The British Monarchy Can Never Outrun Its Violent, Racist Past
It was wrong to hope that Meghan Markle could ‘assimilate’ into the royal family
I didn’t watch Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s televised 2018 wedding. I couldn’t for the life of me understand the public obsession over the event, especially for anyone old enough to remember how the press literally hounded Princess Diana to her death. I didn’t have to tune in live to see what their marriage was up against: relentless savaging by the British press and the complicity of the royal family. In hindsight, I should have predicted a ratings behemoth of an interview with Oprah Winfrey (who was a guest at the royal wedding) would have been somewhere in the mix.
Events like the royal wedding are always skillfully executed pieces of imperialist propaganda. The men in the royal family wear military dress uniforms. It is a reminder that the wealth and opulence on display were appropriated at the point of a gun. It was amassed over centuries and involved the brutal colonization of one-third of the world. The dynasty was built upon the kidnapping and enslavement of millions of Africans and their descendants. I am descended from those enslaved Africans. My parents were colonial subjects. Queen Elizabeth II is still the head of state of Jamaica, my home, and Jamaica is part of…
