Palace ‘banned ethnic minorities from office roles’

The Queen’s courtiers banned “coloured immigrants or foreigners” from serving in clerical roles in the royal household until at least the late 1960s, according to newly discovered documents.

They also shed light on how Buckingham Palace negotiated controversial clauses – that remain in place – exempting the Queen and her household from laws that prevent race and sex discrimination.

The papers were discovered at the National Archives as part of the Guardian’s investigation into the royal family’s use of an arcane parliamentary procedure, known as Queen’s consent, to secretly influence British laws.

Buckingham Palace refused to answer questions about the ban and when it was revoked.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