckingham Palace, Clarence House and Kensington Palace, aides will undertake a ‘listen and learn’ exercise over the coming weeks which will involve speaking to a range of businesses and individuals about how the Monarchy can improve representation.