Duke and Duchess of Cambridge step up efforts to improve diversity among royal staff

THE Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s Royal Foundation has stated that it will give more focus on improving diversity on its board.

The Foundation’s annual report said formal targets for diversity had not previously been set but would be monitored and reported on, according to a report in The Telegraph.

The annual report added that diversity has always been considered in trustee recruitment and improving this has been a particular focus for the board and governance and nominations committee in 2020.

The 10-strong board of the Royal Foundation, as well as the senior management team, is overwhelmingly white.

The move follows the acrimonious departure of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex from the UK amid repeated allegations of racism, The Telegraph report said.

Prince Harry said racism was a “large part” of why they left the UK.

In September 2020, Zeinab Badawi, the Sudanese-British BBC journalist and former Channel 4 News presenter, was appointed as a trustee, and two months ago, Ron Kalifa, a former Worldpay chief executive, who in 2018 was named one of the top 100 BAME leaders in business, also joined the board.

In June, Buckingham Palace admitted that it was failing in its efforts to improve diversity as it published staffing figures for the first time since the Sussexes' racism allegations.

The Sovereign Grant report revealed that 8.5 per cent of employees at the Palace are from an ethnic minority background. Aides said they hoped to increase that figure to 10 per cent by the end of next year.

Clarence House revealed that 8 per cent of its staff were from ethnic minority backgrounds. Kensington Palace did not publish its figures.

About 13 per cent of the British population is from a minority ethnic background.

According to the newspaper report, the palace diversity strategy, agreed in 2017-18, was adapted early last year, shortly after the Sussexes moved abroad. However, plans to appoint a diversity tsar were paused.

Elsewhere in the Royal Foundation report, it emerged that the amount received last year from the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund dropped to £15,750 from £21,346 the previous year and £21,583 in 2018.

Prince William and Prince Harry have agreed to divide the proceeds of their mother's memorial fund between them.

Prince Harry has asked for his share of the funds to go to Sentebale, a charity he founded to help the victims of poverty and HIV/ Aids in Lesotho, Botswana and Malawi.