Prince Harry claimed that he was “bigoted” before meeting his wife, Meghan Markle.

Prince Harry said he was ‘bigoted’ before meeting Meghan Markle (Image: Getty)

Prince Harry once said he was “bigoted” before meeting his wife, Meghan Markle, adding that he was “naive” about how her ethnicity would affect the public eye during their relationship.

Ahead of the release of his memoir, Spare, last year, the Duke of Sussex opened up about his behaviour to US broadcaster CBS.

He said: “I went into this incredibly naive. I had no idea the British press were so bigoted. Hell, I was probably bigoted before the relationship with Meghan.”

The interviewer, Anderson Cooper, then asked: “You think you were bigoted before the relationship with Meghan?”

To which Harry replied: “I don’t know. Put it this way, I didn’t see what I now see.”

Prince Harry used a racist slur in 2006 and apologised for it (Image: Getty)

Meanwhile, the duke wrote about regretting calling a South Asian cadet a racist slur while at Sandhurst.

He claimed that the incident, which took place in 2006 but became known in 2009 after a newspaper released the video and caused a media storm, happened after he used a racist slur which he thought was “harmless” after “many people” used it when he was growing up.

Harry wrote: “The video was shot by me. Killing time before our flight, messing around, I panned the group, gave a running commentary on each lad, and when I came to my fellow cadet and good friend Ahmed Raza Kahn, a Pakistani, I said: Ah, our little P*** friend…

“I didn’t know that P*** was a slur. Growing up, I’d heard many people use that word and never saw anyone flinch or cringe, never suspected them of being racist. Neither did I know anything about unconscious bias.

“I was twenty-one, awash in isolation and privilege, and if I thought anything about this word at all, I thought it was like Aussie. Harmless.”

At the time, a spokesperson for the Royal Family said there had been no racist or malicious intent in Harry’s words.

They said: “Prince Harry fully understands how offensive this term (P***) can be, and is extremely sorry for any offence his words might. However, on this occasion three years ago, Prince Harry used the term without any malice and as a nickname about a highly popular member of his platoon. There is no question that Prince Harry was in any way seeking to insult his friend.”

The duke wrote in his memoir that he wanted to issue his own statement although he was advised against it.

He wrote: “My father’s office issued an apology on my behalf. I wanted to issue one as well, but courtiers advised against it. Not the best strategy, sir. To hell with strategy. I didn’t care about strategy. I cared about people not thinking I was a racist. I cared about not being a racist.

He added: “Above all, I cared about Ahmed. I connected with him directly, apologised. He said he knew I wasn’t a racist. No big deal. But it was. And his forgiveness, his easy grace, only made me feel worse.”