His apology comes after BBC director-general Tim Davie said last year that he would crack down on staff posting their views online to ensure impartiality, and staff could even be forced off Twitter if they fail to meet the 'high bar'.
He also blasted the Diamond Jubilee as a 'celebration of mediocrity' and said of the royals: 'Aside from the Queen – whose public image is crafted by an ever-expanding team of propagandists – this clan is unusually full of fools.' In other columns written for the newspaper at the time, the 38-year-old journalist said that Prince Philip was a 'racist buffoon' and described Prince Charles as 'scientifically illiterate'. He also suggested that rather than a 'vast palace', the duke and duchess should raise their family in a 'decent suburban townhouse' and should send their child to a 'normal school'. In one open letter to William and Kate, written in December 2012 after the couple announced they were expecting their first child, the self-declared republican urged them to 'renounce the luxuries of royal patronage and aristocracy', claiming that 'everyone will be a winner' if they do.Īlthough Rajan congratulated the couple on the news of the pregnancy, he described their public role as a 'total fraud', adding: 'Neither of you have a special claim on the glorious city of Cambridge so quit pretending you do'. I'm completely committed to impartiality and hope our recent programmes can be judged on their merits.' In a second tweet, he added: 'I would like to say sorry for any offence they caused then or now. I wrote things that were rude and immature and I look back on them now with real embarrassment, and ask myself what I was thinking, frankly…'
The journalist who fronted the BBC 's controversial royal documentary today apologised for describing the public role of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge as a 'total fraud' and called Prince Philip a 'racist buffoon'.Īmol Rajan – the BBC journalist who presented The Princes And The Press – made the incendiary remarks in articles written in 2012 for The Independent, the newspaper which he used to edit.īut today, Rajan tweeted: 'In reference to very reasonable questions about some foolish commentary from a former life, I want to say I deeply regret it.