Omid Scobie spoke at the Foreign Press Association last week, and the Daily Mail was all in a tizzy. In the first paragraphs of their coverage, they referred to Scobie as “Meghan Markle’s close friend” and “the Sussexes’ preferred royal reporter.” I don’t really think Scobie is either? He’s not Meghan’s close friend but he’s one of the reporters they like and provide exclusives to. Mostly, I’ve always just thought that Scobie is very fair to the Sussexes and that is apparently enough to get him labeled pro-Sussex. Anyway, Scobie obviously still gets updates on the Sussexes and he obviously knows a lot more than he got to report in Finding Freedom. Which brings me back to his Foreign Press Association speech, where he talked about Meghan’s plans to return to the UK for a visit and the racism which was (and is) pervasive throughout the royal family. Some highlights:
On the “what color will the baby’s skin be” controversy: ‘There was one conversation that took place that affected them massively, when it came to someone within the royal family sharing concerns over the colour of Archie’s skin. To Harry I can see how it is one conversation, to Meghan who would have been involved in the follow up conversations I can see – because there were other people aware of this conversation within the family and within the institution, that did also speak about it, some not so sympathetically. So you then are in a position where you start to feel, well it’s not just this one person, it’s others as well and it becomes a much bigger issue.’
Scobie on which royal asked about Archie’s skin color: Mr Scobie said ‘pass’ when queried if he knew who made the initial remark about skin colour, saying he only had one source and would not write about it because he had not verified with multiple contacts. He said it was a story for the couple to share should they ever want. But cryptically he said: ‘And at the time, the biggest conversation was ‘did this come from a senior member of the royal family, a future head of state?’. If that individual is a head of state, then we as a public have a right to know because of course that is someone that is our head of state, head of the Commonwealth. And if they have an issue with race, we should know.’
On the Queen’s ‘some recollections may vary’ statement: Mr Scobie hit out today and said the Queen’s statement ‘cleverly using the phrase recollections may vary’ to ‘cast doubts on Harry and Meghan’s version of events but didn’t denounce racism in any way whatsoever’.
The Windsors have never condemned racism: ‘Other individuals within the institution didn’t express the kind of understanding that should have been given. Even when William said we are not a racist family, they didn’t condemn racism in any form whatsoever. We do not see the royal family ever do that. So of course it then continues this conversation about how anti-racism is the royal family, how much does the Royal Institution own its history and perhaps any kind of unconscious bias that may exist within the establishment or the family. None of these things ever seem to be addressed’.
Scobie with the tea. “If that individual is a head of state, then we as a public have a right to know because of course that is someone that is our head of state, head of the Commonwealth.” It’s true. These people are not elected, for goodness sake, and there is no formal vetting process for the line of succession. The “vetting” as it exists is merely journalists asking the questions. And few of them do. It absolutely should have been a months-long story of British journalists pressing the Windsors and their aides to find out who said what to whom. While it’s not “on” Meghan and Harry to name names, I do feel like they should eventually name that particular person who asked Harry about the color of the baby’s skin… if that person is going to be king one day. Cough.
As for what Scobie said about how other people in the family knew about the baby-skin conversation… y’all know my theory. I think William said sh-t to Harry about what his children would look like if he procreated with Meghan. I think that was the root of Harry and William’s falling out across 2017 and 2018. I think Harry was very hurt and very surprised that his brother would say that to him, and Harry likely went to his father about it too. And Charles was like “welp who cares.”
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, WENN.
Soooo … it was a future head if state then. I fully believe William asked and told others to ask and probably whined to everyone. Also, is this a warning to BRF?
I think that at least a few RRs know who made the comments (if they didn’t already pre Oprah interview). I wouldn’t be surprised if we learn the identity(ies) by the end of the year. The press have been slowly circling the rest of the RF like sharks since they have no new stories on the Sussexes.
