Ahen Susan Hussey, a British noblewoman with French roots, was hired as a maid at Buckingham Palace in the 1960s, it was still customary to ask black guests about their origins. Hussey had to learn this week that the same question is now considered “racist”. Crown Prince William’s 83-year-old godmother resigned from her position as “Lady of the Household” shortly after a black British woman complained on Twitter about a conversation with her. For critics of the royals, the small affair is further evidence that allegations of racism against the rest of the royal family are justified. Good monarchists, on the other hand, see an “unfortunate remark” that has been “overreacted to”.
The incriminated conversation took place at a reception at Buckingham Palace, to which victims of sexual violence and activists were invited as part of a conference. The British-born Ngozi Fulani, founder of the London women’s organization “Sistah Space”, was – as she put it on Twitter – urgently asked by Hussey which country she came from. When Fulani emphasized her British citizenship, Hussey asked where she or her people “really came from”. Fulani called this an “assault” and an “interrogation” on the BBC on Thursday. Hussey did not accept her nationality and made her feel “unwelcome” even though she was in a space “where women should feel safe from any kind of violence”.
