The racism debate about the royals is far from over. Archival documents reveal juicy details about who the Queen likes to see – and who doesn’t – in her royal service.
Frankfurt / London – Newly discovered documents from the British royal family reveal that immigrant people and people of color were forbidden by the royal family to serve in clerical functions in the royal household until at least the late 1960s. This was reported by the English newspaper The Guardian on Wednesday (June 2nd, 2021).
The documents found show that Queen Elizabeth II’s chief financial officer informed officials in 1968 that it was not the practice to “place immigrants or foreigners of color in clerical positions in the royal household”. The papers were discovered by The Guardian in the UK National Archives as part of an investigation into the Queen’s influence on legal texts (also known as “Royal Consent”).
Documents reveal racist prohibition of employment with the royals
It is unclear when the British royal family’s ban officially ended. Buckingham Palace refused to answer questions to the Guardian about the ban and its lifting. The palace said the records would show that ethnic minority people were employed in the royal house in the 1990s. Before the 1990s, no record of the ethnic background of the employees had been made, according to Buckingham Palace.
In the 1970s, UK politicians enacted a number of equality laws to protect people from discrimination. Among other things, the “Race Relations Act” of 1976, which was supposed to prevent employers from refusing employment to a person because of their ethnic background. The Queen, however, has been personally exempt from these equality laws for more than four decades. This makes it impossible for women or ethnic minorities who work for the royal household to go to court if they have experienced discrimination, according to the Guardian.
British royal family: Queen is said to have influenced legal texts
The papers also provide information on how Queen Elizabeth II’s approval process was used to secretly influence the creation of the Race Relation Act. According to this, government officials coordinated with advisers to the Queen in the 1970s on the formulation of the law, allowing the royal family to exempt themselves from employers’ equality regulations.
Buckingham Palace, in a statement issued, does not deny that the Queen was exempt from the law, adding that there is a separate procedure for hearing complaints related to discrimination. When asked what exactly this procedure looked like, the palace did not respond, according to the Guardian.
British royalty exempted from equality law to this day
The exemption from this law was extended to the present day when the UK Equal Opportunities Act of 2010 replaced previous laws from the 1970s (Race Relations Act of 1976, Sex Discrimination Act of 1975 and Equal Pay Act of 1970). For many years, critics have regularly pointed out the lack of diversity in the royal household.
It can be assumed that the revelations will once again draw attention to the racism debate surrounding the royal family, both in current and historical terms. It was only in March that Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex and wife of Prince Harry, spoke publicly about the racist remarks made by a member of the royal family about the color of her child’s skin. (Anna Charlotte Groos)
