‘The insecure white boys writing history conveniently forget to mention that bit, because… well, structural racism’, the tour guide claimed
A London museum has been accused of “confusing the ignorant” and being “profoundly racist” after a guided audio tour incorrectly claimed King George III’s wife, Queen Charlotte, was a “person of colour”.

The guide, available to guests at the Queen’s House, part of Royal Museums Greenwich, sees guests given “a very gay tour” of the estate by drag king and historian Christian Adore.

As museum-goers walk past a figurehead of the former Queen taken from the royal yacht HMY Royal Charlotte, a section of the guide plays a recorded message saying: “Queen Charlotte, the nation’s first royal person of colour.

The idea that Queen Charlotte was not white was first put forward by German historian Brunold Springer in 1929 – a time of high interest in physiognomy pseudoscience in Germany – who claimed her portrait by Thomas Gainsborough was inaccurate.

Springer instead pointed to a portrait by Allan Ramsay, who emphasised her “broad nostrils and heavy lips”, while other academics have highlighted historical accounts of the Queen’s “Mulatto [mixed-race” face as evidence of her African heritage.

Later scholars pointed out one of her distant ancestors, Madragana, a Moorish mistress of Portugal’s King Afonso III, would have contributed to her appearance – though this has been put down by historians as the word “Moor” was a religious, not racial, descriptor at the time.