She will have support from black Britons as so many feel her pain
A FRIEND of mine – as disinterested in the Royal Family as they come – explained to me why he feels so strongly supportive of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.
“She is in there fighting against the establishment for all of us,” he said, even before those bombshell revelations to Oprah on Sunday.
He’s right. Meghan embodies the travails of so many black and brown people in so-called modern Britain.
Look beyond the tired old tropes that money and status insulate you from the mental anguish caused by discrimination. Meghan is us. She has support across black Britain because so many people feel her pain.
When fears were expressed over how dark baby Archie would be, every mum in a mixed-race family who has been there will have known how she felt.
Trapped in an archaic institution, Meghan was us when we were the only black person in the room, enduring casual racism.
She is us when they shout us down and malign our character to counter our claims when we call it out. She is every black woman who has ever been asked how she could describe herself as such when “your skin is so light”.
She is the black friend who could be such a good mate, if only they wouldn’t keep calling out people overstepping the mark on racism.
She is us when they see us as “fascinating”, as Boris Johnson’s sister Rachel did, suggesting Meghan would thicken the royal blood with her “rich and exotic DNA”. She is us when they emphasise our backgrounds to make a point, as Johnson did when she described Meghan’s mum Doria as “a dreadlocked AfricanAmerican lady from the wrong side of the tracks who lives in LA”. In other words, ghetto.
Meghan is us when we are characterised as intimidating or a problem simply for standing up for ourselves . So many people – women in particular – will know exactly what she is going through as the subject of that Buckingham Palace “investigation”.
Meghan’s short life with the royals represents the exhaustion of having to defend yourself at every turn over things for which someone white gets a free pass. They came for her when she guestedited Vogue, even though Prince Charles edited Country Life and Kate guest edited the Huffington Post website.
They came for her when she jetted out to support her friend Serena Williams in the US Open final, claiming she’d rejected her duties as a mum. Even though William and Kate left baby George with a nanny as they toured the Maldives six years ago.
There are the repeated attacks that Harry is Meghan’s second husband when Princess Anne dumped her spouse. So too did Princes Charles and Andrew.
Meghan is us when we realise things will stay the same and are forced to summon up the courage to force change. It could yet get even worse before it gets better, but black Britain and Generation Z are on her and Harry’s side.
Plenty of people – women in particular – know what she’s going through