Prince Harry and Meghan Markle spoke of their hopes for equality in the future on October 1 to mark the beginning of Black History Month in the UK. The couple has made several virtual appearances since the coronavirus pandemic began, but none of which has been as an official member of the Royal Family.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex spoke to the Evening Standard from their home in Santa Barbara.
Prince Harry spoke of his awakening to the issues experienced by members of the BAME community.
Harry said: “We as white people don’t always have the awareness of what it must be like for someone else of a different coloured skin, of a black skin, to be in the same situation as we are where the world that we know has been created by white people for white people.”
In the Evening Standard the Sussexes wrote: “For as long as structural racism exists, there will be generations of young people of colour who do not start their lives with the same equality of opportunity as their white peers.
“And for as long as that continues, untapped potential will never get to be realised.”
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Mr Lacey added Meghan and Harry were upset by the photograph which was shared the same year as their son was born.
He added the couple took this photo “to heart”.
Many have claimed this decision was not meant to upset the Sussex couple, but it displays how the Royal Family functions.
ITV’s royal editor Chris Ship said: “The portrait that Buckingham Palace released to mark the start of the decade.
“It was the Queen and the three future kings – and there was also a bit of video of them stirring Christmas puddings.
“I’m not saying they were cutting Harry and Meghan out because it was a brutal fact that Harry was never part of that line of succession but start of a decade it felt like the royal family was very much focusing on the future – the Queen and her three heirs.”
The Mirror’s royal expert Russell Myers claims the couple were also upset by the Queen’s choice of photographs on her desk during her annual Christmas speech.
Speaking to Channel 5’s Meghan and Harry: The New Revelations, Mr Myers said: ”The lack of photographs of them during the Queen’s Christmas speech obviously had an effect on them.
“The book will tell you in detail how this made them feel.
“They felt it was a slight, they felt put out.”
Finding Freedom, the recent biography written by Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand about the couple, also supports this hypothesis.
The book reads: “Harry felt as though he and Meghan had long been sidelined by the institution and were not a fundamental part of its future.
“One didn’t have to look further than the family photos displayed during the Queen’s Speech on Christmas Day.
“In the Green Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace, where the Queen delivered her address, viewers glimpsed photos of the Cambridges and their children, Charles and Camilla, Prince Philip and a black and white image of the sovereign’s father, King George VI.
“Noticeably absent was a photo of Harry, Meghan and their new baby, Archie.
“Palace sources insisted that the photos were chosen to represent the direct line of succession, but for Harry and Meghan, it was yet another sign that they needed to consider their own path.”
But royal expert Katie Nicholls told Channel 5 the Queen did not intend to cause any upset.
She said: “What I think the Queen was trying to demonstrate in that message was the future of the Monarchy, the future heirs and the future sovereigns.
“Harry and Harry’s son are not there. They don’t have that place on the table.”
