Buckingham forces an aide to Queen Camilla to resign over her racist comments

Good education is a very thin veil that sometimes manages to cover the structural racism of a society, but it tears at the slightest opportunity.

Susan Hussey, 83, a lady-in-waiting to Elizabeth II, godmother to Prince William and assistant -

- of honor to Queen Consort Camila, has been able to verify this.

The British royal house has immediately forced her resignation from her position, after her racist comments to one of the guests at an official event that was held on Monday were made public.

It happened at Buckingham Palace.

With the queen as the main hostess, they wanted to highlight the 16 days of activism against gender violence promoted by the United Nations.

She attended the 61-year-old Ngozi Fulani event that she has run for decades — in the London borough of Hackney — Sistah Space (Sister Space), an assistance and support center for women and girls of African and Caribbean descent, victims of sexual abuse or sexist violence.

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The queen's attendant, Hussey, again according to Fulani's account, parted some of the guest's braids so that she could see the name tag on her lapel, and then asked her "what part of Africa? ” proceeded.

The activist has recounted on Twitter the "mixed feelings" caused by her visit to Buckingham, and her memory of a disturbing conversation that should be reproduced as she herself has written on the social network:

- Susan Hussey: “Where are you from?”

- Me [Ngozi Fulani]: “Sistah Space”.

- No, where do you come from?

- We are based in Hackney.

- No, where in Africa do YOU ​​come from?

- I don't know, they didn't leave registration documents.

- But you will know where you come from.

For example, I lived for a while in France.

Where are you from?

- From here in the UK.

- But what is your nationality?

- I was born here and I'm British.

- I mean where you really come from, where your people come from.

- 'My people', ma'am?

What does that mean?

- Oh, I see that it is going to be quite a challenge for me to get you to tell me where you are from.

When did you first come here?

- Mrs!

I'm a British citizen, my parents came here in the 1950s, when...

- I knew that in the end I would find it!

You are Caribbean!

[In that decade he arrived in the United Kingdom, to provide labor, the so-called Windrush Generation, from the Caribbean colonies of the Empire].

- No ma'am.

I have African heritage, Caribbean descent and British citizenship.

- Yeah, but then you're...

Mixed feelings about yesterday's visit to Buckingham Palace.

10 mins after arriving, a member of staff, Lady SH, approached me, moved my hair to see my name badge.

The conversation below took place.

The rest of the event is a blur.

Thanks @ManduReid & @SuzanneEJacob for support🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/OUbQKlabyq

— Sistah Space (@Sistah_Space) November 30, 2022

That was the unfortunate dialogue, which Buckingham Palace has not even made an effort to deny.

He has opened an investigation, in the face of "unacceptable and deeply regrettable comments" and has made it clear that Hussey has abandoned his honorary position as Queen Camila's assistant: "We have contacted Ngozi Fulani to invite her to meet in person, if so You want it, all the elements of your recent experience," a palace spokesman said.

“In the meantime, the person concerned in this matter [Hussey] wishes to express his deep apologies for the harm caused, and has resigned effective immediately from his honorary position.

And he has reminded all those who are part of the royal house of the diversity and inclusiveness policies that they must respect at all times ”, he added.

Any incident that raises suspicions of racism in the environment of the British royal family is now handled with extreme caution, after the crisis that caused, in March 2021, the famous interview between the Dukes of Sussex, Prince Harry and Mehghan Markle , to the American journalist and presenter Oprah Winfrey.

Markle suggested that a member of the royal family — whom she never named — had wondered aloud what color skin the couple's first child, Archie, would have.

The American actress is the daughter of a white father and a black mother.

She also directly accused the palace environment of having a racist attitude against her.

The accusations caused a lot of dust in the public opinion - more in the American than in the British - and great irritation between the members of the Windsor family.

Queen Camilla chats with a group of guests at Buckingham Palace;

among them, behind, Ngozi Fulani, director of Sistah Space, on November 29, 2022.Kin Cheung (AP)

A spokesman for the Prince of Wales has been quick to ensure, after Monday's episode was known, that "racism has no place in today's society."

“It was such a shock for me and for the other two women who accompanied me,” the founder of

explained on Tuesday , “that we were silent for a long time.

I stayed there, in a corner of the room, smiling and trying to strike up a conversation with those who were talking to me until I decided to leave," said Fulani.

The incident coincides with the three-day visit to the United States by the Princes of Wales, William and Catherine, which began this week, where accusations of racism will very likely once again be on the lips of the media that follow the couple.

Omid Scobie, Markle's head journalist and friend, author of the book about the

(HarperCollins publishing house), he has been quick to condemn what happened: “Yesterday's event [Monday] should have been an occasion to encourage and support.

The fact that a

palace attendant made a Fulani – a leading figure who provides the UK's only safe space for black survivors of domestic violence – feel this way is inexcusable,” Scobie wrote on Twitter.