JAN MOIR: It beggars belief to suggest that Harry’s family suggested a non-white baby would not be welcome
Just when the royal family must have thought they were heading into a peaceful and joyful festive season, you hear the imperiled angels singing.
Two years after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex first opened up to Oprah Winfrey about the “concerns” some members of the royal family had about the color of baby Archie’s skin, the royal racist row has flared up again – in spectacular fashion. manner.
After the names of the two royals in question were ‘accidentally’ leaked in Dutch copies of Omid Scobie’s new royal book Endgame, both Piers Morgan on his TalkTV show and the New York Post went one step further and actually named the characters involved . I don’t blame them.
The identity of the mysterious royals has been all over social media and the internet for days. The situation was getting ridiculous. Millions could discover who they were with the click of a keyboard button – and once they did, what then? And then what?
Of course, some may think that King Charles and Catherine, Princess of Wales – formerly known as X and Y – only got what was coming. Still, most of us will surely sympathize with the plight of these two unfortunate senior royals.
Two years after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex first opened up to Oprah Winfrey about the “concerns” some members of the royal family had about the color of baby Archie’s skin, the royal racist row has flared up again – in spectacular fashion. manner.
After the names of the two royals in question were ‘accidentally’ leaked in Dutch copies of Omid Scobie’s new royal book Endgame, both Piers Morgan on his TalkTV show and the New York Post went one step further and actually named the characters involved
Their undoubtedly well-intentioned questions about baby Archie’s skin color or the color of his beautiful hair, or whatever else they said, have turned into an international incident, first by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex themselves and now by stalwart writer Mr Scobie.
The author denies that the leaking of the names was intentional or part of a massive publicity stunt, but offers no explanation for how the remarkable mistake happened.
“I’m as frustrated as anyone else,” he said during an interview with This Morning (ITV) on Thursday. “But I wouldn’t say I’m upset.”
No one needs to be reminded that the Sussexes first made the accusations of racism to Oprah in 2021, as part of the victim narrative that characterized their flashy splashdown in the US.
Yes, we were told in detail about the Sussexes’ pain and the enormous offense they took, but we were never given the context in which the words were said.
It is truly hard to believe that the comments were not made out of love and were never intended to hurt, patronize or cause division. And if Charles and Kate are guilty of a deadly gaucherie, then so are Harry and Meghan because they enthusiastically embraced the most toxic interpretation of the words; the implication that a baby who was not white was not welcome.
As if Harry’s own father and sister-in-law would ever think such a thing. It’s unbelievable.
Yet Harry and Meghan were so genuinely saddened by this private matter that they brought it to the world’s attention, along with a deep dive into the unconscious biases the Duchess felt she suffered as a less than cheerful Windsor woman.
The author denies that the leaking of the names was intentional or part of a massive publicity stunt, but offers no explanation for how the remarkable mistake happened.
But within months, both Harry and Meghan had recovered enough to accept a major American award for combating racial injustice and institutionalized racism – and with it the inference that all these curses had been suffered within the royal establishment.
I was there in the ballroom in New York the night they happily skipped onto the stage to accept the Kennedy family’s Ripple Of Hope award, a trophy that boosted their own humanitarian credentials while continuing to smear the Royals at home with accusations of bigotry and bigotry. smears that stick like mud to this day.
The Sussexes didn’t care then, and they don’t care now.
We know that a glimmer of hope can turn into a wave of change,” they said at the time, and how true that has proven to be. This is all tricky territory to negotiate—and even comment on with caution—if you’re not a person of color. If you’re white, you’re not allowed to have an opinion on sensitive race relations issues, and if you do, it’s the wrong one.
Before mentioning King Charles and the Princess of Wales, Piers Morgan stated that he did not believe there was “any racist intent” behind their words. That’s why Dr. Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, the provocative commentator and once guest on Morgan’s show, calls him a “white privileged dog whistling fragile man baby.” And this is just day one.
You would have to be far less cynical than I am not to believe that Charles and Kate’s names were always going to come out, that there was indeed a rock-solid determination that the names would come out and that it was only a matter of time before they did. And now that everyone knows – but didn’t know for days – we have entered deep into the realm of a very black comedy indeed. Except I can’t say that in case anyone gets offended, so let’s just call it royal farce.