As per newly discovered documents, the Buckingham palace banned people of colour from serving in clerical roles in the royal household, until at least late 1960s. The Queen’s courtiers did not allow “coloured immigrants or foreigners” from serving in various roles in Buckingham palace.

The documents throw light on how the Royal house negotiated controversial clauses that have remained in place to this day. These clauses exempted the Queen and her household from laws preventing race and sex-based discriminations.

Investigation into a process known as Queen’s consent led to the discovery of the documents which showed that the royal household did not allow people of colour in profiles in the Buckingham palace.

The discovery came to light when the British daily, “The Guardian” was carrying out an investigation into an arcane parliamentary procedure, known as Queen’s consent. This procedure is known to have influence over the content of British Laws. The investigation led to discovery of papers at the National Archives of UK.

In the UK parliamentary system, bills affecting the royal prerogative and personal property of the monarch require Queen’s consent. The consent extends to the commonwealth realms of nations when matters like hereditary revenues, personal property, or other interests of the crown are discussed in the respective parliaments.

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The documents revealed an incident from 1968 regarding the racial discrimination. The Queen’s chief financial manager informed civil servants that it was not the practice to appoint coloured immigrants or foreigners” to clerical roles in the royal household. But, the people of colour were permitted to work as domestic servants.

It remains ambiguous when the practice ended. Buckingham Palace has refused to answer questions about the ban and when it was revoked. It said that its records showed people from ethnic minority backgrounds being employed in the 1990s. Trying to evade the blame of racial discrimination, it added that before that decade, it did not keep records on the racial backgrounds of employees.

In 1960s, the government ministers sought to introduce laws that would make it illegal to refuse to employ an individual on the grounds of their race or ethnicity.

For more than four decades, the Queen has remained personally exempted from those equality laws. This exemption has made it impossible for women or people from ethnic minorities working for her household to complain to the courts if they believe they have been discriminated against.

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The exemption of the Queen from the law was brought into force in the 1970s.  In that decade, politicians in UK implemented a series of racial and sexual equality laws to eradicate discrimination.

The official documents have revealed how government officials in the 1970s coordinated with Elizabeth Windsor’s advisers on the wording of the laws.

Meanwhile, Queen’s Platinum Jubilee plans for next June have been unveiled by Buckingham Palace. The events would be taking place exactly a year from now.

At the time of the Platinum Jubilee events, the Queen will be 96.