Under fire: the Duchess dividing the world

Is Meghan right to speak out? The Duchess of Sussex has hit out at the Royal Family in an interview with Oprah Winfrey. Her criticism raises hard questions for British society as a whole. It was supposed to be a fairytale. On a sunny day in May 2018, A-list celebrities, a gospel choir and an African-American bishop gathered at a chapel in Windsor to watch a mixed-race American actress join the heart of the royal family. Instead, the union ended in disaster. Not the marriage of Meghan Markle to Prince Harry – the couple are due to welcome their second child later this year. Rather, it is the relationship between Meghan Markle and the royal family, the British media and even British society itself that everyone agrees has gone horribly wrong. The problems started even before the couple married. In November 2016, shortly after their relationship became public, Prince Harry condemned the press for racist comment pieces, saying his girlfriend had suffered a “wave of abuse and harassment”. Then, in January 2020, less than two years on from their wedding day, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex broke free from Britain, leaving their royal roles behind to start a new life in California. Now Meghan has turned her ire on the Royal Family itself. In a trailer for a new two-hour interview, which is set to be broadcast on Sunday, the Duchess finally breaks her silence on the family’s frosty relationship. “I don’t know how they could expect that, after all of this time, we would still be silent if there is an active role that The Firm is playing in perpetuating falsehoods about us,” she tells host Oprah Winfrey. Critics say the problem is not the press or the palace, but Meghan herself. “The criticism of Meghan Markle has nothing to do with her skin colour and everything to do with her being a shameless piece of work doing huge damage to our royal family,” wrote broadcaster Piers Morgan in a scathing report last year. In recent days, the bad press surrounding Meghan has been relentless. Buckingham Palace launched an investigation into claims she bullied her staff. New reports suggest she wore earrings gifted by Saudi Prince Salman just three weeks after Jamal Khashoggi’s murder. Now some accuse her of shamelessly attacking Harry’s family while his grandfather Prince Philip lies dangerously ill in hospital. But in a statement, the Sussexes’ spokesman said the accusations amounted to nothing more than a “calculated smear campaign”. For Meghan’s supporters, the palace’s hypocrisy is obvious. Officials were quick to investigate the Duchess’s alleged bullying, but when Prince Andrew was accused of sexual assaultWhen somebody touches another person in a sexual way without their consent. in 2019, Buckingham Palace released several statements in his support. And the racism endemic in British society is simply undeniable – one journalist was even fired for comparing the couple’s son to a chimpanzee. For broadcaster Munya Chawawa, who was a pundit for the BBC on Meghan’s wedding day, watching the Royal Family and the British public applaud a foreign woman of colour felt like a historic moment. Now, he wonders if “any smiling done on the day might have been smiling through gritted teeth”. Is Meghan right to speak out? Royal row Of course, say some. Just like everyone else, the Duchess of Sussex has a right to freedom of expression. But in her case, speaking out is even more important than just invoking her rights. Meghan has been the victim of attacks from a society still dealing with institutional racism and unconscious bias. It is vitally important that she should be able to tell her side of the story. No, say others. The Duke and Duchess’s interview with Oprah Winfrey is more about boosting their own reputations and Hollywood careers than calling out racism and bigotry. All international celebrities are subject to scrutiny, and Meghan and Harry are no exception. There is no unfairness; the Duchess cannot hope to avoid difficult questions about her behaviour to her staff. KeywordsThe firm - Another way of describing the royal family, often used by palace servants and insiders.