Queen’s aides banned ‘coloured immigrants or foreigners’ from serving in office roles in royal household until late 1960s, documents from National Archives reveal
- Buckingham Palace banned ‘coloured immigrants or foreigners’ from from office roles until at least the late 1960s – but they could work as domestic servants
- Revelations were detailed in papers discovered at Britain’s National Archives
- Palace said pre 1990s it did not keep records on employees’ racial backgrounds
Buckingham Palace banned ethnic minorities from working in office roles until at least the late 1960s, unearthed papers reveal.
Despite the clerical ban, ‘coloured immigrants or foreigners’ were able to work in the royal household as domestic staff.
The revealations appeared in documents recording discussions between government and Palace officials and were uncovered during an investigation by The Guardian.
The papers also show how the Queen’s courtiers negotiated clauses that exempt Palace workers from race and sex discrimination laws.
This means women and ethnic minorities working in the royal household were not protected by law if they feel they have been discriminated against because of their race or gender.
Any complaints would instead be referred to the home secretary rather than the courts.
It is understood that these controversial clauses remain in place to this day.
The Queen’s courtiers negotiated clauses that exempt Palace workers from race and sex discrimination laws in the 1960s, with documents unearthed from the National Archives showing ‘coloured immigrants or foreigners’ were banned from working in Palace office roles
The revealations were made after documents from the National Archives were examined as part of The Guardian’s investigation into Queens consent.
The procedure allows the monarch to view laws that affect her as bills are in the process of going through partliament.
Queen’s Consent has been used on Bills ranging from social security issues to the Article 50 law allowing Britain to leave EU.
The uncovered papers show a discussion between a Home Office civil servant, TG Weiler, and Palace officials, including Lord Tryon, the keeper of the privy purse, who was responsible for managing the Queen’s private finances.
According to summarised notes from the discussions in February 1968, the Queen’s courtiers said the staff fell into three different categories, senior posts, clerical and office posts and ‘ordinary domestic posts’.
The documents state that it was not the ‘practice’ for ethnic minorities to be appointed to the office roles.
The Palace exemption from the laws means women and ethnic minorities working in the royal household were not protected by law if they feel they have been discriminated against because of their race or gender
The archive notes read: ‘(a) senior posts, which were not filled by advertising or by any overt system of appointment and which would presumably be accepted as outside the scope of the bill; (b) clerical and other office posts, to which it was not, in fact, the practice to appoint coloured immigrants or foreigners; and (c) ordinary domestic posts for which coloured applicants were freely considered, but which would in any event be covered by the proposed general exemption for domestic employment.’
The notes were recorded ahead of the introduction of a series of racial and sexual equality laws that were designed to eliminate discrimination.
The National Archive documents suggest the royal household may have used Queen’s Consent on the bill.
It is unclear when the practice ended, but Buckingham Palace said that it did not keep records on the racial backgrounds of employees before the 1990s.
Palace officials also higlighted that there were a number of employees from ethnic minorities employed during that decade.
In a statement published in The Guardian, Buckingham Palace also did not dispute that the Queen had been exempted from the racial and sexual equality laws.
Buckingham Palace has been contacted by Mail Online for comment.