Prince William’s Godmother Quits Over Buckingham Palace Race Row
(CNN) – An honorary member of Buckingham Palace has resigned and apologized after a Black charity founder said she was questioned about whether she was really British at a royal reception on Tuesday.The guest, Ngozi Fulani, is the CEO of Sistah Space, an organization that provides specialist services to women of African and Caribbean heritage affected by abuse.Fulani was attending a royal function on domestic abuse organized by the Queen Consort on Tuesday evening when she said a member of staff began a line of questioning that the palace called “unacceptable and deeply regrettable.”Fulani said that the person persistently asked about her heritage and would not accept that she was a British national.Sistah Space shared a rough transcript of the conversation on Twitter on Wednesday.
Fulani said that, after identifying herself as British-born, the person asked her “where do you really come from;” “where do your people come from;” and “when did you first come here?”When Fulani answered she was from the London neighborhood of Hackney, the household member insisted: “No, what part of Africa are YOU from?” as quoted on the Sistah Space Twitter account.
Buckingham Palace, which has not named the household member involved in the incident, said earlier today that the individual concerned had apologized and “stepped aside from her honorary role with immediate effect.”Sistah Space said that it “serves no purpose to name & shame” the person in question on its Twitter account on Wednesday, adding “it is the system that needs to be revised.”“Yes the person was offensive, but it serves no purpose to name & shame her, it would make us just as bad.