Yes, I think it is a warning…
I can see William asking the baby skin question. He is someone who lacks self-awareness so much that he is totally OK with asking this deeply unsettling and insulting question and then go to BAFTA and say that he is bored with the racism topic why it is not solved yet when he wished it to be solved ages ago. I mean this kind of cognitive dissonance would bother a normal mind but his whole life is being built up along these fractions.
Yeah its a warning – the press are slowly dropping hints as to who it was. When the story broke Twitter pretty much outed William, esp by his reaction to the question from the reporter at the event he was at with Top CEO a few days later. Everyone else shut up after TQ said to but he didn’t, thats why i know it was him.
Also the stories about how he wanted meghan oust and didn’t trust her from day 1 without even knowing anything about her won’t exactly help him in this regard.
I think it was Charles. And I think it’s a question he pondered with many family members and courtiers before and after Archie was born. The depth of Harry’s anger towards Charles isn’t just about money and security.
@Mac, I think it started with William, but when Harry went to Charles, he gave his typical, mealy-mouthed, cowardly response that essentially defended William. Something along the lines of, “Well, you do know that people will talk…”
As a biracial woman, I have no reason to doubt that it was an ongoing conversation because it’s one I’ve heard casually all my life, more so each time I was pregnant.
Many, many people will accept biracial, multiracial, or POC folks in their family once they get to know them because they believe all POC have the potential, individually to ‘rise above their race. The lighter you are, the less there is to rise above as it were. So Meghan being this light skinned, with “good hair” to them, felt like she’d be less trouble, as long as she toed the line, so of course they worried the baby would be darker, especially when it became clear that Meghan as light as she was, wasn’t toeing that invisible, ever changing line.
The question isn’t what exactly shade the baby would be but would this child behave “black”. We all know it and that’s why it was so offensive.
A lot of the defense of the BRF I’ve seen have shown just how insensitive people can be around POC. I saw posts saying they too have wondered aloud about their grandchildren’s skin colour. Imagine, instead of recognising the hurt that these types of questions can create, they double down and make excuses for themselves. This is basically what the royal institution failed to do. They failed to prepare for the first biracial duchess in the senior royal family. They should have created a welcoming and inclusive environment for Meghan (and gotten rid of all their problematic home decors and brooches).
Yea, from my personal experience all this speculation on “who was it???” ignores the almost-certain truth that it was everyone, they all did it, together, separately, doesn’t matter; it wasn’t just one isolated conversation, it was a constant debate, constant fret, constant issue for them.
It HAS to be PWT. It would explain the endless vitriol (and narcissism, of course) coming out of that sphincter-like mouth for months, and this weekend in the Heil: William is afraid that he’s going to be found out, so he’s gaslighting and fiddling with the narrative to lessen culpability. If people believe his ‘source’ (him) then Meghan was so awful that the racial slurs became, as if by magic, unimportant.
It was Baldy, Chuck, with a sprinkling of one wife and a huge dose of the other wife.
The fact that you can make a case for both Charles and William is really not good and doesn’t make either of them look good (no matter who said it). I think Harry and/or Meghan said there were multiple conversations about this so it could have been both Charles AND William and some other relatives. As for Omid, he’s on good terms with the Sussex press office and that shows but he’s not end all be all with them. He’s gotten stuff wrong and Meghan has admitted in court some things in Finding Freedom is not correct.
I think it was all of them. I don’t think there’s a non-racist in the bunch, except for Eugenie.
Should we automatically give Eugenie a pass? I know she is purportedly friends with H&M, but she did nothing to dispel the whole Meghan-ruined-the-wedding-with-baby-announcenent thing. I would never allow such a narrative to circulate publicly or privately about anyone, whether friend or not. It is just…ugly. As for the family preventing her from speaking out, is she not a grown up? She could have at least made sure to be seen publicly with Meg, shopping and lunching, etc. These people just defy my (admittedly limited) understanding.
Yup, the fact that months after the interview we’re still like “well really could be any of them” is not a good look for the “very much not a racist family.”
