‘RACISM STILL BLIGHTS UK’
Royals’ interview alleging prejudice reveals ongoing challenges for British monarchy, say commentators
ACCUSATIONS of racism against the British royal family by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have shown that racial discrimination is “still pervasive in British society”, commentators have said.
In a wide-ranging interview aired in the UK on Monday evening (8), the duchess spoke about her experiences with racism, struggles with her mental health and the reasons for stepping down as senior royals last year.
And in a shocking revelation, the duchess (who describes herself as biracial) alleged that an unnamed member of the royal family had questioned “how dark” their then unborn son Archie’s skin might be.
The duke, who also took part in the interview, later clarified that the comment did not come from either the Queen or Prince Philip.
The duchess described some unidentified members of the royal household as brutal, mendacious and guilty of racist remarks.
She also said the isolation and the barrage of negative press during her time as a royal had pushed her to the brink of suicide, adding that her calls for help were ignored.
“I just didn’t want to be alive anymore,” she admitted during the interview with host Oprah Winfrey.
“That was a very clear, real and frightening constant thought. And I remember how he (Harry) just cradled me.”
The couple withdrew from their royal duties last January.
The Runnymede Trust’s Rohini Kahrs said the interview and the response to it was a reminder that racism and race insensitivity were “still pervasive in British society”.
“Coming from a woman with a lived
experience of racism, and as the mother of the Queen’s great-grandson, there will be many in Britain who feel grateful to Meghan for speaking up and reflecting their own struggles,” Kahrs told Eastern Eye.
She added: “The UK has come a long way, and we can take the issues raised from (the interview) and the wider conversation and channel it into a healing process where these issues are looked at and addressed.”
Sunder Katwala, director of the thinktank British Future, said the wedding of the duke and duchess had initially been seen as a “symbol of positive change”. The couple’s unhappy experience is, at the least, a missed opportunity for the royal family, he said.
“Nobody who was not directly involved can adjudicate any of the specific allegations made,” Katwala told Eastern Eye on Tuesday (9). “But it would only make things worse if the monarchy now becomes the latest battleground of a ‘culture war’ over race and identity, especially one that divides opinion between generations, and which sees black and white Britons hold contrasting perceptions about the media’s treatment of Meghan Markle.”
Priyamvada Gopal, professor of postcolonial studies at the University of Cambridge, agreed many thought the role of the duchess in the royal family was a step toward “modernising the monarchy”.
“Meghan was going to bring diversity,” Prof Gopal said. “But I think now we are reminded that these are not institutions that take easily to diversification, to racial diversity. Perhaps the monarchy has a race problem, a whiteness problem – and we’ve seen that manifested here.”
Talking about the concern over the skin colour of the couple’s son, Kahrs said the claims were “deeply upsetting”.
“His skin colour should not be a factor for anything,” she said. “In many ways, Archie could be the symbol of modern Britain.”
However, the journalist and commentator Yasmin Alibhai-Brown admitted she was not surprised by the revelations. She recalled the reaction when it was revealed that Diana, Princess of Wales (Harry’s late mother) had had relationships with men of ethnic heritage, including British-Pakistani heart surgeon Hasnat Khan.
“Remember how the press and the firm (royal family) reacted – all that speculation about how the half-siblings of the future king could be mixed race and how trying that would be for the Queen and her clan,” she told Eastern Eye.
Alibhai-Brown, who said she watched the interview on Monday, thought the couple came across as “real, troubled, honest and, a little nervous, scared even”.
“They know well the revenge that will come to burn their skins, and fresh campaigns to silence them,” she said.
Prof Gopal said the beliefs of the monarchy were “deeply tied” up with white supremacy, and noted the historic links between the royals and colonialism.
“I don’t think the monarchy has examined its ties to white supremacy,” the academic said. “When you look at the balcony (of Buckingham Palace), and you look at who the monarch is seen with, by and large, this is a heavily white milieu.
“It has not even been able to make accommodation for one member of the family who is not from a white background. And it had questions to ask about a future member of the family who might have a slightly different skin shade. So, the question begs itself, how white are you? Do you have a whiteness problem?”
Some have also focused upon the duchess’s mental health struggles while living in the palace. Alibhai-Brown noted her comments on the lack of support she received, even after reaching out for help.
She pointed out the recent efforts by some of the younger members of the royal family to raise awareness about mental wellbeing, including the Heads Together campaign fronted by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. “If they can’t and won’t help their own, we know all of that is just PR posturing,” Alibhai-Brown said.
The duchess also touched upon the barrage of hate that she had experienced from some outlets of the British media and on social media platforms. She said race and social media have made dealing with the “toxic environment” of the British press different for her than other royals.
“Unfortunately, if members of [Prince Harry’s] family say, “Well this is what’s happened to all of us,’ if they can compare the experience that I went through… Kate was called ‘Waity Katie’ waiting to marry William,” she said. “While I imagine that was really hard – and I do, I can’t picture what that felt like – this is not the same. And if a member of his family will comfortably say, ‘We’ve all had to deal with things that are rude’, rude and racist are not the same.”
According to a CNN report in 2019, palace staff were alleged to have installed software to filter out racist slurs on social media responses to the duchess.
