A German confectionery company has been forced to apologise for posting a “racist” picture of a chocolate marshmallow in a wedding dress on Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s wedding day.

Social media users condemned the image, angrily accusing Super Dickmann's of racism.

One Twitter user said: “I don't know if I should laugh or cry,” and another said: “The prize for the dumbest royal wedding post goes to Super Dickmann.”

The Initiative for Black People in Germany posted: “As if we didn't have to listen to enough subliminal racist comments on television during the wedding.”

Super Dickmann's said the decision to compare Ms Markle to the chocolate-covered treat was “stupid and embarrassing” and deleted its Facebook post.

The company had shared the image of a "Schokokuss" ("chocolate kiss") – one of its products – as a bride in a cathedral on Saturday, coinciding with the wedding of Prince Harry and the new Duchess of Sussex, whose mother is black.

The headline was "A foam in white", referring to the Schokokuss's creamy interior, which in German rhymes with the phrase "a dream in white".

The caption read: "What are you looking at? Wouldn't you also want to be Meghan today?"

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A Dickmann's spokesman on Tuesday apologised, saying the post was "stupid and embarrassing" and that the firm had not put enough thought into the decision.

In an apology posted on Facebook, the company wrote: "The world of Super Dickmann's is varied and diverse and far removed from racist ideas."