The Royal Family has been witnessing a flux regarding their image lynching in the media. The year 2022 has been difficult for the family with the passing of the royal monarch late Queen Elizabeth II. Even during the funeral processions and traditions, the family was marred by negative media. Apart from that, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been perpetuating the tempestuous revelations about the family. Lady Susan Hussey opened the deep racial wound that tainted the image of the Royal Family descents.
The long history of the monarch about the racism that the forefathers promoted have left a taint on the legacy. The family is still facing the brunt and trying to sensitize themselves about the racial issues and trying to repair the damage. In November 2022, the irreversible damage fractured further. One of the closest confidantes of the late Queen Elizabeth II, Lady Susan Hussey asked Ngozi Fulani continuously about where she belonged in Africa causing an uproar. Now, the Duke of Sussex has reacted to the episode.
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What Spiraled Between Lady Susan Hussey And Ngozi Fulani?
In November 2022, Buckingham Palace arranged a charity event ‘Violence Against Women and Girls’. Ngozi Fulani was one of the guests invited. Ngozi is the founder of ‘Sistah Space’ which works for women of Caribbean and African heritage who experience domestic abuse. There were 300 attendees at the event and Lady Susan Hussey, who is also the godmother of Prince William, was present.
However, for Ngozi, the meeting was “traumatic”. Post the event, the founder narrated the incident where Hussey persistently asked her from which part of Africa did she hail from. Fulani gave the account of the incident on her Twitter handle. Firstly, Lady Susan touched her locks to move them to read the name on her badge. Ngozi answered her questions patiently, but she crossed the boundary and asked “where do your people come from?”.
Fulani told her, “Lady! I am a British national, my parents came here in the 50s”. Then, Susan Hussey guessed that she must be from the Caribbean. Fulani said that she is of African heritage, Caribbean descent, and British nationality.
This sparked outrage amongst the Black community. Lady Susan Hussey immediately apologized to her face-to-face on December 16th, 2022. But, as per Buckingham Palace’s statement, Lady Susan Hussey stepped down from her role. It read, “In the meantime, the individual concerned would like to express her profound apologies for the hurt caused and has stepped aside from her honorary role with immediate effect”.
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Prince Harry Claimed Lady Susan Hussey Did Not Mean ‘Any Harm’ With Her Comments
During an interview with The Independent, Ngozi Fulani called the incident ‘institutional racism’. She said, “This is bigger than one individual. It’s institutional racism.What’s the lesson here? When I drove into the palace, the car was searched and we were searched, as you would expect, because they have to protect the household. But what protects us, Black people, from that treatment? This incident is unfortunate and shows that nothing has changed”.
But, Prince Harry did not think that she meant any harm to Ngozi Fulani. He gave an interview with Tom Bradby for ITV on the heels of the release of his new memoir. He thinks that the negative media and misunderstood online audience blew the thing out of proportion.
During the interview, he said, “And I’m very happy for Ngozi Fulani to be invited into the palace to sit down with Lady Susan Hussey and to reconcile because Meghan and I love Susan Hussey. (Meghan) thinks she’s great. And I also know what she meant—she never meant any harm at all. But the response from the British press, and from people online because of the stories that they wrote was horrendous”.
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