As we discussed, Buckingham Palace is suddenly in the market for a “diversity tsar.” The Mail on Sunday claimed that BP, Kensington Palace and Clarence House are suddenly super-keen on looking like they’re not completely racist. Sure, they uphold white supremacy and their house of cards was built on colonialism, but they’ll make a point to hire some Black and brown folks. Not in any serious positions, of course. Not in any office positions, one would think. It honestly sounded like they would hire a (white) diversity tsar who would tell them “hire more people of color” and the Windsors would, in turn, hire some token POCs in lower positions. And all of this was clearly in reaction to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s provable claims of racism, correct? Incorrect!
Weeks after Meghan Markle spoke openly about the racism she said she experienced from within the royal family, the Queen is making plans to appoint a “diversity czar” as an effort to modernize the monarchy.
A source told Vanity Fair that plans to diversify the palace as a workplace have been in the works for some time, and long before Meghan’s comments to Oprah Winfrey. “This is an issue which has been taken very seriously across the Royal Households,” the sources said. ”We have the policies, the procedures and programmes in place but we haven’t seen the progress we would like and accept more needs to be done, we can always improve. Therefore we are not afraid to look at new ways of approaching it. The work to do this has been underway for some time now and comes with the full support of the family.”
The talks about a diversity tsar “have been in the works for some time, and long before Meghan’s comments to Oprah Winfrey.” So… why wasn’t anything done about it BEFORE the interview? Was it because the Palace was so busy cosigning William’s unhinged scheme to paint Meghan as an “aggressive, angry” bully? That’s the “tell” if we were playing poker. The best case scenario was that the Windsors had a front-row seat to how Meghan was abused by the institution and the media (and much of it was racist) and they did nothing but make vague plans to consider hiring a diversity tsar at some point but never got around to it. The worst case scenario is that they’re a bunch of racist a–holes who actively racially abused the one woman of color in the family, bullied her out of the country and now, in a blatant bureaucratic ass-covering move, introduce the tsar plans.
Omid Scobie’s coverage of this story was interesting too:
Though a Buckingham Palace source explains that internal talks about creating the position began before the Sussexes sat down with Oprah Winfrey for their tell-all, it is the first time that the royal establishment has come close to admitting to a much-needed focus on understanding the importance of diversity and ensuring that the inner-workings of The Firm are representative of modern-day society.
A report in Britain’s Mail on Sunday suggested that the queen will be hiring a “diversity tsar,” however the senior palace aide tells BAZAAR that plans are still preliminary. “It is something that has to be considered, but it is too early for any firm plans to be announced,” the aide explains. “We are listening and learning to get this right?”
Over the months ahead, royal family members will no doubt be seen putting focus on representation in their own public endeavors, and sources say that the palace itself will also seek out independent views to help “assess and improve” the institution’s approach to the matter. “We take a broad view on diversity,” says the source. “This includes LGBTQI+ and disability representation.”
There is no word on whether members of the family themselves will receive any awareness training.
Once again, the palace aides can’t even get their stories straight. If the diversity tsar was something being discussed for a long time (before the Oprah interview) why are the plans so “preliminary” and why are they “listening and learning to get this right.” It’s bureaucratic double-speak – they want credit for acknowledging (in their half-assed way) that they know they have racism issues but they’re not actually doing anything about it except announcing their keenness to make plans to eventually hire a diversity tsar at some point, maybe. And Scobie is shady as hell for suggesting that perhaps people within the family need awareness training. He’s right though.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, WENN, Backgrid.
The Royal Family’s personal/social lives are incredibly segregated. This is a function of the inherent racism built into not just the monarchy, but the lineage based aristocracy. Until the RF socializes and has actual friends (NOT employees) who are not white, aristocratic, wealthy people, they’ll never understand diversity and certainly won’t be able to be “not racist”, and haha at even beginning with being anti-racist. Do George, Charlotte, or Louis have bipoc classmates that are in “their” little friend circles? I realise that they are very young, but this is where it really matters and I do not see William, Kate or any of the extended royals making any effort in this sense. Or even acknowledging it as an issue.
I agree with you to some extent LadyE however, even people married to people of colour can also be racist so mixing socially with people outside their circle won’t make them any less so. The problem is the class system of the UK is propped up by racism. I mean how else would be working class feel good about themselves if they don’t have people of colour to look down on? How else can the government distract us from the many scandals of lining its own pockets if it can’t blame immigrants of colour? The diversity tzar if appointed at all will just be a distraction. They will simply appoint another white face or the most incompetent, get along to go along person of colour (preferably an OBE, MBE or CBE) they can find.
