The Queen wanted to 'sleep on' her response to Prince Harry, Meghan Markle's Oprah Winfrey interview and not be rushed into a statement, a new book claims

• Queen Elizabeth II didn't immediately respond to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's interview with Oprah Winfrey.
• She chose to "sleep on" her reply after a statement was agreed upon, according to a new royal book.

Queen Elizabeth II chose to "sleep on" her response to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey, a new book claims.

According to "Courtiers: The Hidden Power Behind the Crown," by The Times of London's royal correspondent Valentine Low, staffers struggled to craft a response to the March 2021 interview after the couple made a wave of allegations against members of the British royal family.

The book was released in the UK on Thursday.

"Less than a week after The Times story, the courtiers faced another massive challenge: how to deal with the Oprah interview. There had been so many allegations made by the couple – about racism, about security, about Meghan's mental health – that it was hard to know where to start," Low wrote.

Low continued that the allegations of racism within the British family remained a source of contention.

"The private secretaries and communications secretaries had long debates about how to deal with the issue, especially what one of them awkwardly called 'the R word,'" Low wrote. "That had come up because of remarks that a member of the royal family supposedly made about the colour of Harry and Meghan's future baby's skin," he continued.

According to the author, staffers created an official statement around 2 p.m. the day after the interview premiered in the United States, but Buckingham Palace chose to remain silent.

"And then precisely nothing happened. The palace stayed completely silent, because the Queen decided that she wanted to sleep on it. She was not going to be rushed into saying anything precipitate," Low wrote. "It was a reminder that, while courtiers might do all the groundwork, the final decisions are made by the royal family."

Low concluded that "at the age of ninety-four, the Queen was very much still in charge. The four-sentence statement was eventually released just before 5.30 p.m. the following day."

Buckingham Palace said in its official statement that the "whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan."

"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," the statement continued.

In the bombshell interview, Harry and Meghan levied sharp criticisms. The couple claimed Markle was "silenced" by the royal family, and alleged that members of the royal family discussed how dark their son's skin would be before his birth. During the interview, Harry also claimed that his family never acknowledged the British tabloids' racist coverage of Markle.

The interview also furthered the divide between Prince William and Prince Harry, who were involved in a reported public feud,

Following the interview, Prince William denied the racism allegations to British reporters and also confirmed that he had not spoken to his brother after the interview.