The September 1st edition of The Voice, Britain’s only Black newspaper, was guest-edited by Prince Charles. As guest-editor, he highlighted his Prince’s Trust work in the Black British community (giving away scholarships and job training) and he wrote an editorial about how “the Black community is a source of inspiration to me… You have welcomed me into your communities with wonderful enthusiasm and I am grateful that you have always been candid with me about the issues you continually face and how I might help.” The reaction to Charles’s guest-editorship has been pretty awful for both Charles AND The Voice. None of the Voice’s readers wanted Charles to use their newspaper as a soft-focus advertisement for The Prince’s Trust. The backlash against The Voice’s editor Lester Holloway has been especially pointed too, so much so that Holloway is now backtracking and saying that of course the Windsors need to acknowledge their own colonialist history and their role in the transatlantic slave trade.
When approached [about the backlash] by The Independent, a spokesperson for The Voice said: “We recognise the strong feelings some of our readers have over this edition and the divergence of views in the community. We agreed to collaborate with The Prince of Wales after looking at the work he had done on race equality over 40 years and the parallels with our campaigning over the same period. The edition we published deals with important issues like reparations and black empowerment, told through the eyes of prominent and respected figures in the community.”
On its call for an apology on slavery, the spokesperson said: “An apology and reparations for enslavement of Africans remains a key demand from all institutions that were involved or gained from it.”
The British royal family was involved in the transportation and selling of African people for profit for centuries, with Elizabeth I becoming involved in the lucrative dealings of John Hawkins, one of Britain’s first slave traders in the 16th century, and the link continuing through to its abolition in 1834.
The monthly newspaper’s editor Lester Holloway expanded on the newspaper’s “key demand” on a slavery apology during a BBC London interview on Sunday.
“All of the institutions, including the royal family, that have been involved in the historical horrors of colonialism have not apologised for slavery and what we’ve got is statements of personal regret which is absolutely not good enough,” he said. “I think it’s appalling that nobody has apologised for slavery.”
Reparationist Esther Stanford-Xosei has called for The Voice to apologise for inviting Prince Charles to edit the paper.
“Having bought and read a copy of the paper, it’s really just a nauseating advert for the Prince’s Trust and what it’s doing,” she said. “The royal family, as an institution, is doing nothing to actually remedy the harm [caused by slavery] and Prince Charles’ editorship sends a dangerous message to the rest of the world and shows the schizophrenic identity that is part of the internalisation of colonisation.”
Okay, here’s where I come down: I don’t think it was actually a bad idea for Prince Charles to guest-edit The Voice, in general. I just think it was done the wrong way. I think Charles is attempting – in his own fusty, colonizer way – to acknowledge the vibrant diversity in British society. Honestly, it would be worse if he didn’t even try, if he did nothing to reach out to the diverse communities in Britain and the Commonwealth. Now, did he actually “reach out” or make any kind of substantive statement against racism, against inequality, against his family’s history of colonization and the family’s historical ties to slavery? No. He didn’t. Which is why this backlash is happening. Charles thought he could just waltz into a Black newspaper, chat about how the Prince’s Trust gives money to Black people and he would be applauded for deigning to even acknowledge Black folks.
The backlash was not only predictable but predicted and still Prince Charles went ahead with it. This is why I say the royals haven’t yet grasped the extent of the damage from #Meghan & #Harry’s departure or how this twines with other narratives https://t.co/E3a9lW1BGv https://t.co/ciOWtDhxB7
— Catherine Mayer (@catherine_mayer) September 5, 2022
They exist in an echo chamber where the bulk of the media portray the Sussexes as the ‘sinners’ and where the failings of the royals during the couple’s exit are ignored.
To be king of 14 other countries, Charles will have to apologise for his family’s links to slavery: https://t.co/AxAtqZicSd— Peter Hunt (@_PeterHunt) September 5, 2022
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This man literally tried to engineer conditions that would lead to the death of his biracial daughter-in-law and his biracial grandchild due to his jealousy and racism, but he wants to talk about what he’s done for some random Black folks? Charles is a straight clown. He’s a rotten SOB.
This really is the best summation of the situation! He really thought that royal fairy dust was gonna blind everyone to reality, which he and that institution have very little grasp of.
Yes! No one believes he cares about British black people or black people in the common wealth and will work to improve their lives. Charles doesn’t even use his position to protect and care for his quarter black grandson & granddaughter. Why would anyone believe he would care about strangers?
Exactly!!!!! Until he does something to rectify what was done to Meghan and Archie (his own F***King blood was compared to a chimp and this man said NOTHING), he will never do anything for the black and POC community that wouldn’t receive a backlash! He has to clean his own house first! It is as simple as that!
He shouldn’t have been allowed to guest edit the Voice newspaper. Not without acknowledging his family’s involvement in slavery and the Palace agreeing to rescind their exemption from equality laws. He didn’t even recognize that black people have experienced racism or the impact that it’s had on Meghan and his own grandchildren. This guest editorship was only to promote the Prince’s Trust and Camilla’s literacy programme. When Meghan guest edited British Vogue she did not promote herself she focused on other women and charities but for her work she was called an attention seeker and a narcissist.
Absolutely. I don’t even see this as an effort on his part, because all he did was use a black – run newspaper to promote (white supremacist ideology of the royal family) his cash cow charity.
His cash cow. In a black owned paper. Without acknowledging the money they have that came from profiteering off of human lives.
I honestly can’t grasp how entitled these people are, they continue to amaze.
The Prince’s Trust isn’t the same as The Prince’s Foundation (Foundation being the one with the dodgy donors and people like Michael Fawcett running it who are royal lackeys not charity sector staff).
