LONDON (Reuters)

A member of the British royal family’s household has left her role after making “unacceptable and deeply regrettable” comments about race and nationality to a woman at a reception at Buckingham Palace, a spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Ngozi Fulani, who was born in Britain and works for a domestic abuse support group, wrote on Twitter that the royal aide had repeatedly asked her “what part of Africa are you from?” when she attended an event hosted by King Charles’s wife Camilla, the Queen Consort, on Tuesday (November 29).

“We take this incident extremely seriously and have investigated immediately to establish the full details. In this instance, unacceptable and deeply regrettable comments have been made,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement today (November 30).

INCIDENT COMES MORE THAN A YEAR AFTER MEGHAN’S ACCUSATIONS OF RACISM

The incident comes after Charles’s youngest son Prince Harry and his wife Meghan made allegations of racism against the household in an interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021.

Meghan said one unnamed member of the family had asked how dark their son Archie’s skin might be.

The allegation clearly stung the monarchy and prompted Harry’s older brother, Prince William, now heir to the throne, to remark days later: “We’re very much not a racist family.”

Fulani is the founder of the London-based charity Sistah Space, which supports black women who have faced domestic and sexual abuse.

The organisation earlier this year threw its support behind the call for justice for missing Jamaican social media personality Donna-Lee Donaldson. Sistah Space also highlighted the Clarendon murder of Kemisha Wright and her four children by her cousin, Rushane Barnett. 

According to a BBC report, Fulani, along with 300 guests, had been invited to a high-profile reception at the Palace on Tuesday, where the Queen Consort, Camilla, had warned of a “global pandemic of violence against women”.

CONVERSATION DESCRIBED

However, after the event, Fulani described her conversation on Twitter, where a royal aide questioned her on where she was from.

She recounted how she said: “We’re based in Hackney,” and the aide replied: “No, what part of Africa are you from?”

She said: “I don’t know, they didn’t leave any records”, and the Palace member responded: “Well you must know where you’re from, I spent time in France. Where are you from?”

“Here, UK”

“No, but what nationality are you?”

“I am born here and am British.”

“No, but where do you really come from, where do your people come from?”

Members of the Royal Household had been circulating at the reception and making “chit chat” – but, according to eyewitness Mandu Reid, leader of the Women’s Equality Party, it became a “really unpleasant interaction”, when, despite Fulani’s replies there was an insistent questioning about her background.

Both Reid and Sistah Space have opted not to identify the royal aide involved.