Lady Susan Hussey's friends allege Palace incident on 'deafness'

Friends of Lady Susan Hussey have reportedly blamed the recent Buckingham Palace race row on her "deafness".

Speaking to the Daily Mail's Richard Eden, Some of Lady Susan's pals said the environment and "hard of hearing" Susan had made the conversation more "stilted".

They said: "Like many people of her age, Lady Susan is rather hard of hearing. It’s likely that her deafness contributed to the problems she had that day, and may perhaps help explain the stilted nature of the conversation."

Another friend said the "noisy room" also affected Lady Susan's hearing, saying: "It was a very noisy room, with lots of people, so she may not have heard as much as she usually would."

Susan, one of the Queen Elizabeth II's most treasured aides, found herself at the centre of a race row after a chat with Ngozi Fulani, founder of the charity Sistah Space.

Ms Fulani, who was born in Britain, said that Lady Hussey had asked her repeatedly where she was from at Buckingham Palace, sparking an apology from the Firm as the aide stepped down.

She told ITV's Good Morning Britain: "Although I didn't experience physical violence, what I feel I experienced was a form of abuse."