A senior aide at Buckingham Palace said Queen Elizabeth II and the royal family support the Black Lives Matter movement.
Kenneth Olisa, the first black lord-lieutenant of London, said race has become a hot topic among the royal family, especially during the wave of civil unrest that followed the death of George Floyd last year.
“The question is, ‘What more can we do to bind society to remove these barriers?’ They [the royals] care passionately about making this one nation bound by the same values,” Olisa told Britain’s Channel 4 in an interview on Friday.
BIDEN APPEARS TO VIOLATE BRITISH ROYAL PROTOCOL
When asked whether the royal family supported the Black Lives Matter movement, Olisa replied in the affirmative. “The answer is easily yes,” he said. A spokesperson for the royal family said the family had nothing further to add, according to NBC News.
The United Kingdom had its own reckoning on race in the past year.
Members of the English men’s soccer team decided to join the protest movement by kneeling on the field in solidarity with the movement happening in the United States. However, fans booed the team’s decision. When U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson refused to condemn those who booed, he was accused by critics of fueling the division in the country.
When asked whether Johnson supported Black Lives Matter, a spokesperson responded that the prime minister supported the right to protest and share their thoughts on injustices.
The royal family itself faced accusations of racism from Meghan Markle. Markle, Prince Harry’s wife, told Oprah Winfrey that Buckingham Palace had “concerns” about how dark her son’s skin would be once born. Winfrey later said Markle told her that neither the queen nor Prince Philip made the comments.
Buckingham Palace released a statement saying the royals were “saddened” by the decision while adding that the two “remain much loved members of the family.”
British podcaster Momodou Taal said it is not a surprise the royal family has faced accusations of racism.
“It’s no surprise that the family has charges of racism against them. It’s the vestige of a brutal British empire that hasn’t truly ever acknowledged its role in perpetuating racism around the world,” Taal told NBC News. “They don’t represent modern Britain. They represent what Britain was at the height of colonization, and that image will forever be attached to them.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Buckingham Palace recently conducted an internal study on the ethnic backgrounds of employees. The report, called the Sovereign Grant, found that 8.5% of the employees were ethnic minorities. As a result, the Palace announced a new target of 10% of employees to be minorities by the end of 2022.
According to the 2011 census, 14% of the population of England and Wales were from an ethnic minority background, while in Scotland, the figure was 4%.
