LONDON: A member of the British royal family’s household has left her role after making “unacceptable and deeply regrettable” comments about race and nationality to a woman at a grand reception at Buckingham Palace, a spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Ngozi Fulani, who was born in Britain and works for a domestic abuse support group, wrote on Twitter that the royal aide had repeatedly asked her: “What part of Africa are you from?” when she attended an event hosted by King Charles’s wife Camilla, the queen consort, on Tuesday.

“We take this incident extremely seriously and have investigated immediately to establish the full details. In this instance, unacceptable and deeply regrettable comments have been made,” a Buckingham Palace spokesperson said in a statement.

The incident almost coincided with a statement by Britain’s most senior police officer of colour that Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle, Prince Harry’s wife, faced “disgusting” threats to her life during her time in the royal family”.

The incident coincides with police statement that Meghan Markle faced threats to her life

Neil Basu, who is stepping down this month after 30 years at London’s Metropolitan Police, said that as head of counter-terrorism, he had to deal with credible threats from far-right extremists against Meghan Markle and Prince Harry.

About the Buckingham Palace incident, a spokesperson said the individual concerned, Lady Susan Hussey, 83, would like to apologise for the hurt caused and had stepped aside from her honorary role with immediate effect.

The exchange occurred at a Violence Against Women And Girls reception at the palace, where guests included Ukraine’s first lady Olena Zelenska, Belgium’s Queen Mathilde and Jordan’s Queen Rania.

In her account posted on Twitter, Fulani, who works for Sistah Space _ a group which provides support for women of African and Caribbean heritage who have been affected by abuse — said about 10 minutes after she arrived, the aide approached her and moved her hair to view her name badge.

After being asked a number of times what part of Africa she was from, Fulani said she replied: “I am born here and am British.”

The aide responded: “No, but where do you really come from, where do your people come from?”

Last year, a senior royal source said Buckingham Palace had not done enough on diversity, although it has been endeavouring to boost the number of staff from ethnic minorities.

“We have reached out to Ngozi Fulani on this matter, and are inviting her to discuss all elements of her experience in person if she wishes,” the palace spokesperson said.

“All members of the royal household are being reminded of the diversity and inclusivity policies which they are required to uphold at all times.”

Harry’s fears

The comments by Neil Basu, the police officer, in an interview with Channel 4 Newson Tuesday, appear to reinforce Prince Harry’s claims about security fears.

Meghan, a mixed-race former television actor, married the younger son of King Charles III in 2018, but they quit royal life in 2020 and moved to the United States.

Neil Basu, 54, was asked if there were genuine threats to Meghan’s life.

“Absolutely,” he replied, calling the threats “disgusting and very real”.

“We had teams investigating it. People have been prosecuted for those threats.”

Harry, 38, took the British government to court to force a review of a decision to pull his state-funded protection when he was back in the country from the United States.

At the beginning of their relationship, Harry took the rare step of publicly criticising the tone of some media coverage of Meghan.

He condemned the “racial undertones of comment pieces and the outright sexism and racism of social media trolls and web article comments”.

The couple also accused the royal family itself of racism, in a television interview with Oprah Winfrey last year.

Published in Dawn, December 1st, 2022