Princess Michael of Kent wears racist brooch to lunch with Meghan Markle [View all]

[Tanuki]

http://www.elle.com/culture/a14485306/princess-michael-of-kent-racist-brooch/?src=nl&mag=elm&list=nl_elm_news&date=122217

"When Meghan Markle attended the Queen's Christmas luncheon this week at Buckingham Palace, she joined about 50 members of the royal family at the gathering, from Prince William and Kate Middleton, to Prince Harry's cousins Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice. And while the former actress mingled with extended members of her fiancé's family, not all first impressions were as to be expected.


Princess Michael of Kent—wife of Prince Michael of Kent, Queen Elizabeth II's first cousin—was also there, wearing an incredibly offensive brooch on her coat while arriving to the palace with her husband. The accessory is a piece of blackamoor jewelry—an ebony figurine which, despite the ornate gold clothing, is usually depicted in a positions of servitude, such as carrying plates of food or waiting on someone.


Some might argue that European renditions of blackamoor art depicted black figures as noblemen, but mostly this isn't actually the case. These blackamoor figures, frequently spotted in Italian art and European jewelry from the Middle Ages onwards, were a response to the European encounter of "the Moors"—darker skinned people from North Africa and the Middle East. The gaudy figures are arguably meant to emphasize the strange and exotic "otherness" of people with dark skin, fetishizing these races and glorifying their enslavement. It is this emphasis of "Otherness," which is exactly what Meghan Markle herself railed against in her essay for ELLE UK, entitled 'I Am More Than An "Other."'

Blackamoor jewellery and art is considered dated, racially insensitive, and even taboo today. Dolce & Gabbana caused an uproar in 2012 when it included blackamoor heads on a pair of earrings and on fabric prints in its Spring 2013 collection.

It's unclear whether the princess wore the brooch to intentionally make an offensive statement, or whether it was a clueless decision wear the tone-deaf accessory. But to wear it at all—especially at an event where a celebrated biracial duchess-to-be would attend—is simply inappropriate.

What's more, Princess "Mike" (as she's called) has a history of racism. In 2004, she reportedly told a group of black customers in a West Village, NYC restaurant to "go back to the colonies" after she complained that they were being noisy.".....(more)




?crop=1xw:1.0xh;center,top&resize=480: