Meghan accuses UK royals of racism, says 'didn't want to be alive'

Meghan, the wife of Prince Harry, accused Britain’s royal family of raising concerns about how dark their son’s skin might be and pushing her to the brink of suicide, in a tell-all television interview that will send shockwaves through the monarchy.

The 39-year-old, whose mother is Black and father is white, said she had been naive before she married into royalty in 2018, but that she ended up having suicidal thoughts and considering self harm after pleading for help but getting none.

Meghan said her son Archie, now aged one, had been denied the title of prince because there were concerns within the royal family “about how dark his skin might be when he’s born”.

“That was relayed to me from Harry, those were conversations that family had with him,” Meghan recounted in an interview with Oprah Winfrey aired on CBS late on Sunday.

Photo: Harpo Productions/Joe Pugliese/Handout via Reuters

Meghan declined to say who had aired such concerns, as did Harry. Winfrey later told CBS that Harry had said it was not Queen Elizabeth or her husband Philip.

Harry said his family had cut them off financially and his father Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, had let him down and refused to take his calls at one point.

Buckingham Palace was not expected to give an immediate response to the interview, which aired in the early hours of Monday morning in Britain.

The two-hour broadcast was the most anticipated royal interview since Harry’s late mother Princess Diana shared intimate details of her failed marriage to Charles in 1995, denting the heir’s reputation and the family’s standing in the eyes of the British public.

Nearly three years since her star-studded wedding in Windsor Castle, Meghan described some unidentified members of the royal household as brutal, mendacious and guilty of racist remarks.

She also accused Kate, wife of her husband’s elder brother Prince William, of making her cry before her wedding.

While the family came in for open criticism, neither Harry nor Meghan attacked the 94-year-old queen directly.

Still, Meghan said she had been silenced by “the Firm” - which Elizabeth heads - and that her pleas for help while in distress at racist reporting and her predicament had fallen on deaf ears.

“I just didn’t want to be alive any more. And that was a very clear and real and frightening constant thought. And I remember how he (Harry) just cradled me,” Meghan said, wiping away tears.

‘REALLY LET DOWN’

Harry and Meghan’s announcement in January 2020 that they intended to step down from their royal roles plunged the family into crisis. Last month, Buckingham Palace confirmed the split would be permanent, as the couple looks to forge an independent life in the United States.

Harry, 36, said they had stepped back from royal duties because of a lack of understanding, and he was worried about history repeating itself - a reference to the death of his mother Diana who was killed in a 1997 crash as her car sped away from chasing photographers.

Asked what his mother would say about events, he answered: “I think she would feel very angry with how this has panned out and very sad.” He felt “really let down” by his father.

Harry denied blindsiding Queen Elizabeth, his grandmother, with his decision to shun life within the monarchy, but said Prince Charles stopped taking his calls at one point.

“I had three conversations with my grandmother, and two conversations with my father before he stopped taking my calls. And then he said, can you put this all in writing?”

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, gives an interview to Oprah Winfrey in this undated handout photo. Photo: Harpo Productions/Joe Pugliese/Handout via Reuters

Detractors say the couple, whose official title is the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, wanted the limelight, but were not willing to live with the attention and scrutiny it brought.

To supporters, their treatment shows how an outdated British institution lashed out against a modern, independent biracial woman.

“I know first-hand the sexism and racism institutions and the media use to vilify women and people of color to minimize us, to break us down and to demonize us,” Serena Williams, one of the world’s most successful tennis players and friend of Meghan’s, said on Twitter.

Amanda Gorman, the poet who wowed viewers at the inauguration of U.S. President Joe Biden, said on Twitter Meghan had been the “Crown’s greatest opportunity for change, regeneration, and reconciliation in a new era. They didn’t just maltreat her light - they missed out on it.”

LIES AND TEARS

There have also been allegations of bullying against Meghan which appeared in The Times newspaper in the buildup to the couple’s appearance. Buckingham Palace said it would investigate the claims, adding it was “very concerned”.

Meghan told Winfrey people within the royal institution not only failed to protect her against malicious claims but lied to protect others.

