LETTER FROM LONDON
The choice of Meghan and Harry to give up their roles of "Royals" caused a media storm in the United Kingdom. And the dust is far from having settled, three weeks after their shock announcement: we still do not know in detail the arrangements planned to finance their security in Vancouver (Canada), Meghan's father, the strange Thomas Markle, continues to distill her confidences on television, while the media on both sides of the Atlantic shed stolen or authorized photos of her daughter…
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s decision was very unpopular with the tabloids, who widely denounced their supposed ingratitude towards the Queen. It sparked another debate, even more sensitive, also far from being closed: did the British media appear racist towards Meghan, mestizo, black by her mother? Is it not because of this treatment that the 38-year-old American actress fled the United Kingdom to find Canada, where she lived for seven years during the filming of the Suits series, in Toronto?
Disguised racism
The reproach is not new. In November 2016, Prince Harry already complained that his "friend Meghan Markle (they were not yet married) at(Vait) been the victim of a wave of abuse and harassment, such as (…) the racist overtones of certain chronicles and frankly sexist and racist comments on social networks ”. Their marriage, celebrated with great fanfare in Windsor in May 2018, and the manifest joy expressed by the British at the time, for some time removed the bitterness.
But, in 2019, the media were again very critical of the couple, pointing to the public money they had spent on renovations to their large Frogmore cottage (£ 2.4 million, or 2 , 8 million euros). Or the repeated private jet flights, while Meghan and Harry multiplied their speeches on global warming.
This is an opinion, published by British journalist Afua Hirsch in the New york times, January 10, just after their announcement, which really lit the fuse. "It doesn't matter if you are beautiful, who you are married to, what palace you live in, what charities you support, how dedicated you are, how much money you have accumulated, what good deeds you have done. In this society, racism will pursue you again ", affirms the young woman, mestizo (her mother is of Ghanaian origin), author of a remarkable book on British identity (Brit (ish). On Race, Identity and Belonging, Penguin, 2018, untranslated).