That’s why I think they kept it vague–“someone” really could be anyone and/or everyone. Saying everyone would be nuclear, though.
Exactly, the focus on one person lets the rest off the hook because the press can pretend to be speculating about a singular instance rather than a deeply ingrained familial/structural issue. It’s much more likely that comments were made by a number of people, both amongst themselves and their staff and made to Harry directly. This wasn’t an “issue” that just one person saw fit to bring up just one single time, this baby destroyed their plans to run Meghan out of the family and so they would have been increasingly panicked, trying to get Harry to separate from her before it was “too late.”
In my best Ms. Celie voice, ‘Until you do right by your brother, William, everything you think about is gonna crumble.
Exactly.
i commented this on another post but i think it also applies here:
amid the tsunami of misinformation coming from the palace(s) lately, i think it’s important to remember that harry and meghan actually hold all the cards here. they have receipts, and they can always tell us any time who the racists in the royal family are. if the hate continues, my guess is h&m may wait for queenie to die, then start dropping receipts – that’s *if* the palace and the media don’t stop with the hateful propaganda.
right now, though, whatever the british media and the firm want us to think, the sussexes are actually doing pretty great in their lives, and it’s the firm that’s in crisis.
whether it was planned or not, it was super smart of omid to remind people over the weekend that the royals are racist, right as they were rolling out their latest wave of anti-meghan bile. there’s no equivalent of accusations they can lob at meghan that can ever be anywhere near as bad as racism (especially with a baby involved).
moving forward, i wish the sussexes, instead of having to issue out statements all the time refuting tabloid lies, would tactically communicate with credible reporters like omid with on-point messaging like this. i do think omid is fair, his reporting is factual, and he’s actually said before that he has a good working relationship with the sussexes’s media team.
y’all remember a few weeks ago we had that churn of suspiciously positive sussex coverage (they’re invited to the jubilee! they’re family! blah blah blah); that happened the same day another batch of racism allegations hit the firm, before the media lost its mind again, like two days later over a baby ‘stealing’ their queen’s name. they behave so differently when they’re on the defensive.
we need more journalists who actually call this cult out on its evil behaviour!
Amazing that they went after H&M during Father’s Day weekend. Great timing!
William makes the most sense. He was the one telling Harry to take it slow with Meghan. It would make sense that “think about what your children will look like” was absolutely a part of that conversation and explains the falling-out between them.
Yesterday’s article that was about Charles specifically deciding that Archie will not ever become a Prince made sure to bring up how around that title conversation was the “how dark will he be?” conversation. So this makes me think that either #1) the royal reporters who were writing that article know and are now hinting at/telling us that it was Charles who made the skin comments and that’s (partly) why he doesn’t want Harry’s children to be HRH Princes OR #2) William told the RRs to write about this whole title thing again and specifically tie it to the skin comments to make it seem like the lack of titles were tied specifically to the skin color and therefore, whoever is denying the titles (Charles) also made the skin comments.
And now we know that it’s for sure one of them. But which one? The easiest, least convoluted explanation would be #1: the royal reporters know and they wrote the article on their own to out Charles. Though #2 isn’t unlikely as that whole family seems to be able to just demand that a story be written about someone else in the family whether or not it’s true.
There’s also a #3) the RRs know it’s William but are protecting him for their own reasons by eluding to the fact that the Charles made the title decision based on his concern over skin color.
Charles was behind the Times article that shot down the DM article so I suspect William was looking to divert the skin colour issue on his father.
William was the one looking to send the couple off to Africa even before any babies were born so I think we can safely say he’s the one Harry was referring to. The rest were likely aware of what was said and didn’t intervene or apologize.
