Prince Harry guided on 'journey to wokeness' by Meghan Markle

'This experience of witnessing Meghan face racist remarks and commentary would have been the first time he'd seen someone in his life or someone he was particularly close to affected by it in a certain way'
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Megan C. Hills10 August 2020

Authors of a biography about Harry and Meghan - set for release tomorrow - have discussed how the Duchess of Sussex helped guide the Duke on his “journey to wokeness.”

Prince Harry has publicly discussed “unconscious bias” and the couple has called for the Commonwealth to “acknowledge the past” in a move towards greater racial equality, as Meghan has spoken out in support of the Black Lives Matter movement and shared her experiences as a biracial woman.

Co-author of Finding Freedom Omid Scobie told National Public Radio: “Harry’s journey to wokeness has been very public. We've seen him learning and educating himself along the way, but this experience of witnessing Meghan face racist remarks and commentary would have been the first time he'd seen someone in his life or someone he was particularly close to affected by it in a certain way.”

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The Duchess of Sussex has been targeted by racist trolls on social media, while some have pointed at the double standard regarding how Meghan is reported on in headlines in contrast to white female members of the Royal Family.

Early on in their relationship, Harry issued a statement through royal channels in which he said there had been a “line crossed” - calling out the “racial undertones of comment pieces, and the sexism and racism of social media trolls and web article comments.” The couple are currently living in Los Angeles with their son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor after stepping down as senior royals on March 31.

Author Scobie said the upcoming biography Finding Freedom would “talk about some of the more obvious examples in some of the media coverage”, as well as “things that have flown under the radar” including the way that Meghan had been ‘othered.’

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According to Othering and Belonging, the act of othering is defined as a “set of dynamics, processes, and structures that engender marginality and persistent inequality across any of the full range of human differences based on group identities” and examples including othering people based on race, sexuality, religion and more - defining people by their differences to exclude them, rather than the commonality that they share.

“We've sort of seen it repeatedly that she's not one of us,” Scobie continued, “And now, what do they mean by not one of us? And I think there are things like that which Harry's really had to become more attuned to and learn to see when it happens in front of him. And Meghan would have been the person that guided him on that journey.”

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Finding Freedom is due to be released on 11th August. It is written by royal reporters Scobie and Carolyn Durand. In a statement, they revealed that the Sussexes “did not contribute” to the book and were not interviewed for it.

Extracts have been released ahead of the book’s publication, which touch on everything from the couple’s first date through to discussions about their exit as senior royals at the Sandringham Summit.