Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, and Prince Harry’s fairy-tale wedding symbolized for many the long-overdue modernization of Britain’s most prominent dynasty. Her accusations of racism within the royal family and the media shattered the spectacle nearly three years later, representing an all-too-real home truth for Black people and other minorities in the world.
During their explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey last week, the two discussed racist coverage in the British press, allegations that prompted the head of the UK Society of Editors to resign after he declined to acknowledge the issue.
Meghan’s argument that one of her in-laws was worried about the color of her then-unborn son Archie has been dismissed. Instead, the royals have found themselves at the center of the cultural wars, which have been escalating since the Black Lives Matter protests last summer. Prime Minister Boris Johnson denied that the UK was a racist nation, ignoring proof of many Black British people’s lived experiences.
British commentators questioned the validity of her claims. “We don’t know exactly what was said, we don’t know how it was said, we don’t know who said it. The only context that we can give to this story is one, frankly, conjured up out of our own fantasies and prejudices. We need to push back hard against this. Intention matters, context matters, facts matter. If “feelings” are all that count, then eventually we are, every one of us, potentially lost to someone else’s emotional intensity. And that, not duchesses, is what matters here.”
Last week, Prince William told reporters that the royals were “very much not a racist family,” just days after the Palace said that the serious allegations would be addressed privately by the family, “while recollections vary.” The Palace, on the other hand, has retained an independent law firm to look into reports that Meghan harassed royal employees.
There isn’t a traditional family.
“You can draw a line and say this is a private family matter in any normal circumstance,” Halima Begum, the head of the Runnymede Trust’s race equality think tank, said. “But the royals are not a normal family.”
Queen Elizabeth is the matriarch of the family and the head of state of the United Kingdom and 15 other Commonwealth countries — a group of 54 countries that were almost all once under British rule. Because of the monarchy’s central position in the Commonwealth, it serves 2.4 billion citizens, the vast majority of whom are not white.
The monarchy remains the most recognizable emblem of Whiteness and colonial nostalgia in British culture, despite its popularity in the UK and abroad. In a CNN op-ed, Kehinde Andrews, professor of Black Studies at Birmingham City University, wrote, “A born to rule White elite encrusted with the wealth and jewels stolen from their former colonies.”
“It is baffling that anyone is surprised about the questions raised over the skin color of the couple’s baby, given how central Whiteness is to the image of the monarchy.”
According to campaigners, the royals missed an opportunity to discuss a serious problem with the sensitivity it required by skirting around the allegations. “This is the kind of discussion we shouldn’t tolerate in modern Britain,” Begum told CNN.
According to royal custom, the royal family is above politics and should refrain from voicing political opinions. She added that race is apolitical and a “fundamental human right,” and that the royal family “needs to openly reckon with racism in the same way that other organisations do.”
According to royal custom, the royal family is above politics and should refrain from voicing political opinions. She added that race is apolitical and a “fundamental human right,” and that the royal family “needs to openly reckon with racism in the same way that other organisations do.”
The monarchy has a role to unite the country when it comes to race. “If they have not spoken about racism before, or their role in empire, now is an opportunity to do so. These conversations (about race) should not break families, nations and monarchies. It should make us stronger,” she said.