Oh absolutely! I’m not suggesting it as a fix-all or that it would solve racism in the RF, it’s more like the minimum bar to not perpetuating a seriously problematic social scene for their kids and understanding how racial segregation as kids contributes to lack of understanding, discomfort, inability to empathise/see a person’s full humanity, all the way up to straight up racist views.
The bigger issue is looking at it from an intersectional approach, right? You can’t separate or draw the line between racism and classism in the aristocracy, they are melded together and function as a single unit. Because “class” dictates that only certain people are supposed to socialize with the RF, I think that everyone (aristocracy, RF, and British public) hide behind the class issue to ignore the racial aspect of that system. But, the aristocracy, on the basis of course of “class”, would never agree to a democratization of their social circle or who the RF socializes with. Look at how they treat Kate and her family. And probably do believe that “darling, it has nothing to do with race, it’s just that he/shey/they are “common””
To your point LadyE: I keep going back to what Harry said in the interview with Oprah – “at the time it was awkward, I was a bit shocked”. What if it wasn’t Charles or William who asked about Archie’s skin color but George. Because if George asked, it would mean he was repeating questions from a conversation he overheard. It would mean more than one adult in his life had been careless with this conversation. It would make more sense to me. Would Harry protect Charles or William on this? 🤷♂️ Would he protect George? Absolutely.
@Charlie: This is a nonsense take.
ETA: Forgive me if this comes across as rude – its not the intention. Consider your argument: why wd 2 highly actualized adults take so much to heart, something that a child might have said, in all his innocence, notwithstanding your proposed explanation that said child would have been repeating overheard conversations?
H said he had CONVERSATIONS with this person (whom he will NEVER name) about said person’s expressed CONCERNS over the colour of H’s then unborn child.
Thats an adult concept.
And I further propose that H is so disappointed….shocked, he said…. by this person’s mindset, as revealed by these said conversations, that he will never repeat the conversations or reveal who this person is. H is protecting this person from public opprobrium (even tho W went and outed himself like the cowardly fool that he is.)
@Carmen, of course you’re right. George would have had to be in a room with his parents – what was I thinking. Out of context (as it had been so often repeated) it did give me cause me skip a beat. Apologies.
@charlie – LOL “George would have to be in a room with his parents” I see what you are doing
Oh, this is just the kind of thing a little one would repeat. And a little one would repeat it sincerely because they would want to know the answer. However, Meghan and Harry wouldn’t bring it up to Oprah, or anyone, if this were the case.
IMHO, Harry told William he was planning to propose and William asked if he had thought about the color of his kids.
Tell all the different ethnic groups I said hello.
@Lola: Snort. Seriously. The issue isn’t the staff, it’s that the *family members themselves* are the problematic racists and since they’re not going anywhere, this is all so pointless and for show.
Also, do they expect anyone to believe this was even a thing before the Oprah interview? They really keep showing over and over how incredibly stupid they think their “subjects” are, and that they’ll automatically buy any nonsense the palace tells them.
“this is all so pointless and for show.”
Noe Schitt Sherlock. The Diversity Tsar will no control over the actual members of the BRF.
I still think Baldingham made to racist comment about Archie.
This is the Struggle Survey equivalent of addressing the racist colonialism that is one of the pillars of how the BRF does business today.
Diversity hires are not going to fix the fact that the Queen & her line of succession, and the Palaces are currently EXEMPT from standing Equality Law.
Meghan said it: she went to HR for help, and HR basically said “but you’re ‘a Royal’ so you don’t qualify for assistance in this matter”. There was no one else she could take it up with, that was willing to step in – meaning Charles and Lillibet Cabbage of House Petty.
lmao. Send my regards to all the ethnics. All of them? All of them.
@Myra I still cannot believe that he said that. And at his first appearance since the interview!! It would have been awful anytime, but right now? Just unreal.
and “when you see them”!! Hahahaha like that poor lady (who lives in the UK!!!) regularly checks in with people from every single ethnic group in Nigeria!
@LadyE it reminds me a little of how, when I first got to college and people learned I was from Long Island, *so* many of them asked me if I knew Amy Fisher. I was like, ”it’s not as if it’s one big town and we all know each other…?” I didn’t even know how to respond without inadvertently coming across as patronizing, but it was such lunacy even being asked.
Does Charles think they have weekly “ethnic group check-in meetings” or something? Just a bizarre thing to say or even think. He would have been better off pretending to have laryngitis last week and just nodding and smiling at people, no words whatsoever.
