Princess Michael of Kent has been forced to apologise for wearing an allegedly ‘racist’ Blackamoor brooch to a lunch attended by Meghan Markle.
The 72-year-old princess was photographed wearing the vintage jewellery, which depicts the bust of a stylised black male, on her way to a Christmas lunch hosted by Queen Elizabeth II.
Sensitive social media users leapt to accuse her of racism, with some going so far as to suggest the brooch was intended as a slight to Prince Harry’s new fiancée Meghan Markle, who is mixed race.
“The brooch was a gift and has been worn many times before,” said a spokesman for the minor royal.
“Princess Michael is very sorry and distressed that it has caused offence.”
While Miss Markle has been embraced enthusiastically by the British press, Princess Michael — who became a member of the Royal Family when she married a cousin of the Queen — has lamented that she, as a foreigner herself, was never accepted by them.
“I have different ways of saying things and doing things,” said the princess, who was born Marie-Christine von Reibnitz to German and Hungarian parents.
She has been accused of ‘racism’ before, following a misheard discussion in a New York diner. She strongly denied the allegations against her, citing her extensive travels in Africa — but was pounced upon for using language deemed not sufficiently politically correct for the mainstream media’s tastes.
“I even pretended years ago to be an African, a half-caste African, but because of my light eyes I did not get away with it, but I dyed my hair black,” she said.
“I travelled on African buses. I wanted to be a writer. I wanted experiences from Cape Town to right up in northern Mozambique. I had this adventure with these absolutely adorable, special people and to call me racist: it’s a knife through the heart because I really love these people.”
Blackamoor jewellery is still made in Venice, Italy, where it was popular during the early modern period, and Blackamoor figures can be found throughout the Italian city.
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