King Charles III delivers a speech at the opening ceremony of the 23rd Commonwealth Games at OVO Arena in Glasgow, Scotland, on July 23. [AFP]
King Charles III delivers a speech at the opening ceremony of the 23rd Commonwealth Games at OVO Arena in Glasgow, Scotland, on July 23. [AFP]

A newly formed far-right British party is drawing fire over its leader's approach to classifying who counts as "white British" — after he refused to clearly identify King Charles III, whose father was born abroad, as such.

According to British media reports Friday, Rupert Lowe, who broke away from the right-wing Reform UK party to found the British Restoration Party, appeared on BBC Radio 4's "Today" program Thursday and claimed that Britain "is being Islamized."

Lowe said it was "a fact" that white British people would become a minority by 2063 at current trends, citing a report published last year by Matt Goodwin, a senior researcher at the University of Buckingham and a Reform UK member. The report projected that white British people would become a minority in the United Kingdom by 2063, and that "foreign-born people and their direct descendants" would constitute a majority by 2079.

Goodwin said at the time that his analysis was based on data from the Office for National Statistics, which surveys racial and ethnic groups through self-identification. The categories include "White English, Scottish, Welsh or Northern Irish," "White Irish" and "Other White."

The "Today" presenter asked Lowe whether, under that classification system, King Charles III — whose father was born abroad — would not be considered "white British." Lowe dodged the question, saying "it depends on how people interpret it."

Charles's father, Prince Philip, was born into royalty in Corfu, Greece, and held the title Prince of Greece and Denmark. He became a British citizen in 1947, the year he married Princess Elizabeth — then first in line to the throne — who would later become Queen Elizabeth II.

Lowe's refusal to clearly identify Charles III as "white British" has stirred controversy.

The Daily Telegraph said that under Lowe's classification, figures who would not qualify as British include Winston Churchill, George Orwell, Harry Kane, Queen Victoria and J.R.R. Tolkien.

Churchill's mother was an American, born in New York to American parents. England football star Kane's father was Irish and emigrated to Britain, while Queen Victoria's mother was German.

Orwell, the author of "Animal Farm," was born in India to British parents, and Tolkien, the author of "The Lord of the Rings," was born in South Africa to British parents.


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