Meghan Markle 'Deeply Regrets' Branding the Royal Family as Racists

In 2021, Meghan Markle painted the royal family as bigoted during her tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey.

Still, three years after the televised event aired, an insider claimed the Duchess of Sussex didn't expect the public to perceive her famous in-laws as "racists."

According to an insider, Meghan's comments "weren’t received in the way that she had expected and several of her comments have backfired."

"Meghan wanted the takeaway from their Oprah interview [in 2021] to be about her mental health, and I think Meghan regretted sitting down with The Cut [in 2022] because she provided endless commentary for her critics," they added.

When Prince Archie was born, the youngster didn't have a title due to his place in the line of succession, but the Duchess of Sussex alluded to the formality being stripped from him because of his African American heritage.

"In those months when I was pregnant, all around this same time ...  so we have in tandem the conversation of ‘He won’t be given security, he’s not going to be given a title’ and also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born," the duchess told Winfrey.

Royal biographer Angela Levin claimed the former actress felt bad about how she depicted the royals.

"She deeply regrets how she behaved towards the royals, and she's very sorry about saying that they were racist," Levin told GB News.

"I don't know if I believe it, but in any case, it's much too late, isn't it? Everybody's learned that that was nonsense, and it's no longer listened to," Levin continued. "It was very, very cruel, and I think the Queen, when she had heard that, it was very painful for her."

Shortly after Meghan and Prince Harry's exclusive chat with Winfrey aired, the Windsors released a joint statement addressing their assertions.

"The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning," the palace stated. "While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately."

OK! previously reported royal biographer Robert Hardman claimed Kate Middleton played a pivotal role in the monarchy's response to the Sussexes.

"The original draft of the statement had been much milder, but both William and Catherine had been keen to toughen it up," Hardman told an outlet. "It was the then Duchess of Cambridge herself who came up with the powerful phrase 'recollections may vary.'"

"Her husband also challenged the allegations, telling reporters: 'We are very much not a racist family,'" Hardman continued.

Never miss a story — sign up for the OK! newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what OK! has to offer. It’s gossip too good to wait for!

While promoting his memoir, Spare, Harry clarified Meghan's words.

"Going back to the difference between what my understanding is because of my own experience, the difference between racism and unconscious bias, the two things are different," he said on ITV.

"But once it's been acknowledged, or pointed out to you as an individual, or as an institution, that you have unconscious bias, you, therefore, have an opportunity to learn and grow from that in order so that you are part of the solution rather than part of the problem," he continued. "Otherwise, unconscious bias then moves into the category of racism."

Despite Harry's sentiment, his commentary received pushback due to the monarchy's history of colonialism.

"Unconscious bias is useful as a tool for helping people who think racism is irrelevant to them – that is, people who hold power in a racist society – to understand that their biases are the product of institutional racism," Presidential Fellow in Ethnicity and Inequalities in the Department of Sociology at The University of Manchester Meghan Tinsley wrote in an article.

"But suggesting that unconscious bias is somehow less harmful than racism posits the latter as something only to be overcome at the individual level," Tinsley emphasized.

Sources spoke to Grazia.