A member of the Duchess of Sussex’s staff sent an email to the BBC warning the corporation that “three middle-aged white men discussing issues of race” was not ideal.
The message was sent following Monday’s edition of the Today programme on Radio 4, broadcast just a few hours after the Sussexes’ bombshell Oprah Winfrey interview was aired on US television.
Four commentators were brought on to discuss the Duchess’s revelations about her mental health and experiences of racism, all of them male and three of them white.
The email, which was not a formal complaint, was sent to the corporation’s royal team in the hope that a broader range of voices might be used when discussing such sensitive issues in future.
A BBC spokesman declined to comment, save for noting that they were “contacted by PRs all the time”.
They said of their coverage of the Sussexes’ interview: “We had a broad range of voices on our output and don’t believe there are any issues.”
But one source told The Sun: “To be told how to conduct its coverage by a PR person is a bit strange to say the least. This is the UK, not China.”
Monday’s edition of the Today programme featured Robert Hardman, 56, a writer for the Daily Mail, Charles Anson, 76, former press secretary to the Queen, and Dean Stott, 43, a friend of Prince Harry’s and a former soldier in the Special Forces.
Omid Scobie, 38, who is mixed race and co-authored the biography Finding Freedom, also made an…
