To think that if the only black adult in your family says they have experienced racism...

[Overcastcloudy]

... it's counterproductive to send a white man out to say, We're very much not racist?

That just is never going to end well. Ask Ian Murray how it worked out for him.

I couldn't care much either way about the Royal Family. Just baffled at the headline of William saying this.

Is this the same Meghan that used the term "Male, Pale and Stale"?

I hope she did. A very succinct way to summarise the structural problem within many of our institutions.

What is he supposed to do? Nod and agree that he's racist? Even if he isn't?

RTFT. That's what it's about.

RTFT. That's what it's about.

Meh. I did read the fucking thread. What's your point here?

He has exactly highlighted the problem. this is not his to claim as he is white!

@LalalalalalaLand123

So we're not allowed to disbelieve Meghan, but we are obliged to disbelieve William? Ridiculous. To me he certainly seems a lot more trustworthy than her.

That seems to be the way apparently

it's counterproductive to send a white man out to say, We're very much not racist? The only person who made a statement was an old white woman and she didn't say Meghan lied.

PW was asked is your family racist. Is he meant to say "yes, we all are!"? We have no idea who said what and as there's no proof it was him, Kate or the kids, he's entitled to say no

@Topmum66

He does have a right to defend his family.

MM didn’t specify what the crime was or who it was so the whole family is being doubted and blamed. If an individual did say it, are the whole family to be blamed?

To just be so vague about who said the racist thing was nog good. Name and shame!

What I don't get is the two different narratives, Harry saying it was said when they first met, and Meghan when she was already pregnant.

NAME this person to stop speculation.

Be absolutely truthful and specific about what was said and when.

The stupid 'Blackamoor' brooch worn by some minor Royal was clearly in poor taste.

[quote Overcastcloudy]@kateemo

instead of taking counsel from his brother's story, he makes this throwaway public statement which makes him just sound tone deaf.

Your very thoughtful post did a much better job at clarifying my thinking than I did myself. Yes, he sounded tone deaf. Which has been such a consistent problem for the RF that you'd have thought they would have been better prepared. To at least sound reflective.[/quote]
The problem is the RF are just not very bright. And the courtiers who surround them, perhaps they have some more intelligence or education beteeen them, but they are nonetheless drawn from a very narrow social pool, and have to be monarchists to want to do the job.

The courtiers are way out of their depth and comfort zone dealing with the issues Harry & Megan raise. It was the same with Diana. And then the palace, by which I mean the workers and courtiers, not the royal family itself, attack the personality/ies they think are dimming the light of the monarchy and brief the press against them. It's the same toxic pattern we have seen before.

@TheKeatingFive

I don't understand all the denial. We didn't even need Meghan Markle to call it out, the Royal Family has been openly racist on many occasions and no one raises an eyebrow.

Whether its Prince Philip talking about slitty eyes or asking Aboriginal Australians if they still use spears. Or the charming cousin sporting a racist brooch to meet the mixed race new addition into the family. All of that has been long tolerated. We're even encouraged to look at Philip's 'gaffes' with affection.

How can you say "nobody raised an eyebrow" to the matters you list?

The only reason we all know about those incidents, is because of the negative outcry they received. The perpetrators were called out all over the UK media, and public opinion heavily criticised them as racist, shameful, completely inappropriate etc.

Harry may not be taking calls. He might be in meetings with his media strategy team on a “next steps” meeting.
My guess would be that they are scheduling their Netflix documentary about Racism. They have so much content now, it will be explosive.

@ChilliMum

Yup.

@ChilliMum

Cannot believe some of the rf appologists on here.

We have just had a year of black people telling us about the effects of covert and institutional racism. Most of us have nodded along, agreed black lives matter and then in the next breath we claim that the only black member of a family must be the liar because it's impossible that our royal family might have a racist member. They must feel they have been shouting into the void.

If I learned one thing from the BLM campaign it's that if we don't speak out against racism and discrimination when we see it then we are part of the problem. It's interesting that the RF didn't feel the need to speak out / issue a statement when the gutter press were denigrating MM. Easy to have no comment when you are not the one who is being dragged through the mud.

PW only speaks out in defence of white members apparently, he just looks completely out of touch. What on earth are the RF PR team doing if they are not preparing members to answer questions from the press - hardly a surprise to be asked!! A short statement of ' an allegation has been made and obviously we are taking it very seriously' would have been fine.

And if my sil had admitted to feeling how MM has been feeling I would have phoned my brother immediately.

After Dianna died there was so much in the press about how the RF need to modernise and become more relatable to people.

This has just shown that really nothing has changed. They don't represent us. They might patronise or raise money for mental health charities and speak out in support of BLM but their actions make it clear that they themselves believe they are above such things.

Well said.

@ChilliMum

Cannot believe some of the rf appologists on here.