William is also the one with public comments about people in ‘Africa’ needing to have fewer children – so his children can experience wild animals on safari.
charles is not stupid enough to put out this stuff that reflects badly on him and on the crown. i also believe he always did realise that harry and meghan were assets to the crown, and that he intended to keep them on when he became king. what would he have to gain by sidelining them (and their children)? i think the courtiers are the bad guys here. charles may have his faults but shortsightedness is not one of them.
william is the problem here.
i also think William is the one. TMZ said they had an exclusive about the “Charles not giving the babies titles” story. TMZ seems like a sleazy KP/Middleton contact, like Page Six. Charles seems to go to the Times. i think William would do anything to save his skin and smear Charles on top of it. man, and Charles feels Harry is the problem…..
There was a story about people working from the NY Post being tired of being told that they have to chase after the Daily Mail. And Page Six is the post gossip section so this is a Murdoch paper …. That means no credibility.
I think William told Harry that he and Charles were discussing the issue of Archie’s skin colour.
It was William. Never a doubt it was William. Harry is speaking, however sporadically with his father. He isn’t speaking to his brother, in spite of Keen Lynchpin’s efforts at peacekeeping.
I’m not surprised by the lack of empathy towards Harry & Meghan regarding Archie’s coloring. They were probably all concerned about the optics, but kept their conversations to themselves, while William said it with his chest.
Completely off topic, but if you quickly look – doesn’t it look like William is holding Harry’s hand in the photo at the top of the article? It made me giggle.
Has any reporter just… asked Charles or William if they ever made mention of Archie’s skin colour? I think the answer is “no”, right? That’s interesting in itself, because it suggests everybody knows the answer will be “yes” or that they will deny it and be proven liars.
It was an American outlet, IIRC, that asked Kate directly if she had seen her new niece. I wonder if any will do the same for this story.
Any reporter that dare try will be sent to the tower! Seriously though, I think they’re only surrounded by Rota reporters who prob wouldn’t dare. The g7 was unique in that sense.
Many of the rota reporters are racist themselves, so why would they bring it up? They allowed all the terrible comments about Meghan not being pregnant, switching babies, Archie being a girl, etc. in their Twitter feeds without any rebuttal. Richard Palmer is one example.
Superficial note here: Omid looks like a life-size doll. What is happening to his face?
He looks fine to me.
It was William and these comments from Omid confirm it for me. I think William had the initial conversation, the one that shocked Harry, and then Harry went to Charles about it – now I don’t know what Charles’ reaction was, if he said “well yes we are all concerned” or if he said “wow William is really racist huh” or if he said “oh my” and went on his merry way.
But to me that’s what makes sense in terms of people in the family and institution “being aware” of the conversation – a conversation between Harry and William that turned ugly/racist and that Harry went to Charles about, thus making it more than just “one” conversation. So in Harry’s mind it was that one conversation, but Meghan considers all the fallout around it, and that was addressed in the interview.
Yes, it was. That’s why his flippant, smug “very not racist” remark made me want to bitchslap him. I mean…so infuriating.
I believe it was William, Harry went to Charles and Charles said “well he shouldn’t worry because none of your children will be HRH anyway”
This is the most outlandishly hurtful and insensitive possibility I never even ONCE contemplated before.
Sounds right on brand for House of Windsor PR.
I’m with you on your theory. William was probably the one that said it out loud and Harry was probably hurt by Charles reaction (or inaction).
Agree Becks 1. Or maybe Charles told Harry his hands are tied because William is the heir and there’s nothing Charles can do. If William looks bad then the whole monarchy looks bad. Look how they protect Andrew and Charles supposedly hates him. i really think Charles expected Harry to take one for the team and tell Meghan to get it together or shove off.
I am struck by the language used to protect bigots and control freaks within the Royal Family. Instead of saying “an individual within the institution who may become future head of state”, they need to be called “Charles” or “William”. I am so sick of rich white dudes hiding behind their unearned privilege. So sick of it!
I believe William went directly to Harry, Charles didn’t care and the rest had their own lil conversations sans Harry too.
#Abolishthemonarchy.
