IN locked-down, fed-up, rain-lashed Britain right now, a lecture from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle is about as welcome as Covid-19. But they’ve given us one anyhow . . . on race.
In an article for the Evening Standard, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex claim we have ‘structural racism’ here in Britain.
They write: ‘For as long as structural racism exists, there will be generations of young people of colour who do not start their lives with the same equality of opportunity as their white peers. And for as long as that continues, untapped potential will never get to be realised.’
The Sussexes don’t spell out exactly what they mean by structural racism. But a spokesman for Harry told the BBC: ‘The Duke believes structural racism exists in the UK and I think you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who disagrees with that.
‘He is not saying that Britain itself is structurally racist or that Britain is racist.’ The spokesman said Harry was referring to parts of institutions in Britain.
What institutions do they mean? The police? The press? The Government? The Palace? Or did they deliberately not elaborate because, after their perceived attack on Donald Trump, they were wary of raising another hornet’s nest?
In a video-link interview with the Standard to accompany the article, which marked the start of Black History Month, the Sussexes spoke from their £11million, nine-bedroom, 16-bathroom (!) mansion in sun-kissed Santa Barbara, California.
Harry described his ‘awakening’ to racial issues since he met Meghan. (In 2018, when British taxpayers forked out an estimated £32million for the couple’s sumptuous wedding in Windsor, he and his bride presumably hadn’t yet woken to our ‘structural racism’. Otherwise they would surely have turned down our largesse and opted for a simple register office ceremony).
Asked about Black Lives Matter protests, Meghan admitted these had been ‘inflammatory’ for a lot of people. She added: ‘But when there is just peaceful protest and when there is the intention of just wanting community and just wanting the recognition of equality, then that is a beautiful thing.’
So, having identified structural racism here, will the Sussexes be coming back to live in Britain so they can lead the fight against it? Don’t hold your breath. Apart from anything else, it’s rather chilly here, while temperatures in Santa Barbara are hovering in the 80s.
This latest sermon is one more illustration of how Harry has been pathetically transformed from Action Man to Milksop Man, spouting all sorts of woke, wimpish waffle.
But what’s really insulting is that, having abandoned Britain, he and his wife still see no contradiction in haranguing us from their luxurious bolthole 5,500 miles away.
What a breathtaking, boneheaded lack of awareness about themselves and about the concerns of ordinary people by this dull, boring, ludicrous pair.
There’s a new series of Spitting Image due on TV soon, featuring puppets of the Sussexes. Doubtless there’ll be a lot of jibes poked at them. But the producers are too late . . . Harry and Meghan are already well beyond parody.
Why don’t they just button it and get on with their vacuous lives amid the luvvies in La-La Land? Okay, it’d be tough without their lectures, but we’d just have to bear it with fortitude.
