Queen Elizabeth said on Tuesday that the British royals were saddened by the challenging experiences of her grandson, Prince Harry, and his wife Meghan, promising to privately address revelations about a racist remark about their son.

Meghan, in an interview with Oprah Winfrey aired on US television on Sunday, accused Britain’s royal family of raising concerns about how dark their son, Archie’s skin might be and ignoring her pleas for help when she considered suicide.

“The whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement issued on behalf of Elizabeth.

“The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately.

“Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be much-loved family members.”

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Meghan and Harry’s tell-all TV interview had dragged the royals into their biggest crisis since the death of Harry’s mother Diana in 1997, when the family, led by Queen Elizabeth, was widely criticised for being too slow to respond.

A royal source said the Palace considered that it was a family matter and the royals should be allowed to discuss the issues raised privately as a family.

However, a YouGov opinion poll on Tuesday showed that the Britons were divided on how the royal family treated Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, with a majority of young people saying it was unfair and half of older people saying the opposite.

Reuters reports that overall 32 per cent were in each camp on the question of fairness, while 36 per cent didn’t know.

Some 61 per cent of 18 to 24s said they were treated unfairly, but support ebbed away as respondents aged and half of those over 65 said the couple were treated fairly.

More than a third of Britons said their sympathies lie with the Queen and members of the Royal family, while one in five say that they sit with Prince Harry and Meghan, according to the poll. Three in 10 said their sympathies were with neither and one in 10 said they were with both.