Prince Harry’s memoir, Spare, marks the first time a member of the British monarchy has openly admitted and articulated the extensive elements of racial discrimination within the royal family.
On July 1, 2016, on the 55th birthday of his late mother, Princess Diana, 32-year-old Prince Harry was seated in his residence in Nottingham Cottage (Nott Cott). He scrolled through Instagram and saw a video of his friend, Violet, with an attractive woman. He soon found out her name was Meghan Markle of the series Suits, before they exchanged contacts.
After their clandestine relationship was leaked to the public, a comprehensive charade of bigotry against Meghan commenced in the press and the monarchy. The absurdity of reputable media houses’ implied and glaring racism was jarring.
The Daily Mail took the lead with its flagrant headline, ‘Harry’s girl is Straight Outta Compton,’ in reference to rap group NWA’s debut album. They also had a sub-headline, Gang-scarred home of Meghan’s mother revealed so will he be dropping in for tea? They proceeded with a fray of another malicious title, ‘Harry to marry into gangster royalty?’
Cover of Prince Harry’s memoir, Spare. It exposes the behind-the-scenes incidents that pushed him to move to the US with his wife, Meghan Markle.
Photo credit: Photo I Pool
The derogatory and prejudiced stories proceeded to state that Compton, a black borough 23-minute drive from downtown Los Angeles in California, had been the scene of 47 crimes in the previous week alone, not disclosing that Meghan had never lived in Compton. The Daily Mail went on to imply that Meghan was “upwardly mobile,” because her race had gone from slavery to royalty in just 150 years.
There was an intolerable opinion piece of how Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, was from “the wrong side of the tracks,” with the writer racially citing Doria’s dreadlocks, as stone cold proof of her bigoted statement. Tatler magazine stated that Harry married Meghan because “foreigners” like her, in reference to black women, are “easier” than girls “with the right background”.
The avalanche of hate was wildly atypical and advanced, with the Telegraph expounding on the backlash with a disgusting piece that consisted of racist slurs from various angles, questioning if Harry was legally able to marry a divorcée, without mentioning that his father, Prince Charles, a divorcé, was currently married to Camilla Parker Bowels, a divorcée, or his aunt, Princess Anne, was a remarried divorcée.
The deluge of media hatred and lies towards Meghan were unprecedented and disproportionate to any ever experienced in Britain. Painfully, none of all the racist attacks attracted a single condemnation, public or private, from the royal family. They kept insisting to Harry that he should ignore the salacious attacks and not consider litigation, yet they had previously sued the fourth estate for triviality.
Panic attacks
A new surge of militant racism, misogyny and defamation increased and a despondent Meghan began experiencing panic attacks for the first time in her life. She was labelled “the queen of monkey island” in reference to Africa. She then received an incomparable number of death threats and would sob persistently, while contemplating suicide.
There was more dehumanising vitriol and predicated racism. Harry’s brother, Prince William, was very discouraging towards his relationship with Meghan. He stated a host of obstacles that Harry should expect if he dated an “American actress,” a phrase he made sound like a convicted felon. It’s the term he preferred to use instead of “black woman”.
When Harry was ready to propose and he informed his father, he threatened not to release any funds to him from his lucrative royalty chest. After Harry proposed to Meghan on November 4, 2017, they were flooded with racist taunts and death threats in social media. The mainstream media had riled up all the trolls, who were now invigorated, while crawling out of their cellars and lairs.
Many people continually treated Meghan with racist undertones. During the wedding preparations in Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth’s dresser and confidante, Angela, was entrusted with an emerald encrusted tiara that Meghan was to wear during her wedding. She initially refused to release it and when she finally did, she requested a police escort for it.
When Prince William and Kate Middleton wedded on April 29, 2011, there was no such security insistence on their tiara. Meghan vividly understood the implied message from Angela: “We don’t trust black people.”
Prince William then visited Nott Cott and punched Harry after a long rant of denunciation and berating of Meghan. Subsequently, the monarchy officially announced that the two Royal households, Cambridge of Prince William and Sussex of Prince Harry would stop sharing an office after Harry exposed his family’s complicity in enabling the leaking of false stories about Meghan to the media.
Depressed, Meghan miscarried her second pregnancy and Harry filed a defamation lawsuit against the press. Harry and Meghan relinquished their Sussex titles on January 18, 2020. Their security detail was withdrawn and their financial chest was frozen. They were ordered by Prince Charles out of their new official residence, Frogmore Cottage. Stranded, entertainer Tyler Perry housed them in his palatial residence in Los Angeles. When Queen Elizabeth died on September 8, 2022, Prince Charles ordered Harry not to bring Meghan to the funeral.
The writer is a novelist, a Big Brother Africa 2 Kenyan representative and founder of Jeff’s Fitness Center (@jeffbigbrother).
