Courtiers for the British Royal Family had a ban on employing “coloured immigrants or foreigners” in clerical roles until at least the late 1960s, and is exempt from laws preventing race and sex discrimination even to this day, it has been revealed.
Documents from the National Archives uncovered by the Guardian reveal that, in 1968, a civil servant – summarising a meeting with the Queen’s chief financial manager – wrote using offensive language to refer to people from ethnic minorities that “it was not, in fact, the practice to appoint coloured immigrants or foreigners” to clerical roles. However, such applicants would be “freely considered” by courtiers for “ordinary domestic posts”.
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The documents discussed the Race Relations Act 1968 – legislation that made it illegal not to hire people on the grounds of their race. The civil servant said that there were concerns that if the “legislation applied to the Queen’s Household it would for the first time make it legally possible to criticise the Household. Many people do so already, but this has to be accepted and is on a different footing from a statutory provision.”
Some of the documents relate to the Royal Family’s use of an arcane procedure called the Queen’s consent to secretly influence the making of laws. The documents show how, in the 1970s, the government discussed the wording of laws with the Queen’s advisors.
In the 70s, the government brought forward further legislation against racial and sexual discrimination, but staff in the royal household were prevented from using it. The exemption was extended to the present day, when the 2010 Equality Act replaced laws from the 70s, the Guardian reports.
The revelations follow recent controversies about the Royal Family’s relationship with race. In March, Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, told Oprah Winfrey that there had been “concerns and conversations” about how dark the skin of her baby, Archie, might be when he was born.
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said: “The Royal Household and the Sovereign comply with the provisions of the Equality Act, in principle and in practise. This is reflected in the diversity, inclusion and dignity at work policies, procedures and practises within the Royal Household.
“Any complaints that might be raised under the Act follow a formal process that provides a means of hearing and remedying any complaint.”
Buckingham Palace has been accused of racial discrimination before. In 1997, the palace revealed that it did not carry out ethnic monitoring of its staff, designed to ensure equal opportunities for Black and Asian people. In 2001, a former secretary to Prince Charles lost an employment tribunal for a claim of constructive dismissal after claiming that she had been subjected to racist jokes and sexual discrimination.
