Prince Charles is the one who asked about baby Archie’s skin tone

A new book claims that Prince Charles speculated on the skin tone of the future children of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. and unintentionally triggered the rift between the couple and the British royal family.

This is according to a well-placed source in author Christopher Andersen's book "Brothers And Wives: Inside The Private Lives of William, Kate, Harry and Meghan" (Gallery), due out Tuesday.

The source reported that on November 27, 2017, the same morning that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's engagement was officially announced, Prince Charles told his wife, Camilla, "I wonder what the kids will look like?" .

The insider said that Camilla was "somewhat taken aback" by the question and replied, "Well, absolutely beautiful, I'm sure."

Charles lowered his voice and asked, "I mean, what do you think his children's complexions might be?"

A spokesman for Prince Charles told The Post: "This is fiction and is not worth commenting further." A spokesperson for Harry and Meghan did not respond to requests for comment.

Andersen falls short of claiming that Charles is the anonymous "greatest royal" whom Harry and Meghan, whose mother is black and her father is white, sensationally accused during their shocking interview with Oprah Winfrey.

In the March broadcast, Meghan said there were "concerns and conversations about how dark the skin [of her and Harry's son Archie] might be when he was born ... Those were the conversations the family had with Harry."

The author presents the matter as if Charles's curiosity was caught and twisted by scheming courtiers who put a racist spin on it. According to Andersne, when Harry and Meghan heard the recycled tale, it had reached toxic proportions.

Andersen points a finger at a group of high-level palace advisers known as the "Men in Gray."

"The question posed by Charles was being repeated in a less innocent way in the corridors of Buckingham Palace," Anderson writes, describing the whispers of an elite clique that the British call "the old man's network."

His gossip centered on how royalty would "look at the rest of the world" once African American blood became part of the mix.

The book also reveals Harry's frustration after he complained to Charles who, according to another source, told the prince that he was being "too sensitive about the matter."

This unsympathetic opinion was shared by William, who allegedly called the comment on the skin tone "tactless," but "not a sign of racism within the family."

In fact, after Harry went nuclear with the accusations of him on television, the elder prince stood his ground in public. "We are not a racist family," he told reporters.