Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle’s father said Tuesday that he does not believe the royal family is racist, pushing back against his daughter’s claims she made during an interview with Oprah Winfrey that aired Sunday on CBS.
Thomas Markle, who is estranged from his daughter, told British network ITV on Tuesday that he has “great respect for the royal family.”
“I think Los Angeles is racist,” he said, Reuters reported. “California is racist, but I don’t think the Brits are.”
Fox News noted that Thomas was possibly singling out California because Markle and her husband Duke of Sussex Prince Harry now live in Montecito.
“The thing about what color will the baby be or how dark will the baby be,” Thomas said. “I’m guessing and hoping it’s just a dumb question from somebody, you know, it could just be that simple. It could be somebody asked a stupid question. Rather than being a total racist.”
Most notably from the Sunday interview, Markle and Prince Harry lobbed unspecific allegations of racism against the royal family.
“Markle made the explosive charge that someone inside the royal family had told her husband Prince Harry while she was pregnant with their son Archie that they were concerned about how dark the skin of the child would be,” The Daily Wire reported Monday.
Markle said her husband “had spoken to a close family member on the subject of their future child’s skin color,” according Oprah Magazine.
“That conversation I’m never going to share. But at the time, it was awkward, I was a bit shocked. I’m not comfortable sharing it,” the prince reportedly said.
“They were concerned that if he were too brown that that would be a problem?” Winfrey asked. Markle responded, “I wasn’t able to follow up. If that’s the assumption you’re making…that would be a safe one.”
Markle’s suggestion that the couple’s son Archie was denied the title of “prince” because he was mixed-race, however, doesn’t seem to add up.
The Daily Wire’s Emily Zanotti reported Monday that a rule barring Archie’s title dates back to 1917:
But the rule barring great-grandchildren of the sovereign, in this case, Queen Elizabeth, from being titled dates back much further than Archie’s birth. In fact, the rule goes back to King George V who, in 1917 — more than 100 years before Archie was born — who issued “letters patent” — a royal order — decreeing that just children and grandchildren would be able to use “prince” or “princess” and the honorary “HRH,” or “his or her royal highness.”
“The grandchildren of the sons of any such Sovereign in the direct male line (save only the eldest living son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales) shall have and enjoy in all occasions the style and title enjoyed by the children of dukes of this realm,” the order reads
Related: Meghan Claims Racism Prevented Archie From Being A Prince. The Rule Barring His Title Dates To 1917.