Buckingham Palace lagging diversity, says it ‘must do more’

Buckingham Palace lagging diversity, says it ‘must do more’

Buckingham Palace has published its figures on ethnic minority staffing – with the data showing the royal household lags behind many other British institutions on workplace diversity. 

Annual accounts for 2020-2021 reveal the proportion of ethnic minority employees stands at just 8.5 per cent — with a target of 10 per cent for 2022 — with the palace admitting that it “must do more” to increase racial representation.

The first-ever released figures come after the royal family faced accusations of racism made by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. 

A palace source said the royal household had published the figures so there could be “no place to hide” and so they could be held accountable if there is a lack on progress made in the future. 

“We are not where we would like to be despite our efforts,” the source told PA.

The palace source added: “We have continuous engagement with external advisers, organisations that are at the grassroots level who sit on our steering committee, people who are able to give us a different voice, a different perspective.”

The source added: “And we recognise that we must do more. One of the key points about the publishing of our statistics, which is actually on a voluntary basis, is that there’s no place to hide.”

Prince Charles’ household said its proportion of ethnic minority staff was also 8 per cent while Kensington Palace declined to release its staff diversity figures. 

The Queen’s household changed its Diversity Strategy in early 2020, long before the Oprah interview, to one that “actively emphasises the importance of inclusion”.

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