Movies

Lady Susan Hussey and activist Ngozi Fulani reconcile after row at Buckingham Palace

December 17, 2022

Comment

A prominent British royal aide who quit her job at Buckingham Palace after asking a black British charity director where she was ‘really’ from has met the activist to apologize and pledged to learn from the incident, according to a joint announcement released on Friday. .

Lady Susan Hussey, 83, who was a longtime lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth II and godmother to royal heir Prince William, met Ngozi Fulani, a British campaigner and chief executive of the charity against domestic violence Sistah Space, Friday at Buckingham Palace, where she apologized.

Hussey is “committed to deepening her awareness of the sensitivities involved and is grateful for the opportunity to learn more about the issues in this area,” the statement said, noting that the Fulani have “unfairly received the most appalling torrent of abuse on social media”. and elsewhere.” Fulani accepted the apology and said “no malice was intentional.”

The controversy arose after an event at Buckingham Palace last month designed to raise awareness of violence against women and girls. Fulani, one of about 300 guests at the event, later wrote on Twitter that she had “mixed feelings” about the event and described an interaction with a woman she named “Lady SH” shortly after his arrival.

The woman had asked a series of questions, Fulani said, including: “What part of Africa are you from?” and “Where are you really from?”

Mixed feelings about yesterday’s visit to Buckingham Palace. 10 mins after I arrived a member of staff Lady SH approached me, moved my hair to see my badge. The conversation below took place. The rest of the event is blurry.
Thank you @ManduReid & @SuzanneEJacob for the support🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/OUbQKlabyq

— Sistah Space (@Sistah_Space) November 30, 2022

“I just stood at the edge of the room, I smiled [and] briefly engaged with who spoke to me until I could leave,” the activist wrote on Twitter.

Mandu Reid, leader of the Women’s Equality Party and witness to the interaction, later told The Washington Post that it sounded like “an interrogation.”

“It was question after question…it wasn’t fleeting, it was several minutes,” she said.

Buckingham Palace announced the following day that a member of the royal family had ‘stepped back from his honorary role with immediate effect’ after an inquiry concluded that ‘unacceptable and deeply regrettable comments’ had been made.

Although she was not named, it soon became apparent who the royal was.

Hussey was a well-known royal figure, having played an unpaid role since 1960. She was portrayed in the new season of Netflix’s ‘The Crown’ as a close friend and adviser to the Queen – a role she has also played in real life. , earning the nickname “Number One Head Girl” and the official title “Woman of the Bedchamber”, which effectively meant that she was the Queen’s right-hand man.

His remarks sparked a wave of criticism of the royal household, which has struggled with reports of racism in the past. But some people took aim at Fulani for making the incident public.

Sistah Space, which supports women of African and Caribbean descent affected by domestic violence and sexual assault, posted a statement on Instagram last week announcing that it had to “temporarily cease many of our operations to ensure the safety of our service users and our team”. ”

Fulani’s team and family have suffered “horrendous abuse via social media”, she said in a statement quoted by British media.

After their meeting on Friday, Fulani and Hussey said they would seek “peace to rebuild their lives following an extremely difficult time for both of them”.