Fury and denial as Harry and Meghan prompt new race debate in UK

Prince Harry has come a long way in educating himself about race since his youthful days, when he used an offensive slur against a fellow army cadet from Pakistan and dressed up as a Nazi soldier at a party.

In an explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey, Queen Elizabeth II’s grandson explained that his mixed-race wife Meghan had helped him on his journey of awareness, and he wanted his family, the media and Britain at large to educate themselves too.

“I’ve spent many years doing the work and doing my own learning,” the 36-year-old said, noting his privileged background meant “I wasn’t aware of” racial issues on the whole.

“But my God, it doesn’t take very long to suddenly become aware of it,” Harry said, reflecting years on from his early 20s, when the details emerged of the fancy-dress party and his calling the fellow cadet a “Paki”.

The interview has certainly sparked new debate about race in Britain, but there is little common ground between white commentators and black voices following Harry’s assertion that racism was a “large part” of the reason why he and Meghan quit the UK for North America.

“America has a long and profoundly tragic history when it comes to racism. But they acknowledge it and they know it,” Lola Adesioye, a British commentator on race based in New York, told AFP.

“I still feel that the UK has a sort of delusion about its racial standing, and the idea that racism is not a really a thing in the UK, ‘that’s an American problem’, and that the UK is much more integrated,” she said.

“So when you hear someone like Meghan Markle who’s clearly a modern woman talking about some of the racial issues that she confronted in the royal family… people asking about what colour will your son be, is something that is very hard for people…