@Lorelei- haha, exactly! I’ve had several friends with school age kids who do traveling sports stuff ask me “hey do you know any hotels or places to stay in such and such town/city in your state?” and it’s like “ah, sorry, I’ve never been there and don’t know anybody from there to ask”. Or like there are Amish and Menonite communities in my state, but uuuuhhhh I don’t ever go “see them” to shoot the shit. Also, my state has around 11 million people. Nigeria has 200 MILLION. Ahahaha every angle of his comment cracks me up!
Haha! The one time that happened to me in the Uk, I actually did know that person they asked about. It was so random. I couldn’t even go “you know we don’t all know each other, right?”
Wait, who said that?? What did I miss??
@L84Tea A few days after H&M’s interview, Charles was doing some sort of event where a woman from Nigeria was there. He said to her something to the effect of, “Ah Nigeria, I’ve been there, there are many ethnic groups there, give them my regards next time you see them.”
This will go the way of most of their big announcements. Make a big fuss about some vague project they “plan”on doing. Then months go by and the whole project fades away. Or, at best, do some shallow performative BS and call it a day. Then proclaim they have personally solved racism.
Absolutely. Just like they solved racism in football, mental health issues, early years issues and even environmental issues with earth shot! Their track record of actual impact is zero to nil and I won’t be holding my breath on this one.
Yep. When all the fuss about flying private was going on they were going to hire somebody to lower their carbon footprint when traveling. I can’t find any announcement on line where they hired somebody or any actions were taken by that somebody.
“There is no word on whether members of the family themselves will receive any awareness training.”
Daaaaayum, Obie! This is funny whether you read that as “awareness of racism training” or just “awareness”, cuz I’ve personally never seen an organization more oblivious.
Jesus take the wheel. These people have no idea what they are doing.
Is that Michaela Cole? Leave her alone Charles.
Lifelong gossip about Charles with black women…starting with the member of the 3 degrees
Many if their posts are inherited, I guess those related to the queen, while others like that Jason guy are open for foreigners, so that shows that probably many of those job posts are inherited.
I imagine that for many of the big monarchies, the same happens, but the UK had and still has huge land mass as colonies ir areas they influence. I imagine diversity still is seen as what happened to that Indian Queen Victoria helper/ secretary. He was kicked out of there as soon as they could. They can hire, but they will hardly ever be “part of the team” or insiders.
As William’s friend, who I hardly see as being invited to their hunting parties, they will keep things strictly compartmentalized and will hire just enough.
The wording of these announcements is interesting. There is much “considering” going on.
Sounds to me that they were advised sometime in previous years to get their house in order, and thus have been “thinking” about it for a “long time.” Now, due to bad PR, they are aggressively “considering “ the need (to look as though they are doing something).
Actions speak. Inaction does as well.
@Mumzy, ita. Lots of “listening” and “learning” allegedly going on, but still no public apology to Meghan (or to Harry and Archie as well, for that matter).
It’s all meaningless. They did what they did to Meghan and that damage is done and irreparable. Anything they do from now on is just window dressing, an attempt to placate people.
If this was truly important to them, they wouldn’t have tolerated (let alone *participated* in) what was done to Meghan over the past few years. We all know who they really are.
Even if Buckingham Palace, Kingston Palace and and Clearance House had a Diversity Tsar in place for the last five years it would not have stopped what they did to Meghan and that damage done would still be irreparable.
@Bay agreed. It’s just part of who they are. No initiative is going to change that. They always automatically saw themselves as “above” Meghan and still do. And their feelings have clearly extended to her & Harry’s children.
Honestly, imo the palace should just STFU, take the L, keep their heads down, and not waste £ unnecessarily on some sort of czar. They’re not fooling anyone. Charles can try to privately repair his relationship with Harry if he chooses to.
But trying to convince the entire world with countless press releases that they’re not racist is a pointless, losing proposition.
The most horrible part of the whole thing is: They have not stopped attacking Meghan.
Until they call out the RR I don’t believe them.
I really want to hear Christopher Geidt’s opinion on all the effery that has been happening. The one-two punch of his ouster (thanks Charles and Andrew) and Philip retiring seems to have created a real void in terms of decent management with this family.
There is no leadership. Wm is attempting to take over the role. They are letting him, which is fine.
The problem is, he has NO IDEA what he’s doing…and that’s likely because he has never done anything of substance his entire life.
SAME. I think things might’ve been quite different for Harry and Meghan had he been able to stay. He also seemed quite friendly with Meghan when they interacted at an engagement (I believe it was for IWD 2019, but not 100% on that). A world of difference from Edward Fox, who’s rumored to despise her.
