Buckingham Palace Once Banned 'Coloured Immigrants' From Certain Roles, Leaked Documents Reveal

A new report has revealed some disturbing details behind the history of Buckingham Palace and its hiring practices. On Wednesday, The Guardian released a report in which they noted that recently discovered documents purport that Buckingham Palace once banned "coloured immigrants or foreigners" from holding clerical positions in the royal household. Their report comes a few months after Meghan Markle, who is mixed-race, and Prince Harry, the grandson of Queen Elizabeth II, alleged that a member of the institution raised concerns about the color of their child's skin.

The Guardian reported that they unearthed these documents amid their investigation into the royal family's use of an arcane procedure known as Queen's consent, which has been used to influence British laws. These documents revealed that in 1968, Queen Elizabeth's chief financial manager shared that "it was not, in fact, the practice to appoint coloured immigrants or foreigners" to any clerical positions. However, they did say that they could work as domestic servants in the royal household. The publication reached out to Buckingham Palace about these reported practices, but they did not answer any questions about this ban or when it may have been lifted.

Since Buckingham Palace did not comment on those reported hiring practices, it's unclear when they ended. Although, they did shed some light on their more recent hiring information. In the 1990s, there were individuals from various ethnic backgrounds who were employed by the royal household. But, Buckingham Palace did not make a record of the racial backgrounds of their employees before that time period. The Guardian also reported that the Queen was exempt from adhering to equality laws in the United Kingdom.

Under those equality laws, it would be illegal to refuse to hire an individual due to their race or ethnicity. For more than four decades, the Queen and Buckingham Palace were not required to adhere to those very laws. As a result, those who were employed by Buckingham Palace were not able to complain to the courts if they believed that they were being discriminated against because of the color of their skin or their gender. Buckingham Palace did respond to this report and said that they had a separate process in place for hearing any discrimination-related cases. It's unclear what that process actually consisted of.

As previously mentioned, back in March, Markle told Oprah Winfrey that she had suicidal thoughts back when she was a full-time member of the royal family. Both she and Harry also alleged that an individual within the royal family raised concerns about the color of their child's skin (Harry did tell Winfrey that the individual in question was not Queen Elizabeth or his grandfather, the late Prince Phillip). In response to their interview, the Queen released a statement in which they said that "the issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning." The statement continued to express that "while some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately."