Karen Stollznow, Ph.D :
Everyone is still talking about Oprah Winfrey’s recent interview with Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
During the interview, the couple spoke to Oprah about the royal family, the media, issues of mental health, and racism. One of the biggest “bombshells” was when the duchess, who is the first multi-racial member of the modern Royal Family, revealed that Harry was asked by an unnamed family member “how dark” their son Archie’s skin might be.
Buckingham Palace issued a statement in response to the interview, which included the comment: “The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately.”
The royal family in still entangled in a history of colonialism and racism. As a multi-racial women with a black mother and white father, Meghan is seen by some as not “pure-blooded” enough. This hearkens back to the mythical concept of “blue blood” and royal purity.
But it’s more than just racism.
For years, there has been relentless negative media coverage of Meghan. Much of this coverage has smacked of sexism, nationalism, and classism too.
Meghan has been accused of being “too bold”, “too outspoken” and “too feminist.” She has been criticized for such trivial crimes as crossing her legs, wearing dark nail polish, having hair extensions, wearing a one-shouldered dress, a short skirt, and for her penchant for black clothes. She was heavily attacked on social media for closing her car door, instead of allowing an aide to do so. Meghan once wore a pair of trousers to a function and was attacked with the sexist trope, “Guess who wears the trousers in Prince Harry’s relationship?” She has been accused of “bewitching” Harry, branded a “difficult woman,” a “diva”, and dubbed “Duchess Difficult.”
The notion of “impurity” extends to her having dating and married prior to her royal marriage. Mingled with ageism, she has been repeatedly referred to as the “divorced older woman.” (She is only three years older than Harry.) Related labels have revealed nationalism too, where she has been called “the divorced American.” (Of course, she wasn’t the first divorced American to marry a member of the royal family.) Meghan’s nationality appears to be a problem to some, with her being described as “too multicultural” and “too American.”
With the class system still deeply entrenched in Britain, Meghan, a “commoner”, has also been looked down upon for her socioeconomic background. She had a humble childhood, growing up in a middle-class part of Los Angeles, where her father worked as a cinematographer and her mother a social worker. Tabloids motivated to tarnish her reputation tracked down her ancestors to enslaved people in Georgia. Meghan has been belittled for having worked as a waitress and an actress. She has been compared to “trailer trash” and accused of dragging Harry “down into the trash heap.” Given the pre-wedding scandal involving her father, her family has been described as “dysfunctional” (although it’s hard to find a family more dysfunctional than the Windsors.)
Different types of prejudice often intersect and overlap with each other. In this case, the racism faced by the Duchess of Sussex overlaps with sexism, nationalism, and also classism, reflecting the dated attitudes of the British press, the general public and, it seems, some members of the royal family.
(Karen Stollznow, Ph.D., is a linguist, columnist and podcaster who researches anomalous beliefs and practices
about language).
