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Will Meghan and Prince Enrique seek employment? 2:33
(CNN) - From the moment Prince Enrique and Meghan Markle made their relationship known to the public in 2016, the message that many Britons sent him was clear:
You are not one of us and you are not welcome.
Meghan, a divorced and biracial American actress, was far from what many imagined as a fairytale encounter for a beloved member of the British royal family. While many in the United Kingdom received it well, the British sensational media and a large part of the Twitter universe were not friendly.
It got so bad that Kensington Palace issued a statement scolding the press about its treatment of it.
Now the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, as Enrique and Meghan are formally known, are once again the subject of all kinds of comments. The couple's announcement that they are distancing themselves from the royal family has been met with surprise and anger by many in England and beyond.
- LOOK: Meghan returns to Canada after the announcement that has shaken the monarchy
Suddenly, the message for Meghan has changed from "Why are you here?" To "Where do you think you are going?"
And again, some observers think that racism is partly guilty.
"It was never going to end well," said Kehinde Andrews, associate professor of sociology at Birmingham City University, who launched the first black studies degree in Europe.
“The British royal family is one of the main symbols of whiteness in the world. It was never going to be completely accepted. ”
Markle's 'audacity' threatens some people
While Meghan identifies as biracial, she is being treated as a black woman. Every black woman, including me, knows what that means. In regards to the world, your whole being is filtered through the color of your skin.
We have all heard the comments. "You're pretty to be a black girl." "You speak very well".
And if you dare to reach beyond an imaginary line of demarcation, you are seen as "optimistic."
The reaction to Meghan's desire to try to forge a new life with her husband "reinforces the stereotype that black women are destructive, divisive and dissatisfied," says Nsenga Burton, a professor at Emory University in Atlanta who specializes in intersection of race, class, gender and media.
- READ: Prince Henry challenged the queen by announcing that he and Meghan would step aside from their royal duties
Burton told CNN that it's easy to see why black women have supported Meghan, because they are reflected in the way they are treating her.
"People are great with black women as long as we get along," he said. "As soon as we begin to defend ourselves and say: 'This is not working for me,' we become the problem."
Natasha Eubanks, founder and editor of TheYBF.com, a black celebrity site that has covered the royal couple, agrees.
"Having the audacity, because that is what it is, to exhibit self-sovereignty has always been a privilege reserved for men, especially white men," he told CNN. "However, here is Meghan displaying this 'boldness' and is being ... driven by a white man who turns out to be her husband."
Eubanks argues that Prince Henry presenting a united front with his spouse "provokes people" because he places "a white prince of royal blood and a black American commoner" on an equal footing.
"That image does not like everyone because of how they have been conditioned to see women and people of color, whether they realize it or not."
Critics blame her for the couple's decision
As a black woman, it has been irritating to see how Meghan has been treated.
Not only because racism hurts, but also because it gives the feeling that we are not even allowed to enjoy the fairy tale.
The prince in this story did not kill dragons, but had to face the British tabloids and a society where the class supposedly triumphs over the race, even when racism is still a problem.
Andrews says that the coverage of the British press on Meghan has been "horrible", and it is not surprising that she is blamed for what many consider a break in the royal family.
Of the memes that say: "Prince Enrique married a black woman and she made him move from his mother's house," to the journalist Piers Morgan tweeting that Meghan "abandoned his family, abandoned his father, abandoned the most of his old friends, separated Enrique from Guillermo and now separated him from the royal family, ”a narrative has been formed that the duchess was the driving force in the decision.
That is unfair, says Andrews, who believes that people are forgetting that Prince Henry has been open about his desire not to be a senior member of royalty.
"He always wanted to do his thing," Andrews told CNN. “Even in his insistence on marrying a black woman, he knew what he was doing. This has given him a good start. ”
Some observers believe that Prince Henry is extraprotective with Meghan because of how the media treated his mother, the late Princess Diana, towards the end of his life.
- MORE: They remove the wax figures of Meghan and Enrique from the exhibition of the royal family in Madame Tussauds
"He apparently never recovered from the anguish he saw her go through at the hands of the British press and critics," said Eubanks. "He seems to have promised never to let that happen to his wife and children."
In October of last year, Enrique publicly complained about the treatment of British tabloids towards Meghan, who gave birth in May to the couple's son, Archie.
“Unfortunately, my wife has become one of the last victims of a British sensational press that campaigns against people without thinking about the consequences, a ruthless campaign that has intensified over the past year, throughout the pregnancy and while raising our newborn son, ”he said.
When Enrique and Meghan announced their commitment, many in the United Kingdom announced the news (a biracial woman who joined the royal family), as a welcome step towards racial harmony.
But Andrews said he was not among them.
Like Barack Obama, he said, the duchess is "someone who looks like progress but really isn't."
As duchess has not made the race a problem. Others yes
The couple's royal wedding in 2018 featured a black minister and music from a black cellist and a gospel choir. But apart from some symbolic touches, Meghan, the duchess, has not given many reasons to be linked to racial problems.
"He hasn't even talked openly about the race," Andrews said. "She is proof that you don't have to do or say anything to be attacked."
For Meghan, this must be even more daunting since, according to her, for years many people had no idea that she was a woman of color.
In a 2012 video for the charity Erase The Hate, the then actress said that "much of my life I felt like a fly on the wall" because people didn't know she was biracial.
“I am really proud of my heritage on both sides. I am really proud of where I come from and where I am going, ”she said. “But yes, by the time I have children, I hope people have an even more open mindset about how things are changing and that having a mixed world is what it is all about. It certainly makes it much more beautiful and much more interesting. ”
Sadly, for some people, that is still not the case.
Meghan Markle Prince Enrique Racism