In Oprah’s exclusive two-hour CBS interview with Duchess Meghan and Prince Harry Sunday night, Duchess Meghan intimates to Oprah and her husband Prince Harry later confirms that she learned from him that a member of the royal family voiced concerns about she and Prince Harry giving birth to children with Black skin tones.
Any one observant of the racist portrayal and treatment of Duchess Meghan by the British press before the Oprah interview, particularly a tweet comparing her and Prince Harry’s baby to a monkey could not have been surprised. A BBC reporter was fired for the tweet. While Duchess Meghan and Prince Harry didn’t name names, it’s hard to imagine a more carefully crafted call out of the British royal family’s racism from within the family.
Many detractors say it was hard to imagine that an international actress, and divorced woman, could be so naïve about the predicament marrying into the royal family would put her in. She needed to look no further than Prince Harry’s own beloved mother, the late Princess Diana, to see evidence of the gilded cage in which she would live after marrying a British royal. The tabloid obsession and frenzy over Princess Diana culminated into a car chase by paparazzi that led to the vehicular death of Princess Diana and her Egyptian boyfriend Dodi Fayed in 1997.
More than two days after the Sunday interview, the following Buckingham Palace statement was issued:
The whole family is saddened to learn the full extent of how challenging the last few years have been for Harry and Meghan. The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately. Harry, Meghan and Archie will always be much loved family members.
Kier Simmons, a MSNBC reporter in London on Morning Joe, commented Wednesday, March 10, that while Queen Elizabeth seems to have largely conceded to Prince Harry and Meghan’s critique, some observers have noted that last week the royal family was able to “Launch an investigation into allegations of bullying against Meghan. And this week, then they say, “Well actually allegations of racism, we just want to deal with those privately,” behind closed doors. if you like.”
Prince Harry told Oprah that he would never tell which member made the skin tone remark. However, since their Oprah interview it appears that he and Duchess Meghan will no longer be silenced. The internationally famous, media savvy, couple will continue to choose their words carefully and live, with their son Archie in Santa Barbara and a baby girl on the way, more comfortably in their skin.
