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Prince Harry marrying Meghan Markle gets royal trolling by media

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DailyBiteNov 27, 2017 | 21:22

Prince Harry marrying Meghan Markle gets royal trolling by media

British media acts like the unofficial custodian of the royal purity.

The British royal family might have finally embraced change. But will the British media stop acting as the unofficial custodian of "royal purity"? As soon as the Clarence House announced Prince Harry’s engagement to actor Meghan Markle of Suits fame, the media started talking about her race, age, ex-husband and why she got a divorce.

In its article "Meghan Markle and Prince Harry: A royal shake-up", BBC says that this would be no “ordinary royal engagement” as Meghan Markle is “American, divorced, and actress and mixed race”. However, this apprehension of “royal shake-up” is not new. It started in 2016, when it came to the fore that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were in a relationship. The bashing was intense and unrelenting. The Sun, a UK tabloid, carried a piece with “Harry girl’s on Pornhub” headline, for which it had to seek an apology too. Some clips of Markle from the legal drama series Suits appeared on the adult website illegally, and she had no link with that.

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During that time, The Daily Mail, in an investigative spree, came up with this story: "Harry’s girl is (almost) straight outta Compton: Gang-scarred home of her mother revealed- so will he be dropping by for tea?" 

The story dealt with the troubled neighbourhood in which Markle grew up. Even US’ New York Post showed off its obsession with colour in this article "Why almost no one is talking about Meghan Markle’s race" in which she was described as “as black as our first black president, Barack Obama".

The “racial overtones” were denounced by the prince’s press secretary and it has been a long one year under the media’s judgmental glares before the “royal shake-up” was finally announced today.

Who is Meghan Markle?

In an Elle magazine article, she had described her parentage in an interesting way. “I knew it was coming, I always do. While I could say Pennsylvania and Ohio, and continue this proverbial two-step, I instead give them what they're after: My dad is Caucasian and my mom is African American. I'm half black and half white,” she wrote. She was married to film producer Trevor Engelson. She is also known as a gender equality activist, and was named the global ambassador for World Vision Canada in 2016.

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Royal blood has been mixed for years

The purity of "royal blood", which is supposedly at stake because of Markle's half-black, half-white origin, is a much-debated issue. Many historians consider Queen Charlotte, the German wife of King George III as Britain’s first black queen as “her bloodline descended from a Portugese noblewoman who descended from a 13th century king and his mistress. So the phrase “blue blood”, which used to indicate superiority of the white Christians (skin so pale that it reveals blue veins) over Jews, Muslims and West Africans, is a myth.

But the “hangover” is too heavy to overcome. 

Monarchy has moved on, not media

Harry’s great-great-grand-uncle Edward VIII had to relinquish the throne after he married twice-divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson. Queen Elizabeth’s sister Margaret had to leave her true love Peter Townsend who was a divorcee. Reports suggest Prince Charles hesitated to propose his then girlfriend Camilla in the '70s, the time when they first met long before his marriage to Princess Diana, as Camilla didn’t appear “virginal”. For long, fathers of royal brides had to swear that their daughters were virgins. 

Yes, the monarchy has become accommodative of changing times. It has put an end to many regressive provisions, but that has somehow strengthened media’s love for the “royal bloodline”.

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As The Guardian explains: "The obsession with bloodlines makes the idea of royals marrying people of colour – or even having non-white heritage themselves – difficult for the press and public to stomach. Royals tend to be offered a small circle of potential spouses – the same class, religion and ethnicity. Thus Diana Spencer, from a pre-eminent aristocratic family, was celebrated as the “first commoner” to marry an heir since 1659.”

While pointing to Markle’s background repeatedly is demeaning, celebrating it as a racial triumph is equally derogatory. Setting aside the royal protocol, the British media should see it as simple as it is: the marriage of “two people who are really happy”. 

Last updated: May 18, 2018 | 12:04
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