Prince Harry and Meghan Markle participated in their first U.K. interview since stepping down from their official roles within the Royal Family earlier this year. On Thursday (October 1), the Duke and Duchess of Sussex spoke to the Evening Standard about Black History Month in the U.K., as well as the "awakening" Prince Harry had about racial injustice in his home country after meeting Meghan.
"I wasn’t aware of so many of the issues and so many of the problems within the U.K. and also globally as well. I thought I did but I didn’t," Prince Harry admitted during a Zoom call with the outlet. “You know, when you go into a shop with your children and you only see white dolls, do you even think: ‘That’s weird, there is not a black doll there?’ And I use that as just one example of where we as white people don’t always have the awareness of what it must be like for someone else of a different colored 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."
“It is not about pointing the finger, it is not about blame," the Duke of Sussex continued. "I will be the first person to say, again, this is about learning. And about how we can make it better. I think it is a really exciting time in British culture and British history, and in world culture. This is a real moment that we should be grasping and actually celebrating. Because no one else has managed to do this before us.”
The Sussexes also penned an article for the Evening Standard, as well, and called for the end of structural racism in the U.K.. “For as long as structural racism exists, there will be generations of young people of coloor 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 realized," the article reads. "Now is the best time for us to be able to use our platform and you use your platform as well so we can actually start a conversation and introduce people to the black community that are making a massive difference within their own communities and across the UK as a whole as well.”
Harry and Meghan, unfortunately, were not able to make it back to London to celebrate Black History Month in person due to the pandemic. "It doesn’t matter where in the world we have been, we have stayed in touch with and supported the organizations as much as humanly possible," Meghan said of being unable to travel. “Everyone has been accustomed to what it means to be distanced. The impact of that, whether it is across the Pond or across town, you are still for the most part through a computer screen."
“We have all had to adapt to how we can have the most impact as possible within the constraints of what has happening with Covid-19," she continued. "Like all of you, we are doing the best that we can and hoping that our passion and our commitment is still felt as it certainly hasn’t wavered.”
Before signing off, Meghan and Harry also shared a quick update about their new life in California. “We are doing well. [Archie] is so good,” Meghan gushed. “We are very lucky with our little one. He is just so busy, he is all over the place. He keeps us on our toes. We are just so lucky.”
Photo: Getty