[syhprum (OP)]

There seems to have been worries in royal circles that a dark skinned gene might have snuk in.

[Bored chemist]

The good news is that it doesn't matter.
The even better news is that it's easy to get a fairly good indication; look at the parents and average them.

[alancalverd]

The interesting thing about this story  is that it changes every time you hear it. So far we have two uncorroborated statements that an unnamed family member or maybe a servant asked a father or maybe a mother an entirely reasonable question or maybe uttered a disgusting slur, either before they were married or maybe during her pregnancy.

As for "snuck in", I seem to remember a very public wedding between a ginger royal and a woman who claimed to be black. And now she claims that the wedding was void anyway because they were already married.

I'd be embarrassed if I gave a 10 minute lecture with as many holes in it, never mind prime time television. Have they never heard of briefing, script, rehearsal, autocue....she's supposed to be an actor, for chrissake!

Et quis stercum dat?
 

[evan_au]

The thing about skin colour is that it is only skin deep. But some people are very shallow.

a fairly good indication; look at the parents and average them.

I agree that will approximate the average.

But skin colour is governed by many genes (at least 5), and you can inherit an arbitrary mix of them.
- If both the parents are heterozygous in genes for skin pigmentation, it is theoretically possible to have non-identical twins, one of whom has lighter skin tones than both parents, and one with darker skin tones than both of their parents.

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_skin_color#Genetics

[Petrochemicals]

There seems to have been worries in royal circles that a dark skinned gene might have snuk in.

Snuk into the child of  the 6th in like to the throne, the Prince Andrew of the current generation? Weirdly you are asking a racist question by asking it.

You can also have recessive genes for dark/light skin, always very problematic upon birth.

[alancalverd]

You can't "sneak" genes into a baby. Well maybe, but it's a laboratory procedure with a very high failure rate.

Life really hasn't changed since your schooldays: a mummy and a daddy love each other very  much (or she wants to be a princess - it doesn't matter either way) then she sits in a chair that he has recently vacated and the magic happens in her tummy. The outcome is unpredictable but the baby tends to look a bit like both parents.

Or did somebody else sit in the chair? That's naughty.

[syhprum (OP)]

There is a Shakspear play (the name escapes me for the moment) where the queen produces a black infant and it leads to many problems !

[Colin2B]

There is a Shakspear play (the name escapes me for the moment) where the queen produces a black infant and it leads to many problems !

Titus Andronicus

[alancalverd]

Practically every African country (and certainly every chess set) has had a black king at some time. What's the problem?

[Zer0]

P.S. - 🤡