Buckingham Palace (open in new tab) had very problematic employment practices in place at least until the late 1960s.

According to a report in Wednesday's edition of The Guardian (opens in new tab), in 1968, the Queen's Chief Financial Officer had stated that "the appointment of colored immigrants and foreigners to clerical positions in the Royal Household is not practiced" (although at that time the hiring of ethnic minorities as domestic servants was (although at that time the hiring of ethnic minorities as domestic servants was permitted). The paper cited documents from the National Archives in the UK as a source of information.

But that was not the only chilling revelation in the Guardian's report. The documents also showed that royal aides had tried to obtain exemptions from laws prohibiting discriminatory employment practices by the royal family as early as the 1970s.

"Claims based on overheard conversations from more than 50 years ago should not be used to draw conclusions or draw inferences about contemporary events or affairs," a Buckingham Palace spokesperson told E! News (opens in new tab) in response to the report. The principles of royal application and royal consent are long established and widely known."

Buckingham Palace declined to comment on its recruitment policy in response to the Guardian article, but said it has records showing that minorities were recruited at the palace in the 1990s (the palace claimed that no records on racial backgrounds were kept before that time).