How U.S. Really Views Meghan Markle’s Royal Race Allegation

Meghan Markle’s account of comments about her unborn child’s skin tone got a ringing endorsement, in exclusive polling for Newsweek.

The Duchess of Sussex accused an unnamed royal of having “concerns and conversations” about “how dark his skin might be” in a March 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey.

The saga resurfaced in November and December 2023 when Endgame, a new royal book by Omid Scobie, named King Charles III, 75, as the royal in question in its Dutch edition. The name was never confirmed.

The revelation became one of the bigger royal scandals of the year though the reality of what took place is still far from clear after Prince Harry suggested in January 2023 that Meghan had not accused the royals of racism.

Newsweek asked Redfield & Wilton to poll 1,500 Americans on whether it was acceptable to speculate about the skin color of a mixed-race child before birth.

And 51 percent said it was not acceptable compared to 28 percent who said it was acceptable and 21 percent who did not know.

Boomers, Charles’ generation, were most likely to view such comments as unacceptable, with 59 percent condemning such remarks compared to 20 percent who felt they were acceptable.

Meanwhile, almost twice as many 27 to 42-year-olds endorsed speculating about skin tone (39 percent), falling only slightly short of those condemning them (42 percent).

Meghan is 42 while the median age for U.S. women giving birth is 30, NBC News reported in 2022.

In other words, those above this age or old enough to be grandparents appeared to be most critical of the royal race saga while those most likely to be expecting themselves were the least.

However, boomers were the only age group who did not want the royals to name the individual who made the remark, with 19 percent supporting identification and 35 percent opposing.

This compared to 42 percent in favor of naming overall and 22 percent opposed, while 60 percent of millennials wanted the names revealed.

A little under two-thirds of Americans had some knowledge of Meghan’s allegations, including 22 percent who were very familiar, 21 percent who were fairly familiar and 20 percent who were somewhat familiar. Meanwhile, 37 percent were not at all familiar.

Meghan told Winfrey during the 2021 interview: “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 data, though, is interesting not only in light of the conflict between the Sussexes and the royal family but also in relation to Harry’s surprise contention in January 2023 that Meghan had not accused his family of racism.

The prince has always maintained he will not discuss the incident and appeared to undermine the gravity with which Meghan delivered her accusation. His comments were widely interpreted publicly as a backtrack.

The duchess told Winfrey in 2021 that she would not reveal the royal’s identity because “that would be very damaging to them.”

However, when asked whether he would say Meghan’s words amounted to an allegation of racism, Harry told ITV in January: “I wouldn’t, not having lived within that family. So again, 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.

“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. Otherwise, unconscious bias then moves into the category of racism.”

Either way though, U.S. opinion appears to fall closer to Meghan’s original account than Harry’s more recent attempt to quiet the flames.

Jack Royston is Newsweek‘s chief royal correspondent based in London. You can find him on X, formerly Twitter, at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek’s The Royals Facebook page.

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