Meghan Markle Responds to Report About Alleged Letter to King Charles III

Meghan Markle is looking to set the record straight.

On April 21, The Telegraph reported that the Duchess of Sussex sent a letter to father-in-law King Charles III about concerns over unconscious bias in the royal family around the time of her and Harry's 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey. During their sit down with Oprah, Meghan alleged that "several conversations" were had with husband Prince Harry and an unidentified royal about "how dark" Meghan and Harry's firstborn child's skin would be.

The Telegraph added that this alleged correspondence between Charles and Meghan is "thought to be one of the factors" behind her decision to not attend the upcoming coronation.

Now, the duchess is addressing the speculation surrounding her absence at the upcoming event.

"The Duchess of Sussex is going about her life in the present, not thinking about correspondence from two years ago related to conversations from four years ago," her spokesperson told E! News in an April 22 statement. "Any suggestion otherwise is false and frankly ridiculous." 

The spokesperson added, "We encourage tabloid media and various royal correspondents to stop the exhausting circus that they alone are creating." 

The chatter around her plan to not attend comes after a rep for the couple told E! News April 12 that Harry will be present for the coronation, while Meghan stays back in California with kids Archie Harrison, 3, and Lilibet Diana, 22 months.

At the time, Buckingham Palace also confirmed Harry's attendance to the coronation, which is taking place on Archie's 4th birthday May 6.

Despite Meghan and Harry not attending the royal gathering together, the couple was featured in the souvenir program, which hit newsstands in the U.K. April 17.

In the pamphlet, one of King Charles' 70th birthday portraits was included, which sees the Duke and Duchess of Sussex posing next to King Charles, Queen Camilla, Prince William, Kate Middleton and their three children, Prince George, 9, Princess Charlotte, 7, and Prince Louis, 4.

George will be stepping into an important role for the coronation, as he will be serving as one of the eight Pages of Honour that will walk the procession and carry the robes inside Westminster Abbey. George will be joined in this honor by Camilla's grandchildren Freddy Parker Bowles, Gus Lopes and Louis Lopes and her great-nephew Arthur Elliot.

Leading up to the event, the Palace previously said, "The coronation will reflect the monarch's role today and look towards the future while being rooted in longstanding traditions and pageantry."