If you haven’t heard of Meghan Markle yet, you need to have your ears checked. She’s the gorgeous American actor who’s living an actual fairytale, having just got engaged to Prince Harry. She’s also a biracial woman, with a white dad and an African-American mum. Her racial identity is something that she’s both spoken about in interviews and written about at length.
So it’s difficult to interpret this particular accessory, worn by one Princess Michael of Kent to a royal event that Markle was also attending, as anything other than a pointed and ugly statement about race.
Here is Princess Michael’s brooch – a piece of jewellery in the “blackamoor” style.
Princess Michael of Kent appears to have officially turned into a parody of herself as she attends The Queen’s Christmas Party wearing a blackamoor brooch. pic.twitter.com/seOFhx1th7
— Charlie Proctor (@MonarchyUK) December 21, 2017
If, like me, you have no idea what kind of British nonsense “blackamoor” is, it’s apparently an extremely outdated style of art that features exoticised dark-skinned figures. It’s commonly accepted as totally racist, considering it actively attempts to glorify slavery (also it’s gaudy as hell – basically no-one should be wearing this shit).
So Princess Michael’s decision to wear this brooch seems iffy at best – and people are calling her the hell out for it.
https://twitter.com/rococopacetic/status/943942097392033793
Ummm Princess Michael of Kent is rude AF https://t.co/difdfbZ8q5
— Monica Murphy (@MsMonicaMurphy) December 21, 2017
Has no one noticed the Blackmoore pin that Princess Michael of Kent is wearing? Really? #MeghanMarkle offically meets the family and is greeted by THIS? #racism #BritishRoyals pic.twitter.com/o0BiaxdR9n
— Olu (@girl_ninja) December 21, 2017
https://twitter.com/Style_Me_Royal/status/943943286695256064
That looks inappropriate in any setting.
— Scout (@in_a_tesseract) December 21, 2017
According to Elle magazine, it’s not the first run-in with racial insensitivity Princess Michael has had. Back in 2004, she reportedly told a group of black punters in a New York restaurant to “go back to the colonies”. To make things worse, she attempted to defend herself by saying this:
I even pretended years ago to be an African, a half-caste African, but because of my light eyes I did not get away with it, but I dyed my hair black.
I had this adventure [in Africa] with these absolutely adorable, special people and to call me racist: it’s a knife through the heart because I really love these people.
Sorry, Meghan. Looks like your new family comes complete with a racist aunty already.
