Buckingham Palace banned ethnic minorities' access to administrative tasks

Buckingham Palace vetoed the access of ethnic minorities to administrative tasks and positions of responsibility within the British Royal House at least until the late 1960s, as revealed by 'The Guardian' based on documents obtained from the National Archives.

In a letter dated 1968 and signed by Elizabeth II's then financial manager, Anthony Tryon, it is explicitly admitted that the appointment of “immigrants of color and foreigners” to administrative posts was not a regular practice, although it was in management tasks. “domestic services”.

The Guardian's revelations come in the context of an investigation into the use of “royal consent”, an archaic procedure that has allowed the monarch and Prince Charles to pre-examine a total of 1,062 laws on the grounds that they could affect the interests of the royal family.

The same procedure used by the queen to circumvent transparency laws, and not reveal the real extent of her fortune for four decades, could be used this time by Buckingham Palace to circumvent laws that prevent racial discrimination, according to 'The Guardian'.

The revelations have reactivated the controversy caused in March by Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's television interview with Oprah.

Harry then declared that there is “institutional racism” in the UK and Meghan revealed how a member of the Royal House expressed concern about “how dark the skin would be” of her son Archie.

Prince William went on the defensive claiming that the royal family is not racist. Several weeks later, however, Buckingham Palace announced a major overhaul of its policies and protocols to ensure greater diversity among its staff.

The documentation that 'The Guardian' has accessed has proven that a registry of ethnic minority employees was introduced in the 1990s, which allows us to deduce that until that date there was no control or guarantee of diversity among its employees. Buckingham Palace has not yet responded to a question from the British newspaper about the date until which the ban on “immigrants of color” to administrative posts was supposedly in force.

According to information collected at the National Archives, the procedure known as “royal consent” was used to secretly influence race relations legislation pushed by Home Secretary James Callaghan in 1968.

government endorsement

A ministry employee, identified as TG Weiler, met with the Queen's manager, Lord Tryon, who said Buckingham Palace was prepared to comply with the bill as long as it was granted the same exemptions as the diplomatic service (which could reject job applications from those who had not resided in the UK for at least five years).

'The Guardian' reveals the exchange of information between the Government and the Royal House, which also culminated in an agreement for the Race Relations Board to refer any complaints about alleged racial discrimination in the palace directly to the Ministry of the Interior and not to the courts.

In the 1970s, however, three laws against racial and sexual discrimination in the workplace were passed, apparently without any interference from the Royal Household.

For decades, the lack of ethnic minority staff in senior positions at Buckingham has been glaring..

“A black face has never jumped the executive ranks in the royal services,” Andrew Morton, Lady Diana's biographer, wrote in 1990.. A year later, Philip Hall wrote in “Royal Fortune” that there were no “non-white courtiers” in executive positions.