Hilary Mantel suggests racism is a factor in criticism of Meghan Markle

Wolf Hall novelist suggested that Markle is the latest female royal to be perceived as public property

Hilary Mantel has said that racism is a factor in the criticism levelled at Meghan Markle.

The Wolf Hall novelist suggested that many people do not realise the extent of their own racial biases and how it has impacted their treatment of the duchess.

“Racism is a factor,” Mantel told the BBC. “I think it’s more deeply embedded in people’s consciousness than any of us are willing to admit.”

She continued, “I hesitate to call her a victim but I think there has been an element of racism in the invective against her.”

Mantel also said that there remains a fixation on the bodies of royal women, one that has existed for centuries.

“We only have to look at what happens when our royal ladies give birth,” Mantel said. “They are perceived as public property in the same way that Tudor women were perceived. It is simply turning the individual woman back into a breeder.”

The author, who is about to publish the final part of her trilogy of works devoted to the life of Thomas Cromwell, previously condemned the perception of Kate Middleton in the tabloid press.

She suggested in 2013 that Middleton’s public image was “designed by a committee and built by craftsmen, with a perfect plastic smile and the spindles of her limbs hand-turned and gloss-varnished”.

Markle and her husband Prince Harry are to step down from their roles as senior royals on 31 March.