During King Charles’s 2023 coronation, various British stations put together commentary panels. The panels included royal reporters, regular people and celebrities. Actress Adjoa Andoh was included on ITV’s panel. Andoh’s tenuous royal connection is that she’s in Bridgerton. She’s also British and of Ghanaian descent. After the coronation at Westminster Abbey, the Windsors staggered over to Buckingham Palace and they did a balcony wave. Prince Harry wasn’t included because he married a Black woman, and Meghan wasn’t included because she wasn’t in the country (and I’ve always believed that Charles didn’t technically invite her). During the balcony wave, Andoh said, on air: “We have gone from the rich diversity of the Abbey to a terribly white balcony. I am very struck by that. I am also looking at those younger generations and thinking: ‘What are the nuances that they will inhabit when they grow?’” Those people were so mad, omg. They called her a racist for saying the left-behinds are “terribly white.” Well, two and a half years later, Prince William hosted Andoh’s investiture. She received an MBE.

Adjoa Andoh’s beaming smile at Windsor Castle on Wednesday, as she received her MBE from the Prince of Wales, served as a neat coda to a nasty culture-war flare-up. The celebrated Bridgerton actress, who was honored by William today, made waves when, during the Coronation broadcast, she observed that the tableau on the BP balcony was looking “terribly white.”

Eight thousand complaints later, and here she was, curtseying to William, chatting about homelessness and youth opportunity, and radiating the unbothered poise of a woman who had made her point. The palace, I would argue, were wise to honor her in this public way.

After a bruising decade in which questions of race have become the royal family’s most radioactive subject—from Harry and Meghan’s allegation that a senior royal speculated about their unborn child’s skin tone, to Lady Susan Hussey’s “where-are-you-really-from” interrogation of charity founder Ngozi Fulani at a palace reception, to Princess Michael of Kent’s extraordinary decision to wear a racially insensitive brooch to the family’s first pre-Christmas lunch attended by Meghan—the Windsors are desperate for moments that telegraph modern sensibility rather than inherited tone-deafness.

Andoh’s off-the-cuff observation was a valid reminder that the institution’s public face has an uncanny habit of reverting to Edwardian-portrait homogeneity at precisely the moments meant to symbolize national unity. She later praised the day as “marvelous,” insisted she “didn’t mean to upset anyone,” and moved on with professional grace. Today it was the palace’s turn to show that they had too.

Andoh appeared delighted at her investiture, telling reporters she felt “impostor syndrome” compared with honorees who devote their lives to helping others. William, for his part, steered the conversation toward homelessness and youth opportunity; safe ground for the heir, who has made the cause central to his public identity. The exchange was civil, and reassuringly dull, which in Windsor terms is way better than anything resembling excitement.

[From The Royalist Substack]

I actually sort of agree with Tom Sykes’ analysis in this limited way – Andoh never really apologized despite the racist backlash, and there was no denying that the left-behinds are, in fact, terribly white. While it would have been great for Andoh to refuse the MBE, she probably felt like, hey, I get to speak my mind and still get a shiny medal, why not. She’s an actress and philanthropist, I’m sure she was due. It’s ridiculously funny though – the Windsors probably added Andoh to the honors list hoping to put this scandal to bed. Instead, every outlet is like “Actress who called the royals ‘terribly white’ wins an honor.”

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.