“It was only once we were married and everything started to really worsen that I came to understand that not only was I not being protected but that they were willing to lie to protect other members of the family,” Meghan said.

Meghan denied a newspaper story that she had made Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, cry before the wedding and said it was a turning point in her relations with the media and the palace.

“The reverse happened,” Meghan said. “A few days before the wedding she (Kate) was upset about something, pertaining to yes the issue was correct about the flower girl dresses, and it made me cry. And it really hurt my feelings.”

Meghan, who said they were not paid for the interview, conceded she had not realised what she was marrying into when she joined the British monarchy and “went into it naively”.

The couple also revealed that Meghan, who is pregnant with their second child, was expecting a girl.

Harry said Meghan had “saved” him from his trapped royal life. “I would disagree, I think he saved all of us. You made a decision that certainly saved my life,” Meghan said.

“This is in some ways just the beginning for us.”

(Source: Reuters)

Royal family shares recipe for Victoria sponge cake from Buckingham Palace pastry chefs

Cake was named after Queen Victoria ‘who regularly ate a slice of sponge cake with her tea’, royal family states

Throughout lockdown, many people have been turning to baking to keep their minds occupied.

From sourdough bread to scones, members of the public have been throwing on their aprons and whipping out the wooden spoons as they refine their culinary skills at home.

Jumping on the baking bandwagon, Buckingham Palace has shared the recipe to one of the most quintessentially British bakes: the Victoria sponge cake.

On the royal family‘s social media channels, the Palace explained that the recipe has been shared to mark the royal garden parties, which were due to take place this May before being cancelled.

“The Victoria sponge was named after Queen Victoria, who regularly ate a slice of sponge cake with her tea, each afternoon!” the royal family stated.

The instructions shared by the royal family denote the official Victoria sponge recipe used by Buckingham Palace’s pastry chefs.

In addition to the recipe, the royal family has also shared a video demonstrating the correct techniques needed to produce the fluffy, jammy sponge.

Here is how to make a royally approved Victoria Sponge cake, according to Buckingham Palace’s pastry chefs:

Ingredients

For the sponge:

• 3 eggs
• 150g caster sugar
• 150g unsalted butter
• 150g sieved self-raising flour
• 1/2 tsp of vanilla essence
• Jam (strawberry or raspberry)

For the buttercream:

• 150g softened unsalted butter
• 220g sieved icing sugar
• 1/3 vanilla pod or vanilla essence

Method

For the sponge:

• First, pre-heat the oven to 180C (375F, gas mark 4).
• Grease and line two eight-inch cake tins. If you only have one cake tin, you can bake the sponge and slice it in half.
• Cream the caster sugar, vanilla essence and softened unsalted butter until light and fluffy. You can do this either by hand with a wooden spoon or with an electric whisk.
• Whisk the eggs in a separate bowl.
• Gradually add the beaten eggs to the sugar and butter mixture. Do so a little bit at a time, in order to avoid any curdling.
• Sieve the flour and then gently fold into the mixture
• Pour equal amounts of the cake mix into the two cake tins and smooth them over.
• Place the cake tins on the middle shelf of the pre-heated oven, baking for around 20 minutes, until the cake looks golden brown.
• After 20 minutes, check the cake is well-baked by inserting a skewer. If the skewer comes out clean, the cake is ready. 
• Remove the sponges from their tins and leave them to cool.

For the buttercream:

• Cream the softened butter for the buttercream with the sieved icing sugar and seeds from the vanilla pod (or vanilla essence) .

To assemble the cake:

• Ensure that both sponges are completely cold before spreading a layer of jam onto the surface of one sponge.
• Next, spread a thick layer of buttercream on top of the jam. If you prefer, you can spread the buttercream first and then do the layer of jam second.
• Once the layers have been spread on one sponge, place the second sponge on top and gently press down.
• Sprinkle with icing sugar and, as per the Buckingham Palace pastry chef’s suggestion, serve with a pot of fresh English tea.

This recipe was shared on the royal family’s website here.

(Source: Independent)

The Crown has taught me how to behave if I ever sit next to the Queen for dinner

Don’t tweet or email when you think the Queen isn’t looking, and in particular don’t tweet or email her, writes Howard Jacobson in the Guardian. Read on: 

On the off-chance that you are dining with the Queen on New Year’s Eve – and, by off-chance, I don’t mean to imply no chance – it’s worth familiarising yourself with a few of the finer points of royal etiquette. Don’t take selfies. Don’t touch Her Majesty’s knee under the table. Don’t tweet or email when you think she isn’t looking, and in particular don’t tweet or email her. If you are sitting on her left, it means that you aren’t the guest of honour and must not attempt to engage her in conversation until the second course. She will turn to you if you don’t know which the second course is.

This is a selection of the information I’ve picked up from listening to enthusiasts of The Crown discussing what they’ve seen. I haven’t watched it myself – it’s enough that the rest of the world is watching for me – but I have a special interest in royal protocol, particularly when it comes to how to behave around a dinner table. How not to look disappointed when you see who you’re sitting next to, for example. How to spread your attention fairly. Do you begin with the person on your left or the person on your right? Or do you sit far back in your chair so you can talk in both directions at once?

The Queen begins by turning right, but there is no rule determining which way commoners such as ourselves must turn, only that we remember to turn the other way when the plates are changed. Why it has taken me so long to grasp this I don’t know, but I’m relieved to have it settled. The food, not the company, decides the duration of the conversation. How wise a thing is protocol! At a stroke, it takes personalities out of the equation. It’s not because I have no prospects or tell the same story over and over again that Amal Clooney suddenly averts her head from me. It’s because the cheese and biscuits have arrived. A half-century of hurt feelings falls from me.

All I need is for everyone else to grasp the rules as well. That way, I will never again be left to sit there like an untouchable in a neck brace, pretending to be interested in the details of a ceiling rose, while those on either side of me remain resolutely engrossed elsewhere.

“Ahem!” I am now empowered to exclaim. “Haven’t you been watching The Crown? Soup’s over. You talk to me now.”

And what if, as a consequence, they both converge on me at the same time? Which one do I choose?

That’s something I will be asking the Queen the next time I’m sitting next to her, whichever side I’m on.

Queen's bra fitter Rigby & Peller loses royal warrant after tell-all book

Decision to cancel relationship with luxury lingerie retailer follows publication of director’s book Storm in a D Cup last year, writes Jamie Grierson in the Guardian. Read on: 

A lingerie retailer that supplied underwear to the Queen has been stripped of its royal warrant reportedly because the firm’s director wrote a book revealing details of her work with the royal family.

Rigby & Peller had held the title since 1960 but confirmed it was “deeply saddened” by the royal household warrants committee’s decision to cancel it.

June Kenton, director of the London-based firm, published Storm in a D Cup in March last year. It has been reported the decision to cancel the warrant is linked with revelations in the book, though neither the palace nor the company would confirm that.

Kenton regularly visited Buckingham Palace and served members of the royal family, including the Queen, the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret, and her autobiography provided some detail about her working relationship with them.

Rigby & Peller said: “The royal household warrants committee has decided to cancel the royal warrant granted to Rigby & Peller and Mrs June Kenton.

“Rigby & Peller is deeply saddened by this decision and is not able to elaborate further on the cancellation out of respect for Her Majesty the Queen and the Royal Warrant Holders Association.

“However, the company will continue to provide an exemplary and discreet service to its clients.”

Buckingham Palace said it did not comment on individual companies.

Kenton, from Bushey in Hertfordshire, bought Rigby & Peller with her husband in 1982 for £20,000, before selling a majority stake in 2011 for £8m, although she remains on the board.

Kenton has told reporters she never discusses what happens in a fitting room, though the book does recount her first meeting with the monarch and her trepidation about being ushered into the royal bedroom.

The 82-year-old said losing the warrant “absolutely killed” her and that she regretted “not being wise enough” to omit mention of the royals in her autobiography.