Prince Harry & Meghan Markle ‘Feel Vindicated’ After Palace Racism Incident Involving Lady Susan Hussey, King Charles Scrambling To Fix PR Mess
Dec. 6 2022, Published 7:30 p.m. ET
It was supposed to be an evening of uplift. Queen Camilla had gathered 300 guests at Buckingham Palace Nov. 29 to address what she called a “global pandemic of violence against women.” Guest Ngozi Fulani was there representing her London-based charity, Sistah Space, when she was approached by Lady Susan Hussey, a confidante of the late Queen and Prince William’s godmother.
As Ngozi, who is a Black woman born in England of Caribbean immigrants, later recounted, the 83-year-old hectored her, asking where she was REALLY from, at one point countering, “No, but what nationality are you?”
The exchange was “traumatizing,” Ngozi said, calling it “bigger than one individual. It’s institutional racism.”
The Palace’s response was swift. A statement called the comments “deeply regrettable” and announced that Lady Susan — who was the Queen’s sole companion at Prince Philip’s funeral — had stepped down.
A spokesperson for Prince William and Princess Kate, then en route to a much-anticipated stateside visit, chimed in, saying, “Racism has no place in our society.” But behind the scenes, sources revealed, King Charles and his staff were scrambling to manage the crisis, desperate to prove the monarchy is in step with the times — and keenly aware that the most recent gaffe underline Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s 2021 allegations in their bombshell interview of racist behavior in the highest ranks of the royals.
“Charles and Camilla had been working closely with William and Kate to champion diversity and inclusion,” said a Palace insider. “Fulani’s claim has taken them back to square one.”
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Charles and William have had to overcome the monarchy’s checkered past. Prince Philip was known for making statements that were often laughed off as gaffes, but were truly offensive.
In 1986, he told British students in China, “If you stay here much longer you’ll all be slitty-eyed.”
In 2017, Princess Michael of Kent, wife of Queen’s first cousin, was forced to apologize after wearing a blackamoor brooch to a lunch attended by the biracial Meghan Markle.
While Charles’ PR crew tries to mitigate the damage, in their new home in Montecito, Calif., Prince Harry and Meghan are having a case of “I told you so.”
“Harry and Meghan feel vindicated that racism is being exposed and think it’s a good thing that Ngozi Fulani outed Lady Hussey,” said a Palace insider. “Harry couldn’t stand this woman!”