Meghan Markle Was 'Insulted' After the Palace Suggested She Use Queen Elizabeth's Black Attendant Amid Racism Scandal
According to Omid Scobie, the palace suggested Meghan Markle work with a Black attendant amid racist allegations.
Meghan Markle captivated the world when she became a member of the British royal family, but after her shocking 2020 exit, the Duchess of Sussex credited her in-law's "unconscious bias" and problematic headlines for her departure.
In Omid Scobie's new book, Endgame, the journalist claimed the Suits star was offered a Ghanaian-born equerry to assist her after she aired her grievances about racial prejudice within the institution.
“Though a charming and intelligent man, it stood out like a sore thumb to Meghan and her friends,” Scobie wrote in his book.
It was hoped that Meghan being guided by household cavalry officer Lt. Col. Nana Kofi Twumasi-Ankrah would be sufficient, but Scobie said the actress felt “insulted” and “turned down the offer” to depend on “the Queen’s attendant.”
Ultimately, Scobie thinks Meghan's journey was impacted by the “lack of Black or other non-white staff” in “relevant senior roles.”
Eventually, Lady Susan Hussey became a member of Meghan's team, but the noblewoman failed to connect with her.
“As for the lady-in-waiting the Queen had offered for support, what on earth did the 80-year-old Lady Susan Hussey have of use for a 38-year-old biracial American actress trying to navigate the treacherous Palace system?” Tina Brown penned in The Palace Papers.
In her 2021 tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey, Meghan opened up about the challenges she faced as a mixed-race member of the British monarchy.
During the television special, Meghan accused an unnamed royal of gossiping about Prince Archie's complexion.
"I can give you an honest answer. In those months when I was pregnant, all around this same time?.?.?.? so we have in tandem the conversation of ‘He won’t be given security, he’s not going to be given a title’ and also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born," Meghan shockingly revealed.
Aside from Meghan alluding to Prince Harry's relatives being racist, she admitted she was underprepared for her job as a duchess.
"I would say I went into it naively because I didn’t grow up knowing much about the royal family," the mom-of-two confessed. "It wasn’t part of something that was part of [the] conversation at home."
"It wasn’t something that we followed. My mom even said to me a couple of months ago, ‘Did Diana ever do an interview?’ Now I can say, ‘Yes, a very famous one,' but my mom does know that," she added.
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Throughout the conversation, Meghan blamed her naivety on growing up in the U.S.
"We thought a lot about what we thought it might be. I didn’t fully understand what the job was: What does it mean to be a working royal? What do you do? What does that mean? He and I were very aligned on our cause-driven work, that was part of our initial connection," Meghan said.
"But there was no way to understand what the day-to-day was going to be like, and it’s so different because I didn’t romanticize any element of it," she concluded.