I still think William too. Harry seems upset and disappointed in hid dad. But he seems completely done with William. I also don’t recall William ever being pictured alone or in a small gathering with Archie, they were only in one big group shot AFAIK.
The Christening picture is the only time I can recall William being pictured with Archie. Kate ignored Meghan and Archie at the polo match in all the pictures that is available from that event. It is said that they went to visit the Sussexes at Frogmore some time after the birth of Archie, but I don’t believe it without picture/video evidence because by that point it was obvious Harry was done with William. These people (the royals) would have had Meghan and Harry beheaded in the not so distant past for some made up infraction and not lose a single night’s sleep.
We know Charles and his racism. There have been reports of the buffoonish stereotyping comments much in the vain of his father. William’s racial slips over the last several years have seemed to have a more pernicious angle. And appear to fit more with growing racism we have seen from right wing white men in their thirties and early forties across the world. And it shows up most in his hiring practices where he’s been particularly drawn to people that were actively involved in makong Brexit happen.
“Harry likely went to his father about it too. And Charles was like “welp who cares.””
My bet is that Charles’ response was more like, “well, what colour *will* the babies be?”
It was William. See his over the top PR exercises after the Oprah interview
This is tit for tat, and I don’t blame Harry and Meghan for responding. If the BRF was smart, they would stop trying to smear Meghan. They are not smart, so they keep doing it. In turn, H & M remind them “subtly” about their racist behavior. At this point, the only way I see this ending is if Charles steps up to the plate after he is King and demands his sons get along in public and stop the PR war, but again the BRF is not smart, so that won’t happen.
There is no tit for tat. Harry and Meghan said what they said with their whole chest to the entire world and went back to being silent. The British Royal family hides behind palace sources and the media machine at their disposal to put out hit pieces after hit pieces against the Sussexes for multiple years and the Sussexes have remained largely silent in the face of all that. When they speak, they speak for themselves, or through their lawyers. Charles who is up to his own eyeballs in the smear against Meghan is not brokering any peace and one does not make peace with bigots targeting their young family.
Andrea Mitchell is the journalist who asked Catherine about Lillibet. Mitchell has a lengthy career (spanning decades) as a foreign affairs journalist for NBC. It was a decidedly shady question to ask the Duchess. Jmo.
Why was it shady? If Kate & the BM is pushing the narrative that she is the peacemaker between the brothers, then I would ask her about her new niece too since she seems to be the only one with “inside info”.
Honestly the BRF should have known they were going to get asked questions about Lili and should have prepared a decent response beforehand. Yes Kate may not have been expecting to be asked at that moment but she was going to be asked eventually, it was just a matter of when.
i love that Andrea asked that question and I also love that she asked Kate about her “niece”. These folks want to pretend like Lili is not part of the family with all their talk about “Lilibet” being the queen’s family name.
Maybe this is why W was MIA during the G7 because he didn’t want to be exposed to any impertinent questions (e.g. did you express concern about the skin colour of H & M’s future offspring) from disrespectful US reporters.
Asking someone if they have seen their recently born niece would be a normal soft ball question for most people. That Kate cannot provide much of an answer to that suggests the problem is on their end. I mean Lili is a baby. What is shady about asking if she’s seen her new niece?
It wasn’t shady. JFC. It was a simple question that, in any other celebrity family that wasn’t such a clown show, would have been perfectly normal.
There was nothing shady about it and Andrea asked it in a very sweet way — who wouldn’t ask if you’ve seen your new baby niece? Kate’s muddled and insensitive answer should be drawing your ire, not Andrea’s question.
Beech, Shady? That’s really interesting. Let’s see . . . British Media can say anything they want about Meghan, Archie and Lilibet (all Americans), but the American media should–what? The American media question was quite reasonable. In fact, it would have been noteworthy if no one had asked about her niece. It was a softball question, and should not have generated any negativity. Unfortunately, Kant was unable to come up with an appropriate answer. Wishing the family well, yes I can see. But a baby? This wasn’t a hard question. What you should be asking yourself is why didn’t your FFQ have a better answer.
