Clarence House—the royal household of Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall—is denying an allegation made in a new book that the Prince of Wales asked what the skin color of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's children would be.
The claim was reportedly made in Christopher Andersen's new book Brothers And Wives: Inside The Private Lives of William, Kate, Harry and Meghan. According to the New York Post's Page Six, the book, citing a source, alleged Charles had a conversation with Camilla on the morning Harry and Meghan announced their engagement in 2017 in which he purportedly said, "I wonder what the children will look like?" Page Six reported the book's source claimed Camilla was "somewhat taken aback" by the question and allegedly responded, "Well, absolutely gorgeous, I'm certain." Charles then allegedly asked, "I mean, what do you think their children's complexion might be?"
A Clarence House spokesperson slammed the accusation and told the British news agency PA, "This is fiction and not worth further comment."
E! News has reached out to both Clarence House and Harry and Meghan's rep but has not received any comment.
During a Nov. 29 interview with Today, author Christopher insisted his "sources are solid."
"Whatever is in the book," he continued, "there are multiple sources for this."
He also addressed the allegation. "What I'm saying is that on the morning that the engagement of Harry and Meghan was announced, in a very kind of benign way, Prince Charles started to muse on what their future grandchildren might look like," Christopher said. "I mean, here's this beautiful biracial American woman and the world's most famous redhead. I'm a grandfather. Of course we all do this, you know, you speculate on that. But it was turned into something very toxic. It was weaponized really by the men in grey who run the Palace organization."
NBC reached out to the Palace but has not received any comment.
During the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's interview with Oprah Winfrey earlier this year, Meghan spoke about a conversation someone allegedly had with Harry while she was pregnant with their 2-year-old son Archie Harrison. The couple, who stepped back as senior working royals last year, are also parents to their 5-month-old daughter Lilibet "Lili" Diana.
"In those months when I was pregnant," Meghan told Oprah, "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."
Meghan said "there were several conversations about it." Wanting to clarify, Oprah then asked if there had been discussions "about how dark your baby is going to be?"
"Potentially," Meghan replied, "and what that would mean or look like."
Meghan did not name the individual who allegedly had these conversations with Harry, noting "that would be very damaging to them." Oprah then asked, "They were concerned that if he were too brown, that that would be a problem? Are you saying that?" Meghan replied, "I wasn't able to follow up with why, but that—if that's the assumption you're making, I think that feels like a pretty safe one, which was really hard to understand, right?"
Harry also did not name any names. "That conversation I am never going to share," he said. "But at the time, it was awkward. I was a bit shocked."
Oprah later revealed that Harry told her Queen Elizabeth II and the late Prince Philip were not the ones involved in these alleged conversations.
After the interview aired in March, Buckingham Palace released a statement on behalf of The Queen.
"The whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan," the statement read. "The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately. Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be much loved family members."
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