Will Meghan’s Royal wedding move the cultural dial?

Any announcement of a big Royal wedding is always met with a media frenzy, but this forthcoming wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle adds particular interest. That’s not just because she’s American, an actress, and a divorcee, but perhaps most importantly because she’s mixed heritage with an African American mother. Think about this for a second; the third in line to the throne, is marrying a descendent of a enslaved African.

Of course for many people, until this issue was widely known they would have looked at Megan Markle and assumed she was white, or perhaps Latina with her light caramel complexion. But many people and news outlets did know, causing the young Prince Harry to publically denounce the certain news outlets for spewing racism in regards to his then girlfriend.

So will this wedding move our nations perception about identity, beauty and belonging? I very much doubt it, not least because the cultural phenomena of some men and women being able to ‘pass as white’, ignores that the fact that they are not white.

The good news is that, whether people like it or not , this forthcoming will force a discussion about how open we are about the other, as British citizens, neighbours, partners, Prime Ministers and our very own Royal family. During the pomp and pageant of a big royal wedding when Megan’s Black mother, Doria Radlan takes her place alongside Prince Charles as the proud parents, that will be the biggest reminder of the change that is taking place.

But perhaps the biggest change could be if the princess to be, Megan Markle asserts her Blackness to influence her future husband to make comments on race equality for a world that will personally matter to their own mixed heritage children.

Simon Woolley