In a dramatic turn of events, Britain’s Royal House of Windsor deferred to love, and changed the rule books, to endure Ms Meghan Markle as wife to Prince Harry, the red head younger son of Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, and heir to the throne. Prince Harry met Meghan on a blind date in 2016, and they became an item almost immediately.
Someone remarked that Prince Harry was “marrying someone that is representative of modern society;” that Hollywood has brashly intruded into the ultra-conservative House of Windsor. Probably, Hollywood’s first major marital incursion into European royalty was accomplished by American actress Grace Kelly, who married Prince Rainer of Monaco.
The British royalty that couldn’t accept Prince Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, just to date Caucasian, but Egyptian Arab, Dodi El Fayed, admitted Meghan, who has an African-American mother, a teacher of yoga. Meghan’s father, Thomas Markle, is Dutch-Irish.
For the records, interracial marriages only became legal in America in 1967, when a Supreme Court decision that deemed anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional, compelled many Southern American states south of the Mason-Dixon Line to comply.
The House of Windsor that compelled King Edward VIII to abdicate the British throne because he chose to marry American divorcee, Wallis Simpson, now has another American divorcee, Meghan Markle, older than her groom, as Prince Harry’s newly created Duchess of Sussex.
The “purity” of the blue blood that unites the monarchies of Europe is demonstrated by the discovery that Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, who was overthrown and killed in 1917 during the Bolshevik Revolution led by Vladmir Lenin, has the same DNA as the present Queen Elizabeth II of England, the grandmother-in-law of Meghan.
The Royal family that thought it had displayed acceptable credentials as liberals and egalitarians by allowing Prince Harry’s older brother, Prince William, to marry commoner Kate Middleton, has latterly crossed more than the social line with Prince Harry’s marriage to a descendant of Black American slaves.
By this marriage, Meghan’s first child with Prince Harry, will be seventh in line to the British throne– after its grandfather, Prince Charles; Charles’ eldest son Prince William; Prince William’s three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis; and Meghan’s husband, Prince Harry, in that order.
History has come full circle. Near-Black Queen Sophie Charlotte, consort of King George III of England, is great great-great-great-great grandmother of Prince Harry. You may have read about William Shakespeare’s fictional Othello, the Moor who married Desdemona, daughter of a respected Venice Senator.
Well, Queen Charlotte, a descendant of the African branch of the Portuguese Royal House, Margarita de Castro y Sousa, was not a fictional character. Her portrait, done by artist Sir Allan Ramsey, was used in the anti-slavery movement of the 18th Century.
One remarkable aspect of the marriage of Prince Harry and Meghan is in the attendance of a mixed multitude at the wedding. On hand were Meghan’s co-stars in “Suits,” an American television series; media mogul Oprah Winfrey; talk show host James Corden; singer James Blunt; Sierra Leone actor Idris Elba; tennis icon Serena Williams; and Botswana’s Prince Seeiso, a friend of Prince Harry.
Feisty Reverend Michael Curry, first Black American primate of the Episcopal Church, America’s version of England’s Anglican Communion, preached with the rhythm, rhyme, and colour peculiar only to Black preacher men.
He found a way to squeeze the name of Black civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr. into his sermon. On hand was the feisty all-Black “The Kingdom Choir” that belted out “Stand By Me,” released by Ben E. King, in 1961.
Rev Curry imported the lingo of dudes in America’s Black ‘hoods, to address Meghan as “sister,” and plucked up effrontery to address His Royal Highness Prince Harry, as “brother,” even though he didn’t quite say “sistah or “brodah.”
But he made a Freudian slip, and came on as “brodah,” when he assured Meghan and Prince Harry, “We gonna get ya’all married.” He must have got the rapt attention of his upper-lipped audience when he said, “Let me tell you som’pn,” typical notice that a Black American had something important to say.
Meghan avoided the risk of muddling up her groom’s names by simply referring to him as “Harry.” Her mother-in-law, Princess Diana, had referred to her groom, “Charles Phillip Arthur George,” as “Charles Arthur Phillip George.” This made the American media to express a tongue in cheek doubt that maybe Princess Diana married the wrong guy.
The marriage vow exchanged King James Bible version words, “thou,” “thee,” for the modern English word, “ýou.” Also, Meghan did not vow to obey her husband. They both pledged, “To have and to hold from this day forward; for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part.”
The new Duchess of Sussex has hinted she may take up feminist issues. She had affirmed: “I am proud to be a woman and a feminist.” As an 11-year-old, she caused American soap manufacturer, Procter & Gamble, to change the word, “Women,” in the TV commercial copy, “Women all over America are fighting greasy pots and pans,” to “People.”
Though the entire House of Windsor was present at the church wedding, the only member of Meghan’s family that was present was her mother. Meghan’s older brothers were not invited, and they told the media about it.
Even her father, who was expected to walk her down the aisle into the waiting hands of her groom, was not up to it. He was reported to have been ill, though there is speculation that there are some undefined issues. Meghan was walked down the last half of the aisle by father-in-law Prince Charles.
Meghan reversed roles with her mother-in-law, Princess Diana, whose father had escorted her to the wedding to Prince Charles. Instead of riding to the chapel with her father, Meghan rode with her mother, Doria Ragland. Meghan and her mother-in-law are from broken homes.
As if to demonstrate that the wedding was not an official or state affair, neither British Prime Minister Theresa May, who resorted to sending a “very best wishes” tweet to the couple, nor America’s President Donald Trump was invited.
The diversity also came through prayers that were read by Jamaican-born Reverend Rose Hudson-Wilkin, chaplain to Prince Harry’s grandmother Queen Elizabeth II, and Archbishop Anba Angaelos, who is head of the Coptic Church in Britain.
Another expression of extreme liberalism is that two of Prince Harry’s ex-girlfriends, Chelsy Davy, and Cressida Bonas, attended the wedding as official guests. While no one recalls if any of Meghan’s exes was invited to the wedding, the grapevine reports that Prince Harry and Chelsy had a tearful farewell phone call on the eve of the wedding.
In what appears to be an intention to remind the monarchy of Princess Diana, her sister, Jane Fellows, was requested by Prince Harry to give a reading from the Bible Book of Songs of Solomon. The song, “Guide Me, O Thou Great Redeemer,” a Welsh national hymn sung at rugby international tournaments, sung at Princess Diana’s funeral, was sung at the wedding.
While the House of Windsor may not have become a “Fuji House of Commotion,” it has certainly become a house of diversity.
Twitter @lekansote1
END
Be the first to comment