Meghan and Harry interview: the royal family is "not racist", assures Prince William
A few days after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s shock interview with Oprah Winfrey, English royalty is still shaken by the couple’s revelations.
The tremors continue to be felt at Buckingham Palace. Among the lot of confessions and accusations delivered Sunday by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the one that has arguably most marked the spirits is that of discussions within the royal family concerning the skin color of their first child, Archie .
If Oprah Winfrey quickly exonerated Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip, the queen then in a statement deemed these accusations of racism "worrying", assuring that they will be "taken very seriously".
This Thursday, Prince William, Harry's brother, took less detours to deny these assertions. "We are not a racist family at all," he said during a visit to a school in east London. He said he had not spoken to his brother since the explosive interview aired on Sunday, but that he plans to do so. Prince William is the first member of the family to speak publicly on the subject.
Asked about the interview during a visit to a vaccination center on Tuesday, Prince Charles preferred to remain silent, responding with a nervous little laugh.
Unsustainable media pressure, racism and lack of support
Asked by star Oprah Winfrey, Harry and Meghan explained their estrangement from the royal family and their exile in California.
The 39-year-old Métis actress and her 36-year-old husband, sixth in the line of succession to the throne, have argued untenable media pressure, racism and lack of support from the royal family to justify their withdrawal from the throne. the monarchy.
Above all, leaving Oprah Winfrey speechless, Harry and Meghan reported conversations from an unnamed member of the royal family about what skin color their now 22-month-old son Archie would have before his birth.
The accusations sparked speculation about who made the statements and reignited heated debate in the UK, fueled by the Black Lives Matter protests last year.
In explosive confessions seen by 17 million Americans then 11 million viewers in the United Kingdom, the Duke of Sussex, sixth in the order of succession to the throne, said he was distant from his father Charles and his brother William , described as prisoners of the monarchy. These confidences shook the British monarchy, facing its worst crisis since the death of Lady Diana in 1997.
The interview also divided the British, with the youngest showing strong support for the 30-something who left for California, and reignited the debate on racism. Prince Harry accused the press, especially the tabloids, of "sectarianism", which sparked an outcry from the Society of Editors, which represents journalists.
Its executive director resigned after assuring that the press was neither sectarian nor racist, causing floods of opposite testimonies on social networks, from journalists having seen this sectarianism at work and underlining the lack of racial diversity in the media .
Prime Minister Boris Johnson refuses to get involved, except to salute the "unifying role" of Elizabeth II which reigns over the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth, an association of 54 countries inherited from the British colonial empire, most of which , 4 billion inhabitants are not white.