So, lots more photo-ops using Black people and POC as props? Great.
Dying over omid shade .lololololololol. Not enough hours in the day to train those idiots how not to be racist.
As Clara Oswold would say, “words”
The palace will appoint some non-white tory who believes that there’s no racism in the UK and that the Royal Family is not racist. This is just a PR exercise.
The royal households are exempt from the UK 2010 Equality Act. Shouldn’t the Queen address that pesky little fact first? What good will this diversity tsar do if they convince the royal family to hire people of color in lower tier positions? If they are exempt from following the Equality act, what’s to say they won’t continue to then abuse/mistreat/racially harass POC under their employ? Because if they do, they won’t face any repercussions as they are above the law. These people are despicable and don’t want any real change. Talk about being ass backwards, but maybe that’s the point. “Watch this, don’t look over there or dig any deeper!”
The royals: “Sure we’ll hire POC, just don’t expect us to treat you fairly and like human beings, we’re exempt from that.”
Wait they’re exempt? Why?!
From an article on Pink News: “If forced to comply with the Equality Act like all other public bodies, the Equality and Human Rights Commission would be free to investigate allegations raised by Meghan Markle and Prince Harry in their Oprah interview, or at least undertake an independent review on race equality.”
@Keri that’s really interesting. Why are they exempt? Did they lobby to be exempt? I agree with you that fixing that would be the most obvious first step, but we know they’re not interested in *actually* making changes. All they care about is appearing to look as if they are until this all blows over.
The “Why” is pretty easy: If many of these positions are inherited, gotta make sure that white aristocrats get them. Those bloodlines aren’t getting mixed.
Two: The Foreign Office likes to send their top talent over to the royal households. The “brightest” minds just happen to often be white and male. I don’t think they are actually the brightest considering how much they’ve fumbled the bag. They are just the most connected.
@Kalana and @Lorelei. There’s a really great article in the Independent. Every time I try linking to it though, the spam blocker eats my post. If you go to google and type in Independent and royal family exempt from Equality Act, it should come up. Hope that helps.
The palace keeps spinning their wheels but not going anywhere. Will Duce and Katie Braun keep trying to be keen and failing miserably at it, their disinterest shines through again and again. Nothing EVER gets done, time marches sideways, yet the smearing and lying about the Sussexes goes on and on and on. That seems to be the only thing they’re concentrating on – that and trying to hold up the sinking ship that is the Cambridges.
I’m just here patiently waiting for the result of M’s lawyer’s demand letter to Jason Knauf and, by extension, WillieLeaks, for the DEFAMATION to M’s character regarding those conveniently publicized bullying claims. We know that a letter was promptly sent and we also know that not a peep has been heard from the RotaRats since then.
I am looking forward to the PUBLIC RETRACTION AND APOLOGY from Kensington Palace or perhaps, BuckPalace (given that Will-jung-un will behave true to form and leave his mess to be tidied up by his aged, out-of-touch, do-as-she’s-told, grandma.)
How can an accusation of racism be addressed when the accuser is never spoken to? Hire an antire team of racism tsar’s but until Meghans direct accusation is addressed it’s all window dressing.
I think the queen should have told Harry to quarentine his family then come to the palace and then everyone sort it out – Meghan included.
I like that our media is sticking to their first wording of “diversity czar” and not the new “diversity chief”, which isn’t even better. VF’s shade was so undercut you might miss it. At this point, we’re all getting a laugh.
The BRF need new PR csar who actually have a degree and experience. All statement must come from that PR person.
If only they had a working brain.
“Listening and learning to get this right” = “hoping it will all blow over and we can go back to doing nothing.”
It’s been nearly a year since George Floyd was murdered. No one with any real intention of seriously addressing issues of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion is still in the “listening and learning” phase or “considering” hiring a diversity tsar.
They are so bad at this. The US has deep, systemic structures of racism, sexism, etc. and the lord knows we’ve been really bad at addressing them and still are, but the difference between the levels of discourse is so striking. They’re still stuck at the “I have Black friends” stage.
So they are talking about having discussions about diversity. OK. Well, I don’t believe for a second that this was in the works before Oprah and the Duke and Duchess of Montecito outed them, I want receipts.
Do we have a pool going yet on how old and white and sexist male this diversity tsar will be?
Why do they even make these stupid announcements if they have no plans to follow through. They are just covering their asses but look ridiculous. If they wanted to address diversity, they should have dealt with it when Harry decided to marry a biracial woman and the family and their staff were doing racist shady things from the very beginning.