Rishi Sunak refuses to say if he thinks King Charles is a racist
Rishi Sunak has refused to say whether he thinks King Charles is a racist - but heaped praise on his leadership on green issues.
The monarch has been dragged into a royal racism row after he and the Princess of Wales were named in the Dutch translation of an explosive book by Omid Scobie.
The Royal Family is said to be "united in outrage" amid questions about how the names appeared in the translation of Endgame in a segment about the Duke and Duchess of Sussexes' son Archie. King Charles is set to deliver an address at the COP28 conference on climate change in Dubai this morning.
Quizzed about the controversy and asked whether he thinks the King is racist, Mr Sunak told reporters on the plane to the summit: "By longstanding and appropriate convention it wouldn't be right for me to talk about the royal family in any way shape or form, other than to say I'm delighted that he's going to be at COP tomorrow."
He went on to praise King Charles and said his presence at the summit, which will see world leaders discuss ways to tackle climate change, is a good reflection on the nation. The PM said: "It speaks volumes about our type of leadership as a country that we've got our head of state there, delivering a call to arms in the opening statement, which speaks volumes about the respect that he's got on this issue around the world.
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"We've got the head of Government there in me, and we've got our chief diplomat there in the Foreign Secretary. "There are very few countries that will be able to say what I've just said." And he continued: "So that speaks again to our leadership on this issue and particularly His Majesty's longstanding track record championing this issue and I'm delighted that he's going to be delivering this very important statement tomorrow."
Speaking of his frustration about the scandal that has sent shockwaves through the monarchy, Mr Scobie laid the blame squarely on the publisher in the Netherlands, saying: “I never submitted a book that had those names in it.” But in a twist, the Dutch translator who worked on the book insisted the titles of the King and Princess of Wales were in the manuscript she was sent. Saskia Peeters claimed she did not add the names to the Dutch version of the book.
Speaking from her home in Arnhem, she said: “As a translator, I translate what is in front of me. The names of the royals were there in black and white. I did not add them. I just did what I was paid to do and that was (to) translate the book from English into Dutch.” Buckingham Palace has confirmed it was “considering all options” after The Mirror exclusively revealed how the royal family was taking emergency legal advice on the damaging allegations.
TV presenter Piers Morgan used the opening monologue of his show Piers Morgan Uncensored on Talk TV to identify the King and Princess of Wales as the subjects, declaring: “I do not believe any racist comments were ever made by any of the royal family”.
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