20th May, 2019
By Hope Eghagha
It was with some amusement or should I say mild consternation that the world watched Prince Harry, son of the beloved Lady Diana (England’s Rose & Candle in the Wind according to Elton John) and third in line to the ancient throne of England take an African-American actress/activist divorcee Meghan Markle to the altar in May last year in a most poignant out-of-the-usual wedding ceremony where a Black gospel minister from America preached a thunderous sermon and where Prince Charles walked his daughter-in-law down the aisle in place of the lucky bride’s irresponsible white father; a father, a monstrous one who could not fit into the Cinderella narrative of his beautiful and charming daughter caught in a hot romance with one of the heirs to the revered monarchy of England!
The spirit of Lady Diana, that independent, somewhat naive free-spirit whose love, loveless-marriage story and death forever changed the face of the British monarchy, we concluded, lives on in her sons in their spontaneous ways of doing things.
How else do we appreciate a potential heir to the British throne who took a Black woman, descendant of slaves (third removed?) as wife in a world still dominated by prejudice, racism, hate, Brexitsm and Trumpism?
For added measure, on May 6 this unusual couple gave birth to a son in a most unconventional manner, (the birth venue was not announced) seventh in line to the throne and decided not to give him a title, raise him as ‘normal’ as possible, and perhaps let him pick up an American passport, and live like a commoner like the rest of us!
So, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, first child of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had a royal birth but will not be a prince! It’s the brave new world, the world we were waiting for in spite of Trump, Nigel Farage, Jeremy Corbyn and their cohorts in the fixations of artificial superiority, anti-Semitism and white supremacy.
The world has changed, hasn’t it? I don’t want to hazard a guess on how the ‘princeless’ prince, the royal commoner will take things when he grows up and sees the world with the lens of a 21st century second-generation-sweet-rebel-against-convention.
Come on, the prince title comes with a lot of perks, you know; you live well and rich with old money, perhaps a little spoilt, without really working; people defer to you, curtsy to you and generally behave properly because you are around.
But it is also true that you do not need the title to command attention these days once your pocket is deep! As for the opposite sex, there are thousands of them literally swooning to start an affair, with or without love. A Prince! The British monarchy has indeed come a long way.
In 1943, King Edward VIII abdicated the throne when he opted to marry an American divorcee Wallis Simpson! Well, is it a coincidence, this incursion of freewheeling Americans into the sober, conservative throne of England? Some regulation had forbidden the king from marrying a divorcee and the King followed the love of his life into stable and sweet oblivion and they lived happily after till death parted them in 1972.
Without that foolish love declaration Elizabeth would not have become Queen of England and the House of Windsor would have achieved its goals through another stud! We thank the American femme fatale!
Well, Prince Charles, the now 70-year old plus next-king-of-England, took a divorcee in Madam Camilla Parker-Bowles for wife after ensuring that Diana had bred enough studs to perpetuate the family bloodline.
As an aside, Diana observed a third individual in their marriage from Day One and that doomed marriage hit the rocks of Gibraltar ultimately when the future king veered into the arms of his ‘adulterous’ companion for good! So, that foolish law on marrying a divorcee is in the cooler now and when Prince Charles finally takes over as king, his consort would be a confirmed divorcee and the world will not come to an end and they will live happily ever after!
All of this perhaps has prepared us for the royal son who is not a prince, at least not by taking on a title. When in July 1981 Prince Charles took Lady Diana Spencer to the altar, the very cynical Malcolm Muggeridge described the 21st century as the century of the common monarch – the century when the heir to the English throne did not seek for an outlandish princess from one of the royal families in Europe but condescended to marrying a non-royal.
Muggeridge ought to be alive to see a potential Black heir to the very white throne of England! To be sure, some have argued that the possibility of a black butt sitting on that throne is very, very remote. And so, there is no fear of pollution!
Of course the monarchy anywhere in the world is prudishly conservative and anachronistic. Never mind the glamour of those monarchs whether in Japan or Thailand or even in Sweden. The way the world is currently configured traditional monarchies are somewhat out-of-date and out-of-tune which is why Harry and William are the real connections to modern trends and the future.
The French beheaded their last monarch in 1789 and served his head on the dish of the revolution and the yellow vests protesters will not have another royal head to serve! As for the Americans they wandered into the new world and created a superpower that drags its mother along like a once-rich-relation.
So the latest in line to the throne is a royal, but without the title of a prince in the conventional sense. Perhaps Prince Harry, educated by his pragmatic African-American enchanter-royale, has discovered the eternal lie about the notion of the blueblood! Just as in reality there is no Father Christmas the blueblood narrative is a myth.
This therefore could be the major contribution of the very delectable humanistic Lady Di to modern civilization- the social education of the House of Windsor that in the final scheme of things humanity is one and we are all untitled princes and princesses in our kingdoms.
Whether it is true or not that her death was orchestrated by security forces because she attempted to defile that sacred Anglican throne with Arab stepchildren, the wheel has come full circle. When the drama is resolved in future we shall not be around.
So I congratulate Harry who was born and grew up before our very eyes and Meghan his bold and beautiful wife on bringing a common prince into the monarchical architecture of the stiff-lipped House of Windsor.
That prince will (has) come into the Brexit world where he will be an international citizen and remind arch-racists that in the real sense the colour of the skin does not matter; that what ordinary British men and women have been doing for decades is indeed the way to go. That great ‘witch’ who currently sits on the throne has been re-educated on the true spirit of humanity, may be.
Diana though dead through her boys and now her grandchild has electrified the world with the free spirit of humanity. I welcome all the other kids, unheralded princes and princesses into the world whose steps could lead man into the true paths of honour and decency without strings!