Meghan Markle victim of racism? The question creates unease in the UK
Prince Harry has previously denounced racist and sexist attacks on his wife by the British media
For her support in the United States, the cause is heard: Meghan Markle was a victim of racism upon her arrival in the British royal family, thus precipitating her decision to withdraw. An idea that the United Kingdom is struggling to swallow. The debate is in any case open these days, after the spectacular announcement by Prince Harry and his Métis wife of their withdrawal from royal obligations. And the idea that "Megxit" has to do with racism creates unease.
However, from the start of their relationship, in November 2016, Prince Harry issued a statement denouncing "the racist overtones of the comments" in the press and the "open sexism and racism of social media" against the one who was still only his girlfriend.
Racist allusions
And who has forgotten the tweet of a BBC presenter, in which appeared, just after the birth of their son Archie last May, the photo of a couple holding hands with a chimpanzee, under the title "The royal baby leaves the hospital ”? Danny Baker was immediately fired from the prestigious public media for having committed "a serious error in judgment".
Also disturbing this comment from Tory Prime Minister Boris Johnson's sister Rachel, writing in the Mail on Sunday in November 2016 that Meghan was "genetically blessed" and would bring "rich and exotic DNA" to the "pale" Windsor family .
Among the Windsors, there was the faux pas of the Princess of Kent wearing an old brooch in the shape of a black head, a jewel reminiscent of a colonial and slave past, for a Christmas meal with the young couple at Buckingham Palace in 2017. The princess then flatly apologized.
Sexism and / or racism?
However, the counterattack against accusations of racism against Meghan was quick: Priti Patel, the Minister of the Interior from an immigrant family, assured Monday on the BBC that racism had not played a role no role in the withdrawal of the couple. Priti Patel says she has "seen nothing" like it in the media coverage of the Princess and that in this "great country ... people of all backgrounds can move forward in their lives."
Another type of response: recall that the other women of the royal family, starting with Lady Diana, have also been victims of harassment by the media, sexism becoming the main argument. "Unfortunately, the press is using Meghan's race to castigate her," label expert and Mail Online columnist William Hanson told reporters on Friday. But he was quick to add: "How the media used social class to bring down Catherine," the wife of Prince William.
Political controversy
However, the tabloids very quickly ganged up against Meghan, baptizing her "capricious duchess" shortly after her marriage to Harry and the treatment they inflicted on her far exceeded in ferocity that reserved for Kate Middleton, now adorned by contrast of all the virtues.
One of them, The Sun, the best-selling daily in the country, opened its pages on Tuesday to a commentator who was choking with rage against the idea that "the Megxit" is linked to racism, under the title " no proof of racism in the press ”. Tom Slater denounces an idea coming from "the liberal left" which "hates Brexit, which hates the people and which ended up loving the members of our royal family on the departure".
At the other end of the spectrum, the center-left daily The Guardian, in a commentary by Nesrine Malik, regretted that the issue of racism was asked about a celebrity, to the detriment of the debate over privilege. Without giving time to seriously "debate the unique toxicity of tabloid culture" or "the right turn of our political culture and successive conservative governments that have consistently played on the rejection of immigration."