We have just had a year of black people telling us about the effects of covert and institutional racism. Most of us have nodded along, agreed black lives matter and then in the next breath we claim that the only black member of a family must be the liar because it's impossible that our royal family might have a racist member. They must feel they have been shouting into the void.

If I learned one thing from the BLM campaign it's that if we don't speak out against racism and discrimination when we see it then we are part of the problem. It's interesting that the RF didn't feel the need to speak out / issue a statement when the gutter press were denigrating MM. Easy to have no comment when you are not the one who is being dragged through the mud.

PW only speaks out in defence of white members apparently, he just looks completely out of touch. What on earth are the RF PR team doing if they are not preparing members to answer questions from the press - hardly a surprise to be asked!! A short statement of ' an allegation has been made and obviously we are taking it very seriously' would have been fine.

And if my sil had admitted to feeling how MM has been feeling I would have phoned my brother immediately.

After Dianna died there was so much in the press about how the RF need to modernise and become more relatable to people.

This has just shown that really nothing has changed. They don't represent us. They might patronise or raise money for mental health charities and speak out in support of BLM but their actions make it clear that they themselves believe they are above such things.

Quoted for truth.

@homebird46
It’s going to cost the Royals the Commonwealth, and about time too.
What exactly do you mean?

We all have a right to defend ourselves

It’s astonishing the number of people who insist this family couldn’t possibly be racist.

Usually all white people, the very same white peoples who want a full say on what racism is and how they think it impacts the victims.

Hey why listen to the person saying she was subjected to racism at the hands of a rich, white family, the press they partly control and their rich, white business that’s funded by the mostly rich, white men in government.

@homebird46

Which member is the racist?

Prince Philip has form. Princess Michael has form (remember the brooch?) Hell even Prince Harry has form. They’re clearly a racist family. The question should be who isn’t racist?

Prince Harry was vile.

Said what he did so utterly glibly and condescendingly, to a Serviceman who had got to Sandhurst on MERIT and top grades, not by Nepotism.

?how do you think the Serviceman felt, being humiliated on TV by someone who was too dim to even get on on grades?

Harry is a huge mess.

What was it Diana once said? They’ll look after the heir and I’ll look after the spare.

William would say the sky is green if the institution told him to. He has to uphold the monarchy of which one day he will be King. To admit to any institutional fault, especially in the current climate, is like ripping at the foundations of his own home.

There’s clearly a huge family divide regardless of right or wrong. There’s the palace vs Harry and Meghan. It may be six of one and half a dozen of the other. Meghan and Harry may have been the problem. The monarch may have been the problem.

But we will never gain any clarity because no one will ever cross sides.

PW should have said 'Well it's true that my brother's done some racist things in the past, but I don't think you should tar our whole family with the actions of one person'

@FuckyouBrennan

Oh ffs. Meghan could claim to be a rabbit and people would believe it. William wasn’t sent out to say that.

Honestly, why would it be so difficult to think that actually, maybe, there are racist attitudes in the royal family?

The evidence is there.

@Overcastcloudy

it's hardly "sending out a white man" though is it?

Is he not white? Not a man? Not rather unbelievably left to deal with this shitstorm in person and on his own, apparently without any guidance on what line to take?

Well given that, as you’ve pointed out, the whole family apart from Meghan and Archie are white, who the hell else would they ‘send’? Why is it that the same people lauding Harry for sticking up for his wife and family are bashing William for doing the same?

NAME this person to stop speculation.

Be absolutely truthful and specific about what was said and when.

I tend to agree. Maybe HMQ’s plan is to make someone if her investigation yields proof?

The headline should have been
“William gives only answer he could ever give to an inane question”

He was not “sent out” and did not “give a statement”.

It’s astonishing the number of people who insist this family couldn’t possibly be racist.

People don't want to be made uncomfortable, they want the family who represent them to be as they should be, because the alternative is too much of a headache.

And quite a number of people on MN are racist themselves, or totally clueless about race, I've seen it with my own eyes, so they have a vested interest in not seeing.

@Overcastcloudy

What was he supposed to say?

Now, again, I'm no expert on the RF, and I'm not in PR, but you have to think that at some point, someone advised the RF on this? The question is unsurprising, given all the coverage (which even I couldn't avoid! I'm still wondering how I know any of this).

So, off the top of my head: "Is your family racist?"

"I would certainly not have thought so! I would be really disappointed - and shocked - if that were true. It does not represent the values of the RF, or of modern Britain." Then walk away.

But this is just using more words to say “no, our family isn’t racist”

What was he supposed to say? He wasn’t going to say yes was he?

He also wasn’t going to point out that the woman making the claims is married to one of the more publicly racist members (has everyone forgot Harry’s “dear little friend”)

He got doorstepped, he denied the allegations.

Just because Meghan says she experienced rascism doesn’t make it true, just because William said the families not racist doesn’t make that true either.

As always, the actual truth (not Meghans truth, or Williams truth) is somewhere messily in the middle.