The same year, research by advocacy group Hope Not Hate (HNH) also revealed the scale of racist abuse which the 39-yearold royal faced on social media. A spokesperson for the group told Eastern Eye that the duchess had raised “real questions” about her treatment in the media.
“She has sparked a timely debate about race and the press,” they said.
“Her experiences speak to the need to understand how racism can operate in our society – especially as it affects women of colour – and how much more there is to do to make meaningful change.”
Prime minister Boris Johnson declined to comment on the accusations of racism after the interview, saying: “When it comes to matters to do with the royal family, the right thing for prime ministers to say is nothing.”
Prince Charles, visiting a Covid-19 vaccine pop-up clinic in London on Tuesday, was asked by a reporter what he thought of the interview. He stopped and looked up before walking away without comment.
Other public figures who commented about the interview include US president Joe Biden, whose spokesperson said he praised anyone for having the courage to speak out about mental health.
Former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton also defended the duchess, referring to the UK press coverage on her as “cruel”.
“The fact that she did not get more support and the reaction was, ‘let’s just paper it over and pretend that it didn’t happen and keep your head down,’” Clinton said. “Well, this young woman was not about to keep her head down – this is 2021.”
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has called for the duchess’s claims to be taken seriously. He said: “Nobody should be prejudiced (against) because of the colour of their skin or because of their mental health issues.”
On social media, Labour MP Nadia Whittome suggested the duchess was being treated differently because of her race.
“It says a lot about the priorities of the royal family and tabloid press when Prince Andrew has an easier ride than a young black woman,” she said.
FOR various personal reasons, I have known Prince Charles for a very long time – and there is one thing I can say with absolute confidence. There isn’t a hint of racism in him.
To be sure, the interview given by Prince Harry and Meghan to US chat show host Oprah Winfrey was shocking.
But whatever the deep divisions in the royal family that were exposed by what the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had to say, I don’t think it would be in the interest of Asians in general, and Indians in particular, to destabilise the heir to the throne. As Charles III, he would bat for British Asians – of that I am sure.
The other day, when expressing concern that some members of the UK’s ethnic minorities were not taking the Covid vaccine in a Zoom event organised by the British Asian Trust, he used an expression that tells us so much about the man.
Expressing support for the vaccine roll out in the UK, Charles said: “As you undertake this absolutely vital work, I can only wish you every possible success in coming to the aid of our ethnic minority communities, for whom I hold the greatest affection.”
Affection is a word seldom used in public – but Charles meant what he said.
He has been ahead of his time in one important respect, in always wanting to represent a multi-faith Britain. However, his desire to be “defender of faiths” rather than just “defender of the Faith” – that is only the Church of England – has got him into trouble with the more traditional elements in the British establishment.
There was a time when I used to travel quite a bit with Charles and Diana in the early days of their marriage. As part of the British press party, I went with them to Italy, Oman, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia (where she was gifted jewellery worth £1 million) and even to India.
I remember a visit to the Vatican when Charles and Diana had an audience with Pope John Paul II. Moved by the meeting, Charles announced he hoped to celebrate mass with the Pope as a gesture of unity with the Roman Catholic Church.
But on the morning of the day this was supposed to happen, the accompanying press officer, Vic Chapman, told us that the joint mass had been cancelled on the orders of Buckingham Palace. This did not improve HRH’s mood, said Chapman, adding in his characteristically earthy way, “It sure ****** up his lunch.”
Charles’s attitude to Islam doesn’t suggest he is a man with prejudices. In 1993, he gave a lecture entitled Islam and the West at the inauguration of the distinguished lecturer programme at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. He returned in 2010 and toured the centre before delivering another lecture, Islam and the environment, at Oxford University’s Sheldonian Theatre.
With India, a country he has visited on countless occasions, he has had a special relationship. Charles said he acquired his love of India from his great-uncle, Lord Mountbatten, the last viceroy of India. When Mountbatten was assassinated by the IRA (Irish Republican Army) in 1979, the first country in the world to lower its flag was not the UK, but India.
Just before Charles and Diana went to India in 1992, one of his senior officials invited me to Clarence House for suggestions on what he might say in his keynote address in Delhi. I said he ought to mention he had learned about India from Mountbatten, which he did. Unfortunately,
he did not listen to another piece of advice – that he should accompany Diana to the Taj Mahal in Agra. He didn’t – with disastrous PR consequences.
None of the press wanted to go with him to Bangalore: instead, everyone wanted to accompany Diana to Golconda. I was press ganged into travelling on his VC10 – alone with him and his officials – to Bangalore for a meeting with businessmen discussing how to make gas from cowdung. Although the air condition failed, he stayed in a hot, stifling room the whole afternoon. But he did care about the possible benefits of making gas for poor Indians.
I reckon he knows India better than most British Indians, anyway. And I forget the number of times I have seen him at Indian functions in the UK.
Of course, none of this means there hasn’t been a breakdown in his relationship with Harry. Many will not forgive him for the collapse of his marriage to Diana. However, you get to know someone’s attitudes over a number of years.
Without in any way diminishing what Meghan and Harry said in their interview, I can definitely state that Charles cares for Britain’s ethnic minorities, especially the Indian community. The one thing he isn’t is racist.