Interview exposes Harry’s hypocrisy over ‘racist’ royal family claims

Allegations levelled by Prince Harry at the royal family last week exposed hypocrisy about a glaring aspect of his own past, an expert has claimed.

Perhaps the most damning of the allegations made by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in their chat with Oprah Winfrey were those regarding the blatant racism – and micro-aggressions – that Meghan faced from the moment the pair began dating.

During the candid interview, the couple revealed several shocking instances – including that concerns were raised about how dark their son Archie’s skin would be before his birth – involving other members of the royal family, and the British tabloids.

“When the couple began dating, some hoped it would usher in a period of royal renewal,” Central Queensland University history lecturer, Benjamin T Jones, wrote for The Conversation last week.

“Meghan, who has an African-American mother and a white father, was presented as a symbol of the modern, inclusive monarchy. These hopes were gradually dashed with consistently negative media coverage, including unfavourable comparisons with Meghan’s sister-in-law, Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge.

A tragic story at an individual level, he added, “it also points to a history of structural racism within the monarchy. Harry noted that the press attacks on his wife had ‘colonial undertones’, which the royal family refused to address. These are part of a longer history of colonialism and racism in which the Windsors are entangled”.

While many have commended the couple for shedding light on the issue, one expert has claimed Harry readily aired pieces of his family’s dirty laundry without properly acknowledging his own.

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Any proper discussion of racism in the royal family needs to acknowledge Prince Harry’s own ‘well-documented’ acts in the past, one expert said. Picture: CBS

The allegations made by the Sussexes, British broadcaster and social commentator Jonathan Sacerdoti, who focuses on race relations and British society, “are serious, so they need to be interrogated and investigated seriously”.

But, he said, “Oprah Winfrey didn’t manage to get any firm or specific allegation out of the couple, and barely challenged their accusations against the royal family”.

“She didn’t question the couple on Prince Harry’s own well-documented racism in the past, and how he might defend or contextualise that today,” Sacerdoti added.

“Let’s not forget that he dressed as a Nazi for a party, and referred to an army colleague as a ‘P*ki’. Any proper discussion of racism in his family would surely have to include these incidents as well.”

NAZI COSTUME PARTY SCANDAL

The better known of the two incidents mentioned by Sacerdoti is the moment in January 2005 when images of a then-20-year-old Harry emerged dressed in a uniform with a Nazi armband.

Criticism from Jewish groups and politicians was swift, with the leader of Britain’s main opposition Conservative Party at the time, Michael Howard, saying that “a lot of people will be disappointed to see that photograph and it will cause a lot of offence”.

“I think it might be appropriate for him to tell us himself just how contrite he is,” Mr Howard, who is Jewish, told The New York Timesdays after the scandal.

Founder of Los Angeles’ Simon Wiesenthal Centre, Rabbi Marvin Hier, urged the Prince to travel to Poland and visit the Auschwitz concentration camp, where he would “see the results of the hated symbol he so foolishly and brazenly chose to wear”.

Harry swiftly apologised in a statement, saying he was “very sorry if I caused any offence or embarrassment to anyone”.

“It was a poor choice of costume and I apologise.”

RELATED: Glaring question Oprah didn’t ask

Prince Harry, pictured on the front page of The Sun newspaper in 2005 at a costume party.

CALLING FELLOW SOLDIER ‘OUR LITTLE P*KI FRIEND’

In 2009, footage recorded by Harry himself at the age of 21 emerged of him making a racist comment about an Asian soldier, calling him “our little P*ki friend”.

Another video showed him describing another officer cadet as a “raghead”.

At the time, controversy erupted over his use of the term, with critics pointing out that other soldiers would be asked to resign immediately, while Harry simply had to apologise and was allowed to keep his post.

A St James’s Palace spokesman said that “Prince Harry fully understands how offensive this term can be, and is extremely sorry for any offence his words might cause”.

“However, on this occasion three years ago, Prince Harry used the term without any malice and as a nickname about a highly popular member of his platoon,” the spokesman added.

“There is no question that Prince Harry was in any way seeking to insult his friend. Prince Harry used the term ‘raghead’ to mean Taliban or Iraqi insurgent.”

It’s important to note that both scandals occurred prior to Harry’s marriage — or even meeting Meghan.

Speaking about the “barrage” of press Meghan faced when the couple began dating, Harry acknowledged that he wasn’t aware of “unconscious bias and all that that represents” before the two met.

“I hadn’t really thought about the mixed race piece (when they got together) because I thought, well … well firstly, you know, I’ve spent many years doing the work and doing my own learning,” he told Oprah.

“But my upbringing in the system, of which I was brought up in and what I’ve been exposed to, it wasn’t … I wasn’t aware of it to start with. But, my God, it doesn’t take very long to suddenly become aware of it.”