In November 2022, Queen Camilla hosted her first big event as queen consort at Buckingham Palace. The event was ruined by one of her ladies-in-waiting, Baroness Susan Hussey, who used her position to barrage a Black British activist with questions about where she’s “really” from. The immediate reaction from the palace was to accept Hussey’s resignation and lie about offering Ngozi Fulani an apology. This was all going down as Prince William and Kate were flying to Boston for Earthshot, and William didn’t want a racist sh-tstorm overshadowing his big event, so he publicly cut ties with Hussey (his godmother) and made a statement about how racism has no place in our society. Hussey is still mad that her godson threw her under the bus, and Hussey clearly spoke to Robert Hardman for Hardman’s new book.

Kensington Palace feared that Prince William’s official visit to Boston might be ‘derailed’ by the race storm over Lady Susan Hussey. In his new book, Robert Hardman mentions the incident in which the late Queen’s trusted lady-in-waiting – who had stayed on at Buckingham Palace to help King Charles as a ‘lady of the Household’ – was accused of questioning a guest about her heritage at a Palace reception in November 2022.

Ngozi Fulani, a representative of Sistah Space, a London-based charity for female domestic violence victims of African and Caribbean heritage, said she felt ‘violated’ and ‘interrogated’ when Lady Susan repeatedly asked her, ‘Where do you really come from?’.

The incident went viral after Ms Fulani posted her version of events the morning after the reception. Hours later, Lady Susan, now 84, voluntarily stepped aside from her honorary, unpaid position and apologised unreservedly. She had served the late Queen at Buckingham Palace since 1960 and was so trusted by the family that she was William’s godmother.

The Palace issued a statement saying it had ‘investigated immediately’, describing the comments as ‘unacceptable and deeply regrettable’ and invited Ms Fulani to discuss her experience. At that moment, the Prince and Princess of Wales were about to board a flight to the US to host William’s Earthshot Prize.

His staff ‘frantically’ called Buckingham Palace for clarification. ‘Given the months of preparation for this event,’ writes Hardman, ‘they had visions of the whole mission being derailed by a ‘royal race storm’.’

Shortly before taking off, Prince William issued a statement saying he was ‘really disappointed’ to hear about Ms Fulani’s experience, adding: ‘Racism has no place in our society, these comments were unacceptable.’

Hardman writes of the incident: ‘It had been a well-intentioned attempt to seek some sort of common ground. One of those guests, however, had felt clearly marginalised and unwelcome as a result. A case which had landed out of nowhere on social media at 7.25am had been heard, judged and closed by teatime.’

He adds that some of Lady Susan’s friends were ‘perplexed’ over the whole debacle. They pointed out it had been a noisy, crowded, international gathering, with many people in national dress. Given that the first ladies of seven nations were present with their entourages, there was plenty of ‘where are you from?’- style interaction.

Behind the scenes an extraordinary process of reconciliation between the two women was put into action. The King’s director of community engagement, the well-respected Dr Eva Omaghomi, set to work with the Bishop of Dover, Rose Hudson-Wilkin, an honorary chaplain to the King and the Church of England’s first black female bishop, to organise a meeting between the two women. It took place two weeks later in the Palace’s Regency Room. Plenty of tears were apparently shed over cups of tea. Lady Susan apologised unequivocally again and Ms Fulani brought her a gift. The King’s personal affection for a loyal family friend remained ‘undimmed’ and Lady Susan continues to attend Palace events to this day.

[From The Daily Mail]

This is asinine: “Given that the first ladies of seven nations were present with their entourages, there was plenty of ‘where are you from?’- style interaction.” Fulani said that Hussey refused to take “I’m from London/England” as an answer and repeatedly asked where her people are from. Baroness Hussey’s friends are doing her no favors, and the entire Fulani debacle was poorly handled by Hussey, Queen Camilla and the palace at large. It also sounds like Hussey is still salty about the way William threw her under the bus. Interesting.

Photos courtesy of Buckingham Palace, Avalon Red, Cover Images.