'Institutional racism has no place in our societies': Prince Harry speaks on Black Lives Matter movement

The Duke of Sussex addressed the issue during his speech at the Diana Awards

Prince Harry has spoken out about institutional racism in a speech at the Diana Awards. AFP

Prince Harry spoke of the need to tackle institutional racism during a speech recorded for the Diana Awards, a ceremony for the charity set up in honour of his late mother.

In a video message shown at the virtual ceremony, the Duke of Sussex said that “institutional racism has no place in our societies, yet it is still endemic”.

“My wife said recently that our generation and the ones before us haven’t done enough to right the wrongs of the past,” he said. “I, too, am sorry – sorry that we haven’t got the world to the place that you deserve it to be.”

The speech came on what would have been the 59th birthday of Princess Diana, who died in a Paris car crash in 1997, when Harry was 12 years old.

Harry paid tribute to the young people being recognised at the ceremony for their work on race and injustice, saying he saw the “greatest hope” in them amid the division and anger in the world.

Harry added that Diana would have been “fighting the corner” of young people working to make a difference if she was still alive. "Like many of you, she never took the easy route, or the popular one, or the comfortable one. But she stood for something and she stood up for people who needed it."

Prince Harry, too, has proven to stand for what he believes in. In 2016, he accused the media of harassing Meghan, then his girlfriend, and criticised the “racial undertones” in some of the coverage on her.

Last month, Meghan spoke to students at her old high school in Los Angeles, after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. “Always remember to put others’ needs before your own fears. That has stuck with me through my entire life,” she said, “and I have thought about it more in the last week than ever before.”

The couple now live in Los Angeles with their son, Archie, after they quit senior royal duties earlier this year.