Charles is undoubtedly using TPT to try and change the conversation, but it’s not the dodgy Foundation and doesn’t deserve to be tarred with that brush.
I couldn’t agree more. Charles is a wilfully ignorant, arrogant, entitled, hypocritical, parasitic twat.
It’s why gatekeeping is so crucial.
Twenty years ago he would have been hailed for this. Times have changed.
CH really stepped on a rake over this and the Voice got the dragging it deserved.
This was such a weird own goal. Why even do this in the first place? Of course it was going to blow up in his face. Of course there was going to be backlash!
Exactly. Of course there was going to be backlash to this! So why???? Guess it just continues to show how bad they are at this and how they don’t get it at all. Like AT ALL.
Living a bubble wrapped life has done Charles no favors.
My bet is, non of his staff have ever even read The Voice, white as they all are. They live in their own white edwardian aristo bubble, without any knowledge of how people think. Without realising the world has changed, and more people speak up, through other channels than the trashy rota papers. The worst part is, they don’t seem to want to learn. They don’t seem to want to evolve and get educated on racism and the horrible aftermaths of slavery and colonialism. They think they can through some money at POC with talent and be seen with POC a few times and claim they’re not racist.
Had he used this number to write an appology on behafe of the monarchy and writren about how he got an eyeopener when seeng how his own DIL was treated, he could have pulled this off, but no. In his eyes, there were no racist treatement of Meghan by the Firm.
@ Molly @ Couch Potato, yes, to what you’ve both said!
That anyone even thought this was a good idea…….
Good. It was obvious pandering and of course he was using a space set for Black Britons. He’s such an opportunist user.
Like his heir, dangerously stupid.
Absolutely. Trying to gain favour and also “See? We’re not racist.”
Good. Both the paper and Charles need to hear this criticism. Often institutions that represent black people uphold the the internalized tenets of white supremacy and should be called out.
Charles will hear it but I doubt he will ever do anything about it. Any thing that will cost the monarchy or any country that benefited from colonization and slavery is always met with resistance and denial.
Good, it’s plain creepy that he is even doing this.
Again the wise courtiers let the BRF down and the royal themselves failed to see the absurdity of their action. Just like the William and Kate flop Carribean tour where they blamed the staff but did not take responsiblity for their missteps in agreeing for eg to the land rover ride dressed in colonial finery.
Totally agree. Don’t forget greeting the kids behind a chain-linked fences! Their advisors are just as out of touch as theirs bosses. They never consider the optics of anything. Gate-keepers indeed.SMH
Still think the funniest thing was when this dude turned 70 and the Queen said “It’s marvelous to see one’s children come into adulthood”. Adulthood? He’s coming into old age and still doesn’t have a job😂
LOL. That comment gives me some more insight as to why they’re still treating 40 year old William as a new college grad.
He most likely invited himself to guess edit and they didn’t have the chutzpah to tell him no. I wonder how many of them making the decision have an OBE or hope to have an OBE.
Does anyone know if the Voice has ever commented on the treatment of the one person of color to join the royal family?
A corporation owns the newspaper, so money bags knew the owners
I think that’s exactly what happened based on the wording from the Voice about “agreeing” to work with him.
So is Charles leveraging his charity work for the black community against any discontent we are showing towards his treatment of his black family members
Big mistake by Charles. Regardless of his intentions, the colonial history of this family negates any value he could bring to a Black Magazine. The mere fact their wealth is built on the backs of colonialism and this wealth is profound, the very countries they stole this wealth from currently exist in poverty with their artifacts and labor never fully acknowledged or the artifacts returned is at best egregious and at worst criminal. The arrogance of this racist family is astounding. Handing out scholarship and employing the very folks whose wealth you live off is in my opinion a slap in the face for these countries. May Karma visit all of them soon
I think you said it in the opening paragraph. It was an ad for Charles and The Voice let itself be used as an ad for Charles. It was always going to go sideways. This was not ever a good idea for either party.
Try reaching out to your biracial daughter- in – law and apologizing to her first. Publicly. As long as you allow her and your biracial grandchildren to be demonized like that its all performative imo.
THIS ^^^^ Until this happens, all the guest editorials and performative “outreach” to POC are worthless.
If Charles had led with an acknowledgement and apology, this could have been a different story. Instead, it looks like an attempt to colonize The Voice.
Exactly. He could have handled this differently and used the Voice as the place to present his apology. Instead…..here we are.
So Charles can write a op Ed about what his charity does for the black community but he help the press bullied his black daughter in law to suicide thoughts . Charles said nothing when a newspaper called his grandson a chimp and when the daily mail use the nappy New Years headline with a picture of his son and his family . Charles gleefully pull his son security’s knowing the death threats Harry family receives. I’m glad his getting dragged and the newspaper too
@Vanessa, thank you..!!
Charles’s walk and talk just don’t match up. He needs to do right by his daughter-in-law and grand children. I want to know what he’s doing in that department…!
OMFG. It would have been so easy for Chuckles the Clown to apologize for royal slavery and colonialism in his editorial and then offer reparations from his Trust or from the Duchy honey sales or a percentage of the Sandringham Airbnb revenue or from any of a thousand other rackets he has going. It would barely have dented his tacky, bloated, gilded lifestyle. What a wasted opportunity. This is William-level idiocy right there.
Oh, righto, didn’t I call out that this was going to be an issue in the last post where this came up?
The timing of the article coincided with the announcement of the new Exchequer of the PM Lizz Truss cabinet.
His appointment was met with muted silence, seems like he is pumped to continue the onslaught of economic woes on the UK population.
There is no brownie points for the Tories, hence the old deflection.
It did not work.