Boris Johnson has refused to be drawn on allegations of racism related to the royal family’s treatment of Meghan Markle.
The prime minister said he had no comment to make on the claims made by the Duchess of Sussex in an interview with US broadcaster Oprah Winfrey.
She said a member of the family had quizzed her over her unborn son’s skin colour and had been left feeling suicidal by her treatment.
Labour has called for an inquiry into the claims, and opposition leader Keir Starmer has said they should be taken “seriously”.
But Mr Johnson said when asked about the claims at a press conference on Monday evening: “Perhaps the best thing I can say is that I’ve always had the highest admiration for the Queen and the unifying role that she plays in our country and across the Commonwealth.
“As for all the other matters to do with the royal family, I’ve spent a long time now not commenting on royal family matters and I don’t intend to depart from that today.”
The prime minister has however in fact weighted in on royal family matters on a number of occasions. In August 2019 he defended Prince Andrew in light of allegations of his associations with Jeffrey Epstein.
In November that year he suggested again that the monarchy was “beyond reproach” in light of further allegations about Prince Andrew. In January 2020 he said he thought the royal rift over Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s relationship could be healed.
The prime minister’s spokesperson had told reporters in Westminster earlier in the day to expect a response from the prime minister on the issue.
