Re: Harry and Megan
Reply #200 –
I can't believe the Royal Family is as 'racist' as they are being portrayed.
For one, their own family tree, like mine, contains ancestors from all over Europe, with some interesting asides in Western Asia (Armenia, the Kingdom of Jerusalem and a handful of Muslim princesses, to name but a few). Being racist is like biting their own b*m.
On the other hand, they may not have the language to express themselves. One of Queen Elizabeth's cronies got in trouble lately for not being able to express herself properly, when asking about the background of black lady she met. The poor old thing, seeing this incredible display of Nigerian culture, made a mess by saying "Where are you from?" instead of "What is your background?" I certainly didn't think she was being racist: she was being ignorant ( a crime that has a cure, called 'education'). Certainly, very few black people move in her circles, probably less so when the woman in question was growing up.
One of things Harry doesn't seem to understand is the lack of outward emotion that the Royals express. Showing too much of yourself was 'just not done' when Elizabeth was growing up, and hadn't been since at least the days of Queen Victoria. She would have brought up her offspring the same way: it was the only way she knew how.
Diana was not not like that, and Harry thinks he models himself more on her, but even she was relatively reserved in public.
Elizabeth, in particular, lead a life of service. her motto comes from her Hanoverian forebears: 'Ich dien." I serve. That was the cornerstone of her life.
Harry seems to have forgotten that part. Certainly Will and Kate haven't. Even the 'bad boys' haven't: it hurt Andrew to be relieved from Royal duties (even though he deserved it). That was the entire point of relieving him of his duties.
You're forgetting the treasonous Nazi sympathisers King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson, Crash. Although Churchill threatened to court martial Edward, the government of the day did its utmost to cover up their support for Hitler and their admiration of the SS and the concentration camps. That's as racist as you can get, but the Palace looked after its own.
The Duke of Edinburgh's continuous racist comments and insults were dismissed by the BBC as 'gaffes". As an Al Jazeera journalist wrote, "... the long panoply of his racist, sexist, elitist, misogynistic, class-privileged and unhinged prejudices is a mobile museum of European bigotry on display."
Then there's the fact that, in 1968, the Queen’s chief financial manager informed civil servants that “it was not, in fact, the practice to appoint coloured immigrants or foreigners” to clerical roles in the royal household, although they were permitted to work as domestic servants.
Is Meghan the first person of African descent to marry into the Royal Family? Possibly not.
Phillippa of Hainault (1314-1369) came from an area of the Low Countries that was once ruled by Moorish tribes and it was rumoured that she had Moorish ancestry. Queen Charlotte (1744-1818) was a descendant of Mouran Gil, who was of Moorish descent. Apart from that, Meghan is the only 'person of colour' to have married into Queen Elizabeth's bloodline in 39 generations. No wonder the Royals were just a little worried about her.