Princess Michael of Kent, who is married to a cousin of the Queen, has issued an apology after a brooch she wore depicting a ‘blackamoor’ caused a furore when she wore it to attend Christmas lunch at Buckingham Palace alongside Meghan Markle.
Blackamoors, typically seen in jewelry and decorative arts from the early modern period, feature ‘exoticised’ depictions of dark-skinned people, who are often shown as servants, and are generally seen as racially insensitive in their glorification slavery,
Princess Michael faced heavy criticism when she was seen wearing one to meet the bi-racial Markle. A representative for the royal issued an apology overnight, saying:
“The brooch was a gift and has been worn many times before. Princess Michael is very sorry and distressed that it has caused offence.”
Some have questioned whether the choice to wear the brooch was a deliberate one, as this was not the first time the princess has been accused of racism. In 2004, she reportedly told a table of African American diners to “go back to the colonies” during an argument in a New York restaurant.
She later denied this in an ITV interview, but she managed to go off on an even wilder tangent, saying:
“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 with these absolutely adorable, special people and to call me racist: it’s a knife through the heart because I really love these people.”
In 2016, Markle wrote an essay on her cultural heritage for Elle UK, saying at the time:
“To describe something as being black and white means it is clearly defined. Yet when your ethnicity is black and white, the dichotomy is not that clear. In fact, it creates a grey area. Being bi-racial paints a blurred line that is equal parts staggering and illuminating.”
She has not responded to the current controversy.
