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President Biden to meet Prince William and Kate amid royal racism controversy

December 1, 2022

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LONDON — Prince William and Catherine, Princess of Wales have visited the United States for the first time in eight years in hopes of shining a light on a young and vibrant British monarchy capable of tackling the biggest issues facing plague the modern world. Instead, a growing controversy over Buckingham Palace threatens to overshadow their first overseas trip since the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

The royal couple arrived in Boston on Wednesday for a three-day visit that ends Friday with the announcement of the winners of their Earthshot Prize, a global competition to discover ways to protect the planet and fight climate change. The couple attended the Boston Celtics-Miami Heat basketball game on Wednesday night, seated next to Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and Governor-elect Maura Healey (D).

The White House announced that President Biden plans to meet with William and Catherine on Friday while in Boston. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday that officials were finalizing details of the meeting.

But even before William and Catherine landed, news spread that Lady Susan Hussey, William’s godmother and a prominent lady-in-waiting to his grandmother, had stepped down from her role in the royal household. Hussey quit one day after apparently pressing a black British guest at Buckingham Palace to find out where she was “really” from.

Lady Susan Hussey, the godmother of Prince William, resigned on November 30 after harassing a black British guest at the palace over the origin of his “people”. (Video: Reuters)

Announcing Hussey’s resignation, Buckingham Palace offered “deep apologies for the harm caused”.

Prince William’s godmother steps down royal role over treatment of Black Palace guest

Ngozi Fulani, a British campaigner and head of a domestic violence charity, was at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday for a reception to raise awareness about violence against women and girls. She later tweeted that a palace staff member, whom she identified only as “Lady SH”, approached her and repeatedly asked questions such as “From which part of Africa are you coming from?” and “What nationality are you?”

When Fulani insisted she was “born here and British,” the woman allegedly went on to ask, “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.
Thanks @ManduReid & @SuzanneEJacob for the support🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/OUbQKlabyq

— Sistah Space (@Sistah_Space) November 30, 2022

The back and forth felt like “an interrogation”, Fulani later told the BBC. “You’re trying to make me unwanted in my own space,” she said, describing the series of questions as a form of “abuse.”

It is the latest race-related controversy to surround society as the royal family is known in the UK. Their swift response to the incident, with Buckingham Palace saying Fulani’s complaint was ‘immediately investigated’ and the royals involved had ‘retired from his honorary role with effect immediate,” suggests a realization that they can’t afford another scandal.

Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex told Oprah Winfrey in an interview last year that before the birth of their first child, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, the royal family had expressed “concerns” in “conversations” with Harry “about blackness [Archie’s] the skin could be.

Meghan and Harry’s explosive interview reveals how racism in the royal family persists

The couple also accused the Palace of maintaining a friendly relationship with the British tabloids, refusing to defend Meghan against coverage that “incited so much racism” and failing to help her when she was in emotional distress. This environment, Harry and Meghan have suggested, contributed to their decision in 2020 to “step back” from their roles as senior members of the royal family and move to North America. They now live in California.

The relationship between the couple and the rest of the royal family has been strained ever since, although they all came together earlier this year for the funeral of Harry and William’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II. But William and Catherine’s visit to the United States is likely to put the relationship between the brothers – and their spouses – back in the spotlight. British media have reported that Harry and William are not expected to see each other while there.

Harry and Meghan’s children are entitled to royal titles. Will they get them?

Timing is a challenge: Harry and Meghan are set to release a Netflix documentary series which has raised questions about whether the couple will make further allegations of racism within the royal family. The trailer for the series, Harry & Meghan, was released on Thursday.

And next week, they are also expected to receive an award from the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Foundation. They were named recipients of the Ripple of Hope award in October and were celebrated by the foundation’s chairman for having the “moral courage” to publicly speak out against “structural racism” within the monarchy.

“They went to the oldest institution in UK history and told them what they were doing wrong, that they couldn’t have structural racism within the institution; that they couldn’t entertain a misunderstanding about mental health,” said Kerry Kennedy, one of Robert Kennedy’s surviving children, according to Insider.

The British media seized on an awkward parallel: a few days earlier, William and Catherine were to organize their own event with members of the Kennedy family, when they organized the Earthshot prize ceremony, inspired by John F. Kennedy’s Famous Moonshot Speech — in partnership with the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.

Karla Adam contributed to this report.