Typecast as black and angry

ANGRY, aggressive, scary.

Sadly these are all words commonly used, without merit, to describe black women.

There’s a reason the only black member of the Spice Girls Mel B was called “Scary” Spice.

Black women often have to put up with negative preconceptions, and often feel they have to tone themselves down just to make other people feel more comfortable.

So it doesn’t come as a surprise to hear that not long after the Duchess of Sussex entered royal life there were unflattering whispers about her “management style”.

She was allegedly demanding and direct, and now comes the accusation she was a “bully”.

The details of the alleged bullying are thin – anonymous sources said someone was once left quaking in fear because Meghan didn’t answer the phone when she rang.

He said, she said. At this point it’s all hearsay. What we do know is Meghan joined the Royal Family as a mixed-race American actress.

To make it in Hollywood she’d have had to be ambitious, straight talking and speak up for herself.

She fell in love with Prince Harry and traded in a world in which she was surrounded by a diverse film cast, for life in Britain where I’m sure she was often the only person of colour in the room.

Despite having Harry in her corner, that must have been incredibly lonely. It’s claimed people went out of their way to make Meghan feel comfortable.

What they should have done is surrounded her with a culturally diverse team which would have given her people to relate to and led to fewer misunderstandings. Bullying is unacceptable. But leaking this just days before the interview with Oprah Winfrey is undoubtedly a smear campaign to damage Meghan’s credibility ahead of the eagerly anticipated show – if not also a form of bullying itself.

The irony is, it will only entice more people to watch.