'Stunned' Writer Slams Prince Charles for Alleged Racially Insensitive Comment
Diana Pearl 3 hrs ago
Reuters America
Prince Charles Appointed Next Head of the Commonwealth, Succeeding Queen Elizabeth II
Just a day before Prince Charles was officially named the next leader of the Commonwealth, Anita Sethi, a British writer, slammed the royal for making an ignorant comment to her during their brief interaction at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting this week.
In an article about the experience for The Guardian, Sethi writes that when she had a chance to meet Charles after speaking during the Commonwealth People’s Forum, he asked her where she was from. When she responded Manchester, a city in northeastern England, he reportedly responded: “Well, you don’t look like it!”
Sethi, who is of Indian descent, said she was “stunned” by the remark. The incident came just a few hours after Queen Elizabeth, for the first time publicly, endorsed her son to succeed her as the next Head of the Commonwealth.
“That the mooted next leader of an organization that represents one-third of the people on the planet commented that I, a brown woman, did not look as if I was from a city in the UK is shocking,” Sethi writes. “This is exactly why some people, including the prince, urgently need a history lesson about immigration, the British empire, the Commonwealth and colonialism.” (Clarence House has not commented on the controversy.)
© Samir Hussein/WireImage Prince Charles
“So what does a British person look like? A British person can look like me. A British person can have black or brown, not only white, skin and still be just as British.”
In her article, Sethi says that she thinks the outlook she observed in her exchange with Charles should disqualify him not only from the position as the Head of the Commonwealth, but also as the next British monarch.
“We need to skip a generation so that Prince Charles does not become king of England or head of the Commonwealth, and these privileges pass to leaders more enlightened.”
Charles was officially named the next leader of the Commonwealth a day after Sethi’s article was published, on Friday. In the past, the royal has spoken out about his sympathy for those who have faced persecution and discrimination, most recently, in a televised Easter address. In it, he said: “My heart goes out to all who this day, whatever their beliefs, are being persecuted on religious grounds.”
Poster Comment:
Insensitive remark? Oh, well. I hope Charles fares well in the next life.