🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
A mother of two has added her voice to a collection of Brits who have offered their misgivings over celebrating the Platinum Jubilee and the future of the monarchy.
Anita Champaneri from Birmingham, a public relations professional and former fan of the royals, told Reuters she "doesn't want" to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee because of the way that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were treated as members of the royal family.
Champaneri traveled to Windsor to be part of the crowds on Harry and Meghan's wedding day in 2018 and said: "As a non-white person, people felt really, really part of it."
The events pertaining to the couple since their wedding day, and the claims made by Harry and Meghan in their 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey, including that an unnamed member of the royal family made racially insensitive comments about the future skin color of the couple's first child, have altered Champaneri's views on the royals.
"This year it feels like I really don't want [to celebrate] because we're celebrating a family who can't do right within themselves," she said.
"Whether that's the mistreatment of Harry and Meghan, or the way Archie hasn't been embraced because they haven't given him a princedom, or the way they've turned a blind eye to Andrew's antics."
It was during the interview with Winfrey that Meghan also raised the subject of Archie's title, explaining that—so far as she understood—Archie was prevented from being made a prince because of perceived racism within the royal household.
"They were saying they didn't want him to be a prince or a princess," Meghan told Winfey, referring to people within the household, "and that he wasn't going to receive security."
It was this security issue that Meghan explained made her so concerned: "If he's not going to be a prince, it's like, OK, well, he needs to be safe," she explained.
"So we're not saying don't make him a prince or a princess...
"But if you're saying the title is what's going to affect their protection, we haven't created this monster machine around us in terms of clickbait and tabloid fodder. You've allowed that to happen, which means our son needs to be safe."
Despite the attempts by Harry and Meghan to offer their side of the stories printed about them in the British press during the Winfrey interview, the public on the whole view Meghan negatively.
In research undertaken for Newsweek this month, Redfield & Wilton found that Meghan is disliked by 47 percent of British adults, compared to 24 percent who responded that they liked her.
Harry seems to fare better with Brits at the polls, with 37 percent responding that they viewed him favorably, against 36 percent who responded unfavorably.
There are those, however, like Champaneri, who feel that the mistreatment of Harry and Meghan is symbolic of the monarchy's archaic and limited outlook.
Also interviewed by Reuters was 62-year-old Jamaican-born Michael Davis, who said that though he loves the queen, he doesn't feel optimistic about the monarchy's longevity.
"The queen...I love her," he said.
"How she holds things together through trials and tribulations. Her husband died, her kids go through so much and she still does her duty. I respect that."
"I'm not sure after the queen passes away it will be the same," he continued. "We all know that kingdoms rise and kingdoms fall through history."
Misgivings About the Royal Family
As preparations are underway in London for the central weekend of celebrations marking the queen's Platinum Jubilee—the first in British history—misgivings about the royals have also been voiced among those taking part in the events themselves.
Momin Rashid, 12, will take part in the jubilee pageant planned to take place on Sunday June 5 along The Mall outside Buckingham Palace. Despite feeling excited about the event, Reuters heard that his participation in a dancing display doesn't mean he feels a connection to the crown or the queen.
"I am feeling a bit nervous because 10,000 people is a lot and I could get the dance moves wrong," Rashid said—and when asked by Reuters if he felt close to the royal family he responded: "No."
Support for the monarchy is favorable in Britain with recent research from think tank British Future finding that 58 percent of adults were in favor of keeping the monarchy for the foreseeable future against 25 percent who said that the country should become a republic after the queen's death.
Elizabeth II has reigned longer than any other British sovereign and is the longest serving female head of state in history.
About the writer
James Crawford-Smith is a Newsweek Royal Reporter, based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on the British royal family ... Read more