The author of a new book that claims Prince Charles asked about the skin color of Harry and Meghan's children says the comment was 'innocent'

• A new book claims that Prince Charles asked what skin color Harry and Meghan's children would have.
• The author Christopher Andersen told Insider he believes it was an "innocent" comment.

The author of a new book about the royals, which claims Prince Charles once asked about the complexion of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's future children, told Insider he believes the comment was "innocent."

Christopher Andersen, author of "Brothers and Wives: Inside the Private Lives of William, Kate, Harry, and Meghan," wrote in the book that Charles made the remark over breakfast with his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, on November 27, 2017.

On Monday, a day before the book was released, representatives for Charles at Clarence House issued a statement to the New York Post dismissing it as "fiction." Representatives for Clarence House did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Andersen, who formerly worked as senior editor for People Magazine and has written six books on the royals, told Insider he believes his sources for "Brothers and Wives" were solid, and that it "doesn't surprise" him that Charles denied making the comment.

"This is standard procedure," Andersen said. "I wish the palace would take the time to actually read the book and what it said."

In the book, Andersen says Charles wondered aloud "what the children would look like." The author wrote that Camilla was "taken aback," and responded, "Absolutely gorgeous, I'm certain," before saying Harry and Markle were a "marvelous-looking" couple.

According to Andersen, Charles then lowered his voice and said he was referring to what she thinks the children's "complexion might be."

Andersen told Insider the comment was overheard by courtiers, who he refers to in the book as the "men in gray." It was them, he said, who twisted the comment into something more sinister before it reached Harry days later.

"There's a huge generational difference in terms of interpretation," Andersen said. "Charles' statement to Camilla musing on what the grandchildren might look like in the future, I think is benign, innocent and has no real racial intent at all."

"It just points to the toxicity inside the palace bureaucracy and the people in there that could spin something like this into something sinister and weaponize things," he added.

Meghan Markle's 'concerns and conversations' comment referred to Charles, Andersen says

Andersen said this incident is what Markle and Harry were referring to in one of the bombshell moments from their March interview with Oprah Winfrey. In the interview, Markle said some members of the British royal family had "concerns and conversations" about how dark her son Archie's skin would be.

On March 9, two days after the interview aired, Buckingham Palace released a statement saying that the whole family was "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," it continued.

The author wrote that it ended up deepening the growing rift between Harry, Charles, and Prince William. Andersen said an unnamed St. James's Palace staffer told him that Charles said Harry was "overly sensitive about the matter," and that when he tried to seek William's help, his brother sided with their father.

Representatives for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.