Buckingham Palace ‘banned’ ethnic minorities from office roles

Buckingham Palace ‘banned ethnic minorities from senior household roles’, according to new documents (Picture: Getty)

The Queen’s courtiers banned ‘coloured immigrants or foreigners’ from holding clerical positions in Buckingham Palace until at least the 1960s, it has emerged.

Documents also reportedly reveal how the British monarchy was exempt from laws designed to prevent race and sex discrimination when hiring staff.

After a year in which Meghan Markle’s revelations shook Buckingham Palace, the discovery of the documents will put the Royal Family’s attitude towards race back in the spotlight.

The latest revelations come from papers stashed away in The National Archives, uncovered by a Guardian investigation.

They disclose how in 1968 a senior official in Buckingham Palace told civil servants ‘it was not, in fact, the practice to appoint coloured immigrants or foreigners’ to any role higher than domestic servant.

Legislation was introduced by Harold Wilson’s Labour government in 1968 to prevent discrimination on the grounds of race or ethnicity – but Buckingham Palace was exempted and allowed to set up its own procedure, the Guardian reports.

Documents uncovered at The National Archives raise questions about Buckingham Palace’s historic approach to equal opportunities (Picture: National Archives/The Guardian/Richard Ainsworth)

The documents date back to the 1960s but raise legal and ethical issues which persist to the present day (Picture: Getty)

Documents suggest the government of the day believed they might not have received royal approval for the issue to be debated in parliament without the exemption, according to the Guardian.

These laws were replaced in 2010 by the Equality Act but Buckingham Palace declined to tell the paper whether the monarch is subject to it.

Questions could now be asked about what critics claim is a perceived lack of diversity among people currently serving in senior positions in the royal household.

The duchess of Sussex put the issue of racism within the Royal Family back on the agenda when she alleged a senior member had ‘raised concerns’ about the skin tone of their unborn child, Archie.

Race and the Royal Family has been a topical issue since Meghan Markle put it on the agenda in a bombshell interview with Oprah (Picture: CBS)

A Buckingham Palace spokesperson told The Guardian: ‘The royal household and the sovereign comply with the provisions of the Equality Act, in principle and in practice.

‘This is reflected in the diversity, inclusion and dignity at work policies, procedures and practices within the royal household.

‘Any complaints that might be raised under the act follow a formal process that provides a means of hearing and remedying any complaint.’

The Guardian said ‘the palace did not respond when asked if the monarch was subject to this act in law’.

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