Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, appeared on a call with the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust late last week, where the woke, formerly royal pair challenged their former home, the United Kingdom, to “confront its ‘uncomfortable’ history as it relates to colonialism and racism,” NBC News reports.
The pair, who are now living in semi-seclusion in Tyler Perry’s massive Hollywood mansion after escaping both royal life and a separate, multi-million dollar rental home in rural Canada, was part of the global online meeting between young people from across the British Commonwealth that took place last week. Video from the meeting was published on Monday.
“There is no way that we can move forward unless we acknowledge the past,” Harry said as his wife nodded solemnly.
“We’re going to have to be a little uncomfortable right now because it’s only in pushing through that discomfort that we get to the other side of this,” the duchess added, though she is not British. “It’s not just in the big moments, it’s in the quiet moments where racism and unconscious bias lies and thrives.”
“There is no turning back now, everything is coming to a head,” Harry concluded. “Solutions exist and change is happening far quicker than it ever has done before.”
This is the second time in less than two weeks that Prince Harry has spoken on the subject of racism. In a video posted to social media last week, referencing widespread unrest following the death of George Floyd while in the custody of the Minneapolis Police Department, Harry apologized for what he termed “endemic” racism and encouraged others to confront the issue and press “through this healing process,” according to NBC.
Although the video provoked what the Express.co.uk termed a “furious” backlash, with some royal fans even demanding the pair, who do not seem inclined to return to Harry’s birthplace, be stripped of their remaining titles, Newsweek reports that Buckingham Palace was made aware, ahead of time, that the pair intended to speak on the issue of racism and bias on the call.
The outlet claims that “a well placed royal source has told Newsweek the couple have license to speak their minds on behalf of the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust because it is a separate entity” and not officially connected to the Royal family.
“It’s fine, they’re fulfilling that independent remit,” the source reportedly told Newsweek. “Buckingham Palace knew about it so it’s not a surprise or anything like that.”
Generally, members of the Royal family are not permitted to express their personal opinions on controversial topics — a category that includes most topics of political import — because they could have a wide-ranging impact on British foreign and domestic policy.
Although Prince Harry is no longer a working royal, his comments on the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust video have already inspired at least one former British territory, Jamaica, to renew its call for slave trade reparations, per the Daily Mail.