PRINCESS Michael of Kent has apologised for wearing a ‘blackamoor’ brooch to the Queen’s Christmas lunch at Buckingham Palace, attended by Prince Harry’s mixed race fiancée Meghan Markle.

A spokesman for the royal said that she's 'very sorry and distressed' for wearing the brooch, adding it was a gift she's worn many times before, without controversy.

The full statement said: 'The brooch was a gift and has been worn many times before. Princess Michael is very sorry and distressed that it has caused offence.'

Princess Michael, who is married to the Queen’s cousin, Prince Michael, could clearly be seen wearing the jewellery on her coat as she drove through the gates on Wednesday.

She was not at the same table as Miss Markle, 36, who was attending the event for the first time, but would have been introduced to her at the intimate, private gathering.

The royal bride-to-be, whose former lighting director father, Thomas Markle is white, and mother, Doria Ragland, is black, has often spoken about the racism she experienced both as a child and as a grown woman.

The royal, who is married to the Queen’s cousin, Prince Michael, could clearly be seen wearing the jewellery on her coat as she drove through the gates on Wednesday.

Blackamoor jewellery and art was extremely popular in the 18th Century.

But they are now considered to be highly racially insensitive and the word blackamoor has been condemned as a term of abuse for anyone with a dark skin.

In recent years there have been petitions for galleries and hotels to remove them,

Blackamoors first emerged during the Middle Ages when Europeans first encountered the Moors, dark-skinned Muslims from North Africa and the Middle East who came to occupy various parts of the continent.

The African figure is typically depicted with a turban, dressed in lavish jewels and are commonly fixed in positions of servitude—such as footmen or waiters. They are usually carved from ebony or painted black in the case of porcelain.

While they became an art form in the 17th and 18th centuries, particularly in Italy, many believe the figures suggest ‘racial conquest’.

Blackamoor are a genre of figurines, small sculptures or jewellery which depict largely men, but sometimes women, with black skin usually from the 18th century.

Many will be worth £10,000 or more.