Why this royal wedding is much more than just an excuse to party

THE world fell in love with Kate and Diana when they were welcomed into the royal family, but there’s a unique reason why Meghan Markle’s royal wedding should be celebrated.

OPINION

THERE are no blonde haired, blue-eyed princesses in this Once Upon a Time.

The monarchy has announced a royal engagement overnight — in a desperate attempt to distract global attention from England’s pathetic showing during the Ashes.

Prince Harry, son of Charles and the late Diana, will wed Meghan Markle in spring of next year and in the process, treat the whole world to a brand new kind of fairytale.

Markle is a feminist, a woman of colour, an activist, an entrepreneur and an actress. Thanks to her, the world’s most famous family is set to gain all of these things and more — they’re about to get a properly multicultural makeover.

Markle is an American and the child of a mixed-race marriage, the daughter of a black mother and a white father. She wrote for Elle magazine in 2015 that she remembers not knowing, which box to tick on an elementary school form when asked about her ‘race’.

The teacher told her to choose ‘caucasian’ because that’s ‘how you look’.

Young Markle followed instruction despite knowing she was denying the truth of her own identity. Feeling uncomfortable later that evening she told her father what had happened and he was furious. He said that next time, if a box didn’t exist that fitted who she was, she should simply draw a new box.

What a wonderful lesson for a young person who would grow up to become one of the most talked about women in the world.

Ms Markle has spoken out about her struggles to find her own racial identity. The fact she’s now marrying a prince will give millions of other ethnically diverse girls someone to look up to. Picture: Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Markle’s experience mirrors that of millions of young British girls who belong to the country’s ever-growing multicultural population. Indeed, her experience is one shared by children here in Australia and in her home country, the United States, as well.

Young girls who are still made to feel like outsiders because of the colour of their skin and the ethnicity of their features.

I know this because I was once one of them.

Today, I care little for the monarchy (bring on the Australian Republic) and my interest in princesses extends no further than the confines of their (admittedly large) designer wardrobes. But this wasn’t always the case. As a child, I swallowed the Disney Princess dream hook, line and sinker. I wanted the capes, the crowns, the castles, the warbling voice, the Prince Charmings and the ability to throw myself on to the nearest object and sob whenever the slightest thing went wrong.

I remember counting the months between mine and both Prince Harry and William’s birthdays, trying to work out if we were age-compatible. I wanted the whole princess bit. The ‘only’ problem was that with my olive skin, Indian eyes and dark hair, I didn’t look like a princess.

Nope. No princesses here. Jamila (left) pictured with her sister Miriam struggled to find people in the media that looked like her as she was growing up.

Giving up on the royal dream, I began searching for alternative role models who looked like me and consistently came up short. Whether it was in fairytales or movies, TV shows or tween novels, magazines or music videos, the women I aspired to be like all looked the same and they didn’t look like me.

The best option I ever found was a character called Gi on Captain Planet, who was from the very geographically specific location of ‘Asia’.

You cannot be what you cannot see — and I couldn’t see me anywhere.

Twenty years later and progress has been painfully slow. Australia has one of the most multicultural populations in the world — and yet culturally diverse representation in media and entertainment is lacking.

For example, a recent report from Screen Australia found that Australians of Asian, African and Middle Eastern descent are significantly under-represented in television programming.

Kids from diverse backgrounds who are living in Western countries like Australia and England, still have to work harder to find role models who look and sound like them. It might seem like an insignificant thing if you’ve never experienced it but it sends a message. It sends a message to those children about their value to society and the kind of future that they should aspire to. It batters and tatters their sense of worth.

These two are clearly in love, but their love story is much more than just a prince meeting his princess.

This is particularly the case when it comes to the romantic desirability of people from diverse cultures. Reality television, often praised as a rare promoter of multiculturalism, rarely casts more than one culturally diverse contestant. The Bachelor and The Bachelorette contestants are a virtual parade of whiteness.

The subliminal message teenage viewers of these shows inhale is that people of colour are worthy of cooking for white people but not marrying them.

This is precisely why Meghan Markle’s entry and warm embrace by the Royal family is so important. The power of the Windsors in the modern era isn’t governmental influence but rather as a symbol of what England is and what the country stands for.

Even before the engagement announcement, Prince Harry took the remarkable step of formally condemning the media for their racist treatment of his girlfriend. In that moment, racial discrimination became personal and not just political for this white man and his powerful family. That is hugely significant.

Together Meghan Markle and Prince Harry will help paint the picture of modern multicultural Britain and set a new fairytale example for the world. Their influence and power means they have a unique opportunity to draw that new box, which Markle’s father foretold. It will be a box full of love, inclusion and promise that life can be better for the next generation of culturally diverse kids.