The UK Home Secretary has said she doesn’t believe the Duchess of Sussex has been the victim of racist attacks in British media outlets. Priti Patel said that when it came to Meghan and the media, she hadn’t seen any evidence that criticism has been motivated by race.
The Home Secretary was speaking to BBC 5 Live on Monday morning as royals gathered at Sandringham for a summit to decide how the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s future roles will develop following their statement last week that they are stepping back from senior positions within the House of Windsor. Speaking about Meghan’s treatment in the UK media, Priti Patel said ‘“I’m not in that category at all where I believe there’s racism at all. I think we live in a great country, a great society, full of opportunity, where people of any background can get on in life.”
The MP for Witham in Essex went on to say that when it came to racism, media outlets and the Duchess of Sussex, “I certainly haven’t seen that through any debates or commentary or things of that nature.”
Both the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been critical of the attitude of both mainstream and social media towards Meghan for some time. In 2016, Prince Harry confirmed his relationship with his future wife in a strongly worded statement calling for a stop to attacks on Meghan, in particular ”the racial undertones of comment pieces; and the outright sexism and racism of social media trolls and web article comments.”
The Home Secretary’s comments came soon after she refused to be drawn on security arrangements for the Sussexes who have said they now want to divide their time between the UK and North America.
Also on Monday, the Duke of Cambridge and the Duke of Sussex issued a rare joint statement, attacking the use of what they called ”inflammatory” language in the coverage of their relationship.
