A witness to an alleged racist incident at Buckingham Palace has suggested “institutional racism” in the royal family drove the Duchess of Sussex to the brink of suicide.
Mandu Reid, leader of the Women's Equality Party, who was next to Ngozi Fulani when an aide repeatedly asked where she “really came from”, said the Palace should not have acted as though the comments were an isolated incident.
She said to do so was to follow “a bad apple approach” which both deflected and minimised the issue.
Asked where she was from, Ms Fulani said Hackney, in north-east London, prompting Lady Susan Hussey to ask: “No, what part of Africa are you from?”
Ms Fulani said she was born and raised in the UK and was British but Lady Susan persisted.
“Where do you really come from, where do your people come from? … When did you first come here?” she asked.
Ms Fulani repeated that she was a British national born in the UK and was forced to say she was “of African heritage, Caribbean descent.”
Lady Susan has since apologised and resigned from her honorary role.
But Ms Reid said it was not enough to address the problem.
“Let's minimise it. Let's make it smaller. Let's try and frame it as an isolated incident,” she said.
“Let's look at [the Duchess of Sussex's] account. Meghan herself said her experiences in the royal household brought her to the brink of suicide. Now, we were at this gathering for just one afternoon. We spent a couple of hours there and it really left its mark on me. It left its mark on Ngozi.
Lady Susan Hussey - in pictures
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Lady Susan Hussey with King Charles III, then Prince of Wales, at Royal Ascot in June. Getty Images -
Lady Susan, right, arrives during the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey, London, in September. PA -
Queen Elizabeth, accompanied by her racing manager John Warren and her lady-in-waiting Lady Susan at Royal Ascot in 2021. Getty Images -
Lady Susan arrives in the royal procession of Royal Ascot in 2018. Getty Images -
Lady Susan at a Sunday service at St Peter's in Wolferton, near Sandringham House, in 2014. Getty Images -
Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, and Lady Susan attend the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships in 2013. Getty Images -
Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, and Lady Susan attend the Remembrance Sunday Service at the Cenotaph, Whitehall, in 2012. Getty Images -
The official portrait of the royal family on the day of Prince William's confirmation at Windsor Castle in 1997. Lady Susan stands second from the left on the back row. Getty Images
“Imagine having to deal with that day, in day out. Week in, week out, month in, month out, from people who are supposed to be your in-laws, your relatives.
“That’s why I say I think there are clues here, that this is a pattern. That it’s institutional.”
Ms Reid said Queen Consort Camilla gave “a powerful speech” at the event, when she spoke about the need to believe survivors of abuse when they come forward.
“Responding when they come forward and report. That principle should apply here too. Don’t minimise, don’t deflect. Believe people who come forward.
“Embrace and support them. That is much bigger than an individual has been moved out of the way so this problem has been done and dusted and dealt with.”
Prince Harry and Meghan Duchess of Sussex through the years — in pictures
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Doria Ragland, Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, attend the Ms Foundation Women of Vision Awards in New York City. Getty -
Prince Harry and his wife Meghan attend a basketball game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Memphis Grizzlies in Los Angeles in April. Getty -
The royal couple speak onstage at the Robert F Kennedy Human Rights Ripple of Hope Gala in New York in December 2022. Getty -
Prince Harry and Meghan watch as the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II is placed into the hearse following the state funeral service at Westminster Abbey in central London in September 2022. AP -
Prince Harry and Meghan pay their respects at the Palace of Westminster. Getty -
Prince Harry, Meghan and Kate, Princess of Wales, attend a service for the reception of Queen Elizabeth's coffin at Westminster Hall. AFP -
The Princess of Wales, Prince William, Prince Harry and Meghan meet members of the public outside Windsor Castle. Getty -
Prince Harry and Meghan leave after a service of thanksgiving for the queen. Getty -
Prince Harry and Meghan at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York in September 2021. AP -
Prince Harry and Meghan on the cover of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world edition, in September 2021. Reuters -
Prince Harry and Meghan are interviewed by Oprah Winfrey in March 2021. Reuters -
Prince Harry and Meghan shared this image on social media in February 2021 to announce they were expecting their second child. AFP -
Prince Harry and Meghan visit Canada House, London, in January 2020. Getty -
Prince Harry and Meghan visit Auwal Mosque on Heritage Day during their royal tour of South Africa in September 2019. Getty -
Prince Harry, Meghan and their son Archie Mountbatten-Windsor in South Africa in September 2019. Getty -
Prince Harry and Meghan meet Beyonce Knowles-Carter and Jay-Z at the European Premiere of Disney's The Lion King at Odeon Luxe Leicester Square, London, in July 2019. Getty -
Prince Harry and Meghan pose for a photo with the New York Yankees before their baseball game against the Boston Red Sox at London Stadium in June 2019. Getty -
Prince Harry and Meghan pose with their newborn son Archie in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle in May 2019. Getty -
Meghan, joined by her mother Ms Ragland, shows her new son to Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip at Windsor Castle in May 2019. AP -
Prince Harry and Meghan officially open Number 7, a Feeding Birkenhead citizen’s supermarket and community cafe in Merseyside in January 2019. Getty -
Prince William, the Princess of Wales, Meghan and Prince Harry attend a Christmas Day church service at the Church of St Mary Magdalene on the Sandringham estate in December 2018. Getty -
Prince William, Prince Harry, Meghan and the Duchess of Cambridge attend a service marking the centenary of the First World War armistice at Westminster Abbey in November 2018. Getty -
Prince Harry and Meghan visit Redwoods Tree Walk in October 2018 in Rotorua, New Zealand. Getty -
Prince Harry and Meghan visit an exhibition of Tongan handicrafts at the Fa'onelua Convention Centre in October 2018 in Nuku'alofa, Tonga. Getty -
Prince Harry and Meghan visit the University of the South Pacific in October 2018 in Suva, Fiji. Getty -
Prince Harry and Meghan address the public during a Community Event at Victoria Park in October 2018 in Dubbo, Australia. Getty -
Prince Harry and Meghan meet a koala during a visit to Taronga Zoo in October 2018 in Sydney, Australia. Getty -
Prince Harry and Meghan arrive at the University of Chichester's Engineering and Digital Technology Park during an official visit to West Sussex in October 2018. Getty -
The queen, Meghan, Prince Harry, Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge watch the RAF 100th anniversary fly-past from the balcony of Buckingham Palace in July 2018. Getty -
Prince Harry and Meghan on their wedding day in May 2018. Getty -
Prince Harry places a wedding ring on his new wife's finger. Getty -
Meghan and Prince Harry head to their evening wedding reception at Frogmore House. Getty -
Prince Harry and Meghan walk through the corridors of the Palace of Holyroodhouse on their way to a reception for young people at the Palace in February 2018 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Getty -
Prince Harry and his then-fiancee Meghan visit Nottingham for their first official public engagement together in December 2017. Getty
The row comes days before the Prince Harry and his wife Meghan are due to accept a prestigious award linked to the Kennedy family in the US for speaking about racism in the royal family.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will receive the Ripple of Hope honour from Robert F Kennedy’s daughter, Kerry Kennedy, at a ceremony in New York on December 6.
Ms Kennedy previously described the Sussexes’ interview with Oprah Winfrey — in which Ms Markle spoke out about the alleged racism she experienced from the royal family — as “a heroic stand”.
Among other revelations, she said there was concern within the royal family about her unborn baby’s skin tone.
There were several “concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he was born”, Meghan had said. The queen issued a statement at the time saying that the issues raised would be dealt with privately as a family, but that “some recollections may vary”.
