In 2020, British journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown told Vanity Fair that it's no surprise that Meghan Markle has had to escape the royal family and Britain in general.
Yasmin told Vanity Fair, "This is such a racist country. In America racism is not qualitatively better, but at least nobody denies that there’s racism. In some ways it is more difficult for those of us people of color who live here, because it is insidious and hidden, and people don’t want to talk about it or accept it."
Yasmin also believes that like many Americans, Meghan had no idea what she was getting into, or how racist Britain is. "I don’t mean to be insulting, but most Americans have very dreamy images of this country from films like Notting Hill … and they’ve seen the gardens and the palaces," she said. "But they have never known the underbelly of Britain."
And to really cap it off, Yasmin also implicates the royal family in her charges of entrenched racism.
She goes on to say that the issue runs deep in the family, too. She said she was concerned that the royal family is "ruthless and cruel — and our press is even worse. So I feared for her. I really did — thinking that she was [moving here] with this romantic image and, boy, was she going to hit the rocks."
These revelations were filmed for the hour-long documentary Meghan Markle: Escaping the Crown. The special will air on Vice TV on Tuesday, March 17. The documentary is said to address the royal family's own racist gaffes and moments, and it will also include interviews with several people who have knowledge on the topic.
Comedian Sophie Duker is also interviewed. She says, "Meghan Markle’s cameo inside the royal family has been like watching the sequel of Get Out. I’m like, What are you doing? You’re in the sunken place. Leave!"
Other interviewees take a decidedly less funny approach, instead seriously discussing the problems of racism and sexism that reportedly led to Meghan and Harry's decision to leave the country.
Yasmin recalls, "When Diana took up with two Muslim lovers, one after another, this country was apoplectic. A potential brown-skinned stepfather for [Prince William and Prince Harry]? What was going to happen to the universe? Prince Philip is well known for his commentaries. I once met him. I was a governor of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and there was a big royal event. My husband’s English; I’m of Indian background but was born in Africa. And he was passing through this line of people, and he points to me and says to my husband, kind of with his eyebrows up, ‘Is she yours?'"
Another journalist, Aatish Taseer, is the former boyfriend of Ella Windsor. Ella, known more formally as Lady Gabriella, is the daughter of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent. Aatish backs up Yasmin's claims about racism in the family and the country. "British racism is more casual than its American coeval but more insidious, because its animating prejudice is class."
Aatish pointed out that Ella's mother, Princess Michael of Kent, named her black sheep Serena and Venus, which is a racist dig, even if it was inadvertent. "The British are perfectly happy to deal with people of color who know their place; it is the ‘uppity wog,’ or ‘Paki,’ who arouses in them an animal hatred."
Morgan Hertzan, the vice president of Vice TV, told Vanity Fair, "A lot of people view the royal family as a guilty pleasure or as a fantasy or gossip. But there are also really large underlying issues at play here, and that’s what we wanted to get into. To many people around the world, this is not just gossip and escapism."
Yasmin echoes this, pointing out that though Prince Harry addressed the "outright sexism and racism of social media trolls" in a pointed public statement, the Queen never addressed the racist treatment of Meghan by the British press. "If the queen had once said, in her way, ‘Hey, guys, this is my grandson and his wife. They just got married. Back off and let them build a life for themselves,’ the hounds would have backed off. But she never did. And she still hasn’t. I find that unforgivable, actually, since she has the power. They absolutely worship her in this country."
In the meantime, the Queen has gone to great lengths to publicly protect her son, Prince Andrew, who remains embroiled in accusations of sexual assault and rape.
"After this long, quite shameful TV interview, where you could see that this man is not to be trusted, the queen — the same queen who said nothing about Meghan — made a statement by bringing Andrew to church with her to show the world, 'This is my son and you will not change that.' But she never did that with Meghan and Harry. What does that tell you?"
Yasmin also says she doesn't think the family is ready for a family member who isn't white. "You can see how they operate. Diana — and I don’t know how she had it, because she was born into a very dysfunctional aristocratic family — yet this woman had an instinctive inclusiveness. She really didn’t see differences between white and black, people with HIV and us, the poor and us. … But I don’t think this family will ever lose this … The whiteness, actually."
Yasmin also believes that leaving the UK was "the only way their marriage would survive." She also applauds the couple for making a brave choice. "I just thought, Well done. You’re taking the only step you can take in order to save yourself and your baby and find your own happiness … I think it’s a brave and bold and important decision."
