The Duke of Sussex has been accused of “blowing up his family” by a senior member of Boris Johnson’s Government.

Lord Goldsmith made the comments following Harry and Meghan’s candid interview with Oprah Winfrey.

The Foreign Office minister said the revelations were aimed squarely at “Harry’s family”.

In the interview Meghan said that when she was pregnant with Archie, an unnamed member of the royal family raised “concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born”.

The couple also suggested the royal family were jealous of Meghan and the duchess revealed she contemplated killing herself while pregnant.

ITV News’s royal editor Chris Shop said the pair “dropped bomb after heavy bomb on Buckingham Palace” in the interview.

But Lord Goldsmith responded “not ‘Buckingham Palace’ – Harry’s family” and appeared to blame the duchess for the situation.

“Harry is blowing up his family,” the peer said. “What Meghan wants, Meghan gets.”

His comments were in marked contrast with the Prime Minister, who was uncharacteristically reticent at a Downing Street press conference when asked about the royal crisis.

He said: “I have always had the highest admiration for the Queen and the unifying role that she plays in our country and across the Commonwealth.”

But on “all other matters to do with the royal family, I have spent a long time now not commenting on royal family matters and I don’t intend to depart from that today”.

Pressed on whether he believed the royal family was racist, he again refused to comment.

“I really think that when it comes to matters to do with the royal family, the right thing for prime ministers to say is nothing – and nothing is the thing that I propose to say today about that particular matter.”

Earlier, children’s minister Vicky Ford told BBC Breakfast she had not seen the interview but added: “There’s no place for racism in our society and we all need to work together to stop it.”

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: “The issues that Meghan has raised of racism and mental health are really serious issues.

“It is a reminder that too many people experience racism in 21st century Britain. We have to take that very, very seriously.”

Shadow education secretary Kate Green told Sky News: “If there are allegations of racism, I would expect them to be treated by the palace with the utmost seriousness and fully investigated.”