Highest admiration for Queen: UK PM after Harry-Meghan interview

London: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday expressed his "highest admiration" for Queen Elizabeth II after an explosive interview by her grandson Prince Harry and his wife Meghan.

"I've always had the highest admiration for the queen and the unifying role she plays in our country and across the Commonwealth," Johnson told reporters, declining to comment further when asked about Meghan's comments on racism and mental anguish.

Meghan, the wife of Prince Harry, accused Britain's royal family of raising concerns about how dark their son's skin might be and pushing her to the brink of suicide, in a tell-all television interview that will send shockwaves through the monarchy.

The 39-year-old, whose mother is Black and father is white, said she had been naive before she married into royalty in 2018, but that she ended up having suicidal thoughts and considering self-harm after pleading for help but getting none.

Meghan said her son Archie, now aged one, had been denied the title of prince because there were concerns within the royal family "about how dark his skin might be when he's born".

The allegation came as Britain has in recent months faced a reckoning over racism and its colonial past, fueled in part by the Black Lives Matter protests in the US and around the world.

However, Oprah clarified that neither the Queen nor her husband Prince Philip were part of conversations expressing concern over how dark the skin of their great-grandson, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's son Archie.

The two-hour sit-down with Oprah Winfrey by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex was the most startling since Harry's late mother Princess Diana made her own bombshell revelations in 1995, and triggered similar questions about the ability of Queen Elizabeth II's family to weather the storm.