Royals ‘racist’ rejection of Meghan Markle should have been predicted

Meghan and Harry’s 2018 wedding seemed like a fairytale but the reality of being a bi-racial royal has been far from happily ever after.

OPINION

I remember my curiosity before Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s 2018 nuptials, and how I felt as a mixed raced woman sensing a significant shift in visibility coming.

I reflected on a childhood moment, during a game of Kings and Queens, where a group of white girls told me I couldn’t play because I didn’t have “princess hair”; my hair, thick, dark and unintentionally dreadlocked in places did not look like any of the Disney heroines.

Being mixed-raced myself — the daughter of a white Australian mother and a bi-racial Papua New Guinean father — my excitement at the thought of a bi-racial woman entering the Windsor dynasty was borderline embarrassing.

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In 2018 Jessica Vander Leahy felt excitement over the thought of a bi-racial princess. Picture: Instagram.

But perhaps I should have better heeded the adage, ‘Past behaviour is the best predictor of future behaviour’. Because, considering Meghan married into a 1200-year old, blue-blooded breeding program that has never openly birthed a child of colour before, we should have predicted this endemically racist institution would struggle to accept her and her offspring fully.

During their tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey, Meghan and Harry revealed some incredibly incriminating details about racism in the British royal family, and hasn’t that always been the case?

Millions worldwide watched, captivated as the Duchess of Sussex spilt the searing hot tea about her royal in-laws. Meghan, 39, spoke of the damaging toll royal life took on her mental health and how the media’s incredible pressure led to a “frightening constant” thought of suicide while expecting the couple’s first child, Archie.

“I just didn’t want to be alive anymore,” she told Oprah while reflecting on her frame of mind during her 2019 pregnancy.

And while this bombshell might have been appalling enough, it was the racist “concerns and conversations about how dark [Archie’s] skin might be when he was born” that had audiences reeling.

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Oprah Winfrey seemed shocked by Meghan and Harry’s royal racism bombshells. Picture: CBS

Oprah’s slack-jawed reaction pretty much summed up the sentiment of the moment. Sure, the talk show queen looked shocked at the frank revelation but was she in disbelief? I doubt it.

You see, ever since the faint whispers began to circulate about Meghan’s potential to join the British monarchy — the couple met on a blind date in 2016 — the online deluge of racist hate directed toward the bi-racial Suits actress has been alarming.

The trolling was so severe, a few months into their courtship, Harry released a statement in defence of his then-girlfriend saying he “worried about Ms Markle’s safety” and was “deeply disappointed” he was not able to protect her.

Meghan used the Oprah interview to shut down reports that it was Harry who opted out of Archie receiving a royal title. Instead, she said “The Firm” decided her son would not be a Prince. She explained that the fancy title wasn’t her concern. Still, the added privilege of extra security protection was important, especially considering Archie would be the first mixed-race great-grandchild of Queen Elizabeth II.

“We’re not saying don’t make him a prince, but if you’re saying the title is what’s going to affect the protection, our son needs to be safe,” she told Oprah.

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Meghan was worried about what the protection would be for Archie. Picture: CBS

The Sussexes pleas seemed to fall on deaf ears. They claim that the lack of private and public emotional support afforded to them by their family was enough reason to be driven out of royal life.

“For the family, they very much have this mentality of, ‘This is just how it is, you can’t change it, we’ve all been through it,’” Harry told Oprah. “But what was different for me was the race element — it wasn’t just about her, it was about what she represents.”

All of these revelations are extremely interesting, especially given the pre-wedding hype around what Meghan’s heritage would mean for a family famous for shunning genetic diversity.

We can also circle back to another (curiously tidy?) moment in the interview where Meghan spoke of Disney’s Princess Ariel. Surely we all know how that romance with a Prince led the half-fish beauty to a cruel ultimatum: trade her voice for her man.

As for the palace, it has paid lip service in the form of a short statement — nothing unexpected, just erring on the side of refuting claims and saying issues would be delt with “privately”.

Like Ariel, Meghan seems to have gotten her voice back. Ever since she spoke out in this interview, there’s renewed fervent calls to abolish the monarchy.

So, could the first bi-racial duchess of the British royal family be the undoing of the archaic institution that rose to power on the back of a hideous history of destroying and colonising black and brown cultures the world over?

Not even Disney could have dreamt up that perfect fairytale ending.

Jessica Vander Leahy is a freelance writer and model. Have your say in the comments below.