Beech – not sure why it’s relevant to point out Mitchell’s foreign policy creds.
William. William. WILLIAM.
William is the one who made comments about the skin color of any potential children. Period. Look at the way he walks around, with this look of contempt on his face for basically everyone, including his own wife. By all accounts, he’s an angry, nasty, bully of a jerk who has been undermining and putting his brother down for YEARS. When you put all the pieces together, how could it NOT add up to someone who would have the gall and egotism to ask such an ignorant question with no regard for how it would hurt the people at which it was aimed?
While I certainly do not feel that Charles holds any open-minded views about race and absolutely would have preferred both his sons to marry British, decidedly lily-white women, when you look at the personality traits of these two men I just don’t think he would aggressively voice those opinions to Harry’s face. It’s just not his style. Now, would he agree with William if he came raging to him incandescently about what in hell is his brother is doing, sullying the royal line? Of course he would. Can’t go against the FFK. Gotta keep him pacified by any means necessary. But I will stand behind my stance that William was the one to make those comments to Harry, and THAT is what set the feud between the brothers in motion. All his life Harry took his lumps from William. But once that transcended to his wife and it wasn’t just about him anymore….THAT is what broke the camel’s back.
It is William, why else would he, out of sudden, launch his own Youtube channel, if not for the upcoming apology video ?
Hahahahahahhaaaaaaaahahahahaaahahahaaahaha! Ya killin’ me here!
Everyone in that family behind closed doors was worried about how dark Harry’s first child’s skin tone would be or said something to their spouse, etc. The British Royal Family are all racist when it comes down to a black child in the family, a direct line of succession, even if improbable, and that is all of them from the Queen and deceased Prince Philip all the way down. And there’s no doubt in my mind that the main players in the Royal Family were holding their breath waiting to see what little Archie looked like. Harry maybe doesn’t want to acknowledge that to himself about his grandparents being part of that. And let’s face it: Queen Elizabeth will not be happy if Lilibet turns out to be a little girl that takes after her maternal grandmother in darker skin tone and is carrying her nickname.
Why is anyone surprised by this article? I just never thought anyone would say it out loud in front of Prince Harry. And @Cecilia is right, it wasn’t “wondering” at all. What a nice spin being put on it. Nope doesn’t work.
Everyone, I’m delighted that Andrea Mitchell, NBC Chief Foreign Correspondent/Journalist asked just that question of Duchess Catherine because it’s not like anyone in the UK press would do so. Right? I will leave it to the Honourable Judge Kara Brown to deal with my view AM’s question constituted shade. Perhaps Andrea Mitchell asked it in all innocence. Catherine had it comin’!
Mmm, it’s late so for the record I’m a Chicana, dyed in the wool American. Mitchell does not ask softball questions of anyone except of Catherine Middleton. It is my opinion Mitchell lobbed this question at Middleton in the form of a fluff ball question. And in my opinion, the response was exactly what Mitchell expected. Which is that Middleton would be thrown by the question. I expect she would rather have been covering the G-7 instead of the wife of a royal . She has asked hard questions of Sudanese leaders and been hauled out for doing so. My feeling is her softball question was a hardball question for Middleton.
It appears that Meghan and Harry were somewhat tolerated in UK without child. But once they had a child, and their union was confirmed as a family, certain people refused to accept them and helped drive them out of the UK.
I have had the misfortune to meet highly educated people who think it is normal (!) to discuss an unborn child’s skin color while pretending not to be racist. Equally disturbing are those who ‘have no problem with those who have darker skin – just that they shouldn’t mix their culture with lighter people’.
Horrendously, these very people don’t see themselves as being racist. They read books about South Africa and the problems of policing the US today so they can publicly denounce racism while never recognising their own racist behaviour. It is possible that multiple members of the British Royal Family are